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Calories Underestimated in 40 Percent of Menu Items

Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Calories are listed next to menu items in a McDonald’s restaurant in New York City.

Calories are listed next to menu items in a McDonald’s restaurant in New York City. Photographer: Chris Hondros/Getty Images

About 40 percent of food items on
restaurant menus contained at least 10 more calories than
stated, according to research that suggests dieters may be
misled about their food choices while dining out.

Restaurants understated their food’s energy content by more
than 100 calories for 19 percent of menu items, according to the
study published today in the Journal of the American Medical
Association. One hundred extra calories a day adds up to about
10 to 15 pounds (4.5 to 6.8 kilograms) of weight gain a year,
said study author Susan Roberts, a nutrition scientist at Tufts
University in Boston.

A provision of the 2010 U.S. health-care law requires
restaurants with more than 20 locations to list calorie counts
for items they serve. Accurate counts help people make smarter
food choices, Roberts said. Today’s study is the first to
analyze whether the calories listed by restaurants are accurate,
she said.

“It’s shocking,” said Roberts, director of the Energy
Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition
Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, in a July 15
telephone interview. “Restaurants should be doing more to help.
We eat something like one third of our daily calories at
restaurants. If we can’t rely on those numbers, you’re
definitely going to struggle with your weight more.”

Researchers compared menu calories with laboratory
measurements of calories in 269 food items purchased as takeout
from national fast food restaurants and sit-down chain
restaurants in Indianapolis, Boston and Little Rock, Arkansas.
They found that only 7 percent of the foods tested had calories
within 10 calories of what the restaurant stated, Roberts said.

Salad Calories Overestimated

The study found that restaurants overestimated calorie
content of foods by at least 10 calories for 52 percent of foods
on their menus. Lower calorie foods like salads and soups were
more likely to have higher calories on the plate than what was
listed by the restaurant.

Restaurant chain On The Border Mexican Grill Cantina’s
enchiladas suizas dinner portion — three enchiladas made with
chicken, cheese and cream sauce — was about 490 calories less
in laboratory tests, while the chips and salsa contained about
1,000 calories more, the study showed. On The Border is owned by
OTB Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of San Francisco-based Golden
Gate Capital Corp.

Outback Steakhouse’s classic blue cheese wedge side salad
had more than 650 extra calories in laboratory tests, while the
Outback Special six ounce steak was more than 100 calories less
in laboratory tests. Outback is owned by Tampa, Florida-based
OSI Restaurant Partners LLC.

‘Overall Accurate’

“The research published today shows that on average, the
stated calorie content for restaurant food is accurate,” said
Joe Kadow, an executive vice president for OSI Restaurant
Partners, in an e-mail today. In the case of the blue cheese
wedge salad, researchers may have tested the entrée size rather
than the side salad size, he said.

“We’re pleased the research showed on average that the
stated calorie count is accurate,” said Joy Dubost, director of
Nutrition and Healthy Living for the National Restaurant
Association, a trade group in Washington, in a telephone
interview today. “In time, we’ll see the variance will
narrow.”

Many restaurants are looking to tighten their quality
control standards by weighing food or analyzing the package
sizes for takeout to make sure they reflect what would go out on
a plate for diners eating in a restaurant, she said.

Sit-Down Dining Discrepancies

Roberts said the discrepancies, seen more often in sit-down
restaurants than fast-food chains, could be because the kitchen
staff is sending out bigger sized portions to diners than they
should.

“I want to expose this problem and have everyone say this
is a problem, let’s fix it,” Roberts said. “America is really
suffering from obesity. This is one place where we can really
make a difference.”

Linda Van Horn, a professor of preventive medicine at
Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in
Chicago, who also wrote an accompanying editorial in the
journal, said today’s study puts a spotlight on accuracy in
labeling so people can make informed choices about their food
intake.

“Just as balancing a budget can prevent debt, balancing
caloric intake with output can prevent added pounds,” she wrote
in the editorial. “However, U.S. residents seem to be
struggling with both balancing acts. New, innovative and
effective approaches to teaching about energy balance and
calorie control are greatly needed.”

For Related News and Information:

To contact the reporter on this story:
Nicole Ostrow in New York at
nostrow1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net