New Study Suggests Britons Underreport Calorie Consumption by 1000 Calories Per Day
08 Aug 2016 --- A study released by the Behavioural Insights Team suggests that people eat 3,000 calories a day rather than the 2,000 cited in official surveys, potentially resulting in misinformed policies attempting to curb the growing obesity epidemic.
The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), jointly owned by the UK government and Nesta, claim that underreporting of calorie consumption explains the rising rate of obesity, despite 4 decades of surveys reporting that national calorie intake has decreased.
The Health Survey for England shows that the national weight has been steadily increasing over the last 20 years, but official statistics have shown a large decline in calorie consumption during this time. Researchers argue that if calorie reporting data was correct, the nation would be loosing weight overall.
An increasing rate of obesity and desire to loose weight combined with reduced food wastage, suggests that people are consuming a larger proportion of the food they report purchasing.
Higher grocery spending rates also imply that food purchasing has increased, as well as a change in consumer snacking habits. AS a $374bn worldwide industry, snacking is thought to have increased markedly between the 1970s and 2000s.
Falling survey response rates and a growing discrepancy between calorie reference data has been blamed for the under reporting of calorie consumption, something that the researchers think has increased over time.
Commenting on how to tackle the misreporting of calorie consumption in the future, Michael Hallsworth, Director of Health at BIT told NutritionInsight: "Innovation is likely to be key. New apps and activity trackers could play an important role but we should also look at using new sources that automatically record purchases, like supermarket till receipts."
Previously, a reduction in physical activity has been blamed for the rise in weight gain, but despite rising levels of sedentary living, the researchers say that a reduction in exercise cannot be the cause. Each UK adult would have to have eliminated more than three-and-a-half hours of daily walking since the 1970s to account for the changes.
As a result of the study, the researchers hope polices to tackle obesity will be better informed, stating that although policies that promote an increase in activity as a way to tackle obesity should not be disregarded, they should also not distract from the central importance of reducing calorie intake.
Hallsworth added: "These findings show that reducing calorie consumption has an important role to play in reducing obesity. We also need to find new ways of helping people record their calorie intake more accurately, so that policy is informed by the best possible evidence."
by Hannah Gardiner
