As part of a continuing discussion of how we got so fat, the Tufts Health & Nutrition Newsletter
reveals this: we eat a lot. Twenty years ago, Tufts researchers report, a typical cheeseburger had 330 calories; today, it has 590. French fries used to be served in a 2.4-ounce handful with 210 calories; today the standard order is a 6.9 ounces, with 610 calories. A blueberry muffin used to weigh 1.5 ounces and have 210 calories, now it weighs 5 ounces and has 500 calories. You get the picture. The Tufts team cites a (now old) 2002 study by NYU researchers that compared common food portions with the serving sizes then recommended by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standard servings for food labeling. They found that compared to USDA recommendations:
- Cookie portions exceeded recommended serving size by 700 percent.
- Pasta portions were 480 percent bigger
- Muffin portions were 333 percent bigger
- Steaks were 224 percent bigger
- Bagels were 195 percent bigger.