Health & Medicine - Posted by Patric Lane-UNC on Thursday, June 30, 2011 15:41 - 1 Comment 
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(1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5) Loading ...Adults are eating more, more often
The trend of eating greater quantities of food more often during the day is leading to an explosion in the number of unhealthy adults, which is in turn leading to substantially higher health care costs. (Credit: iStockphoto)
UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US) — Americans are eating larger portions and eating more often, trends that are contributing heavily to the country’s obesity epidemic.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
“First, the food industry started supersizing our portions, then snacking occasions increased and we were convinced we needed to drink constantly to be hydrated,” says Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
“This study shows how this epidemic has crept up on us. The negative changes in diet, activity, and obesity continue and are leading to explosions in health-care costs and are leading us to become a less healthy society.”
The study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, is believed to be the first to examine the combined contribution of changes in three key factors (portion sizes, food energy density, and eating frequency) on people’s total calorie consumption.
For the study, researchers analyzed individuals’ dietary intake over a 24-hour period, based on surveys of U.S. adults taken between 1977–78, 1989–91, 1994–98 and 2003–06.
The average daily total energy intake, measured in calories, increased from about 1,803 kcal in 1977–78 to 2,374 kcal in 2003–06, an increase of 570 kcal.
Increases in the number of eating occasions (meals and snacks) and portion sizes of foods and beverages over the past 30 years accounted for most of the increase. Energy density (the number of calories in a specific amount of food) also accounted for some of the change, but may have decreased slightly in recent years.
Looking at the changes between each survey period, portion size accounted for an annual increase in the daily total energy intake of nearly 15 kcal between 1977–78 and 1989–91; changes in the number of eating occasions accounted for an increase of just 4 kcal per year.
Then, between 1994–98 and 2003–06, changes in the number of eating occasions accounted for an annual increase in daily total energy intake of 39 kcal and changes in portion size accounted for an annual decrease of 1 kcal.
Changes in the energy density of food and drink accounted for a slight decrease in daily total energy intake over the 30-year study period.
As participants in the surveys may have under- or over-reported the amount of food consumed, the findings may not be completely accurate, Popkin says.
“Still, these findings suggest that efforts to prevent obesity among adults in the U.S should focus on reducing the number of meals and snacks people consume during the day and reducing portion size as a way to reduce the energy imbalance caused by recent increases in energy intake,” he says.
“I would speculate that the same advice would apply to other developed countries.”
More news from UNC-Chapel Hill: http://uncnews.unc.edu/
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1 Comment
Kelly
Last fall I was diagnosed with severe food allergies that had plagued me since childhood and were chalked up to a “nervous stomach” for over 20 years of my life. After formal diagnosis of allergy/intolerance to wheat, corn, rice, soy, shellfish, and pork I reverted my diet to an almost perfect paleo diet (fruits, vegetables, nuts, roots, fish and meats consistent with early human diets before the mass cultivation of wheat, corn, and rice) as well as some modern additions such as dairy. The results were incredible. After about a month I not only felt better, I lost 40lbs and became more comfortable eating smaller portions fewer times per day. On average, I eat less than 2,000 cal per day and have maintained a healthy weight without any notable changes to my level of daily activity (gym 1-3 times a week, nothing special).
That said, the proliferation of wheat, corn, rice, and soy to the “normal” diet is frustratingly troublesome and herein we see some of the problems of our increasingly filler-based diet. Those who bring up the issues with our increasing obesity epidemic (and resulting maladies such as diabetes) point at the big fast food umbrella and other societal ills resulting in poor nutrition. The primary issue however is something more innocuous than that, something we even go so far as to promote and subsidize. Wheat and corn (and soy and rice for that matter) are touted as food in spite of the fact that they are in no way native to the human diet. Consumption of them leave many people riddled with problems whether it’s a few excess pounds or neurologically damaging celiac disease in the case of wheat. The fact that it is said that GMO corn, wheat, and soy may be the solution to world hunger sickens me knowing how much havoc they can cause after filling up a stomach for a few hours. Soy has it’s own laundry list of health concerns and at best can only be considered a cheap filler. White rice is devoid of almost anything that might be considered nutritious. No matter how hard we try to engineer these things, they will never be metabolized with the same efficiency as foods that are native to the human diet. All the studies frustrate me because they turn a blind eye to the obvious issues.