– This rejects the myth that fat people lie more about what they eat. Everyone in this study, thin or thick, misreported the number of calories. Gavin Sandercock, professor and researcher at the University of Essex in the UK, says in a press release. Together with colleagues, he accompanied a group of British adults from 2013–2015. The goal was to assess how honest people are with regard to daily food intake. And the result, you ask? “Everyone” eats a good deal more than we like to admit. Not very surprising that one lies about food, says Norwegian professor. Keeped diary, but lied 221 people participated in the study. They had an average age of 54 years, and about a third had a BMI equivalent to being overweight. The participants were also evenly distributed by gender. Each had to keep a diary of what they ate and drank for four days. Then they had to drink a specially prepared water for ten days. Samples of urine were collected every single day. The special water allowed the researchers to see how much energy the participants actually used in 24 hours. By comparing the reported food intake and the actual calories burned, the researchers were able to say how much people ate. And that was a good deal more than the participants noted in their diary. Three cheeseburgers from McDonalds Participants themselves claimed to eat about 1800 calories. But the results showed otherwise. Based on the data, the researchers could see that they burned an average of 2700 calories a day. This led to a gap of 900 calories, which is equivalent to three cheeseburgers from McDonalds. The experts therefore concluded that these were the extra calories consumed during a day. Overweight people failed to report 1,200 extra calories every 24 hours, while normal-weight people underreported 800 calories. But according to the researchers, this number evens out as larger people use more energy in daily chores. 900 calories is equivalent to 300 cherry tomatoes, five pints of beer, seven small bags of salted potato chips or 18 apples. Photo: frukt.no Why do we lie? Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bergen. He has written a book called “The Philosophy of Lies”. The professor says that in principle we do not need a reason to tell the truth, but that we need a reason to lie. Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen says it is uncertain whether we lie most to ourselves or others. – But our tendency to self-deception is so strong that I would guess that we lie most to ourselves. Photo: CF-WESENBERG – We lie because something in one sense or another is problematic or unpleasant for us. Then we think that a lie will solve the problem. That said, it should be noted that most of us are truthful to each other most of the time. Lying about food, Svendsen thinks, can feel unproblematic. Since it does not affect anyone else. – When you have told this untruth, you will also have a tendency to start believing in it, he says to NRK. In addition, he believes food intake can be so shameful, that it in itself can lead to lying. Need to change focus How many calories each of us needs in a day varies. It depends on, among other things, activity level, metabolism and gender. Men often need more food than women. According to the authors of the study, many guidelines and recommendations of calorie intake are based on self-reporting. – Historically, people have been strongly dependent on people themselves reporting what they eat. If one acknowledges that the goals for energy intake are wrong, it can lead to setting more realistic goals, says Professor Gavin Sandercock. He also believes that one must stop believing that people who are overweight lie more about their food intake. One should rather spend time on what is important: increased focus on risk factors for obesity. The study was recently published in the American Journal of Human Biology. The diet in Norway Norwegians ate an average of around 3,080 calories a day in the 50s. Norwegians ate an average of around 2,700 calories a day in 2014. In 2004, Norwegians ate an average of 64 kg of vegetables a year. In 2014, we ate 80 kg. The diet’s content of added sugar has been reduced from 17 to 13 per cent of the total energy content from 1999 to 2014. The content of fat in the diet has increased slightly since 2000. Source: The Norwegian Directorate of Health’s report on developments in the Norwegian diet.
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“Everyone” lies about how much they eat in a day, reveals a new study – NRK Trøndelag
