Restaurants should face same restrictions as fast food, say public health professionals
Eating in a snazzy restaurant can be worse for your health than fast food, according to a US study published in the journal Public Health Nutrition
The 12,500 adults surveyed consumed on average 194 calories more on days they ate fast food and 205 calories more when they ate in a restaurant instead of eating at home. The difference is not statistically significant, but the authors say it shows that eating out, whether it be fast food or a restaurant is not good for your health.
"The message is that eating fast food or out in restaurants should be the exception – not the norm – as it can be very bad for you," said one of the study's authors, Binh Nguyen of the American Cancer Society.
However, that is not quite the message. Apart from telling everyone the seemingly obvious that if you eat out you will have a wide variety of choices, some of which may be bad for your health, the authors would like to see their findings influence public policy.
Efforts should be taken to improve diet and cut down on energy intake, according to Nguyen. Apparently, the options of refusing to eat fatty foods, voluntary diet and exercises are not matching doing the job of getting the public to what they view as an acceptable level of health and fitness.
They do not specify quite how this will be done but one can imagine that what is being alluded to is governmental interventions to regulate and tax foods and drinks that are deemed undesirable by health experts.
In a figure that will surprise virtually no-one, the study found that: "In addition to the extra calories consumed, people also ate more sugar, salt and saturated fats than when they ate home-made food."
It can be argued that people actually chose to eat out precisely to consume nice tasting food high in sugar, salt and saturated fats even though they knew it would not be as good for them as eating more healthily at home.
However, Nguyen has some useful advice for those who would like to outsource their lifestyle choices to health experts: "Next time you are in a restaurant order a half portion, chose vegetables or salad instead of fries and drink water instead of fizzy drinks."
Emma Williams, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, added: "In general people should be careful to try to make healthy food choices when eating out, and if you know you are going out for dinner you should try to eat less during the day by having a light breakfast or lunch."