Size Matters in Fast, Fatty Fare
The fast-food industry’s highly profitable practice of serving bigger portions has become a lightning rod for criticism by nutritionists and health advocacy groups that blame “portion distortion” for the bloating of America, a trend with unhealthful consequences.
Among other things, these critics are calling for legislation requiring restaurants to disclose calorie levels on menus, and they are particularly critical of chains’ growing practice of “super-sizing” meals. They cite research showing that consumers who are served more tend to eat more.
The industry, however, says bigger portions should not be blamed for Americans’ growing girth. They say consumers are not being forced to overeat.
With competition among eateries more cutthroat than ever and food costs relatively low, the typical restaurant dinner plate has grown 25%, to 12 1/2 inches, since the mid-1990s, said Lisa Young, a nutritionist and adjunct professor at New York University. At the same time, busy Americans are eating out more.
As portion sizes have expanded and restaurant visits increased, Americans have gotten larger. Sixty-one percent of U.S. adults are now classified as overweight or obese, up from 56% in 1994. Excess fat contributes to heart disease, cancer and diabetes, and an estimated 300,000 deaths per year, health experts say. In 2000, direct and indirect costs related to fatness amounted to $117 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Super-sizing is contributing to the current epidemic of obesity in this country,” said Barbara Rolls, a professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University. “The more you give people, the more they’ll eat.”
To help curb consumers’ appetite for tasty-but-gut-busting fast food, the Center for Science in the Public Interest in recent months has begun pressuring federal and state lawmakers to pass legislation that would require chains to publish the calorie contents of burgers, burritos and other menu items. Such disclosures might give pause to many diners thinking of gorging themselves, said Jayne G. Hurley, senior nutritionist at the Washington-based group.
“If you walk into a supermarket, you can pick up any package and find out how many calories and how much fat it has. But you can’t do that at a restaurant,” she said. “People have no idea what they’re getting, and would make better-informed decisions if they did.”
The National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity, a group of 225 national, state and local health organizations, presented a study in mid-June that criticized the fast-food industry’s practice of coaxing consumers to “super-size” their meals for a bit more money.
The American Institute for Cancer Research, a major charity that focuses on the link between diet and cancer, urges people to ask for half or smaller portions, even if it’s not cost effective. Also, it recommends, desserts should be shared.
From a caloric standpoint, consumers who eat at fast-food restaurants often are getting a lot. A McDonald’s Corp. super-size Extra Value Meal of a Quarter Pounder with cheese, 42-ounce Coke and large fries has 1,550 calories, according to the institute. That’s nearly all of the Agriculture Department’s recommended daily allotment of 1,600 calories for a sedentary woman and more than 70% of the 2,200-calorie quota for a man who exercises little.
No fast-food restaurants currently put nutrition information on menu boards, but almost all of them, including McDonald’s, post the data on their Web sites. Burger King and Carl’s Jr., among others, display it in restaurants. Others distribute pamphlets upon request.
The National Council of Chain Restaurants vigorously opposes any new regulations, said Terrie Dort, president of the Washington-based trade association. “We don’t feel we need the government telling us what to do,” she said. “Consumers who want information can already get it.”
The Center for Science’s Hurley said that’s not good enough, arguing that consumers can’t go online while waiting in line for their burgers and fries. Also, many don’t even know they can obtain such information from restaurants.
Another reason for the restaurant industry’s opposition is that making caloric data easily accessible could hurt sales, said Larry Sarokin of Sarokin & Sarokin, a Beverly Hills-based restaurant consulting firm. “If people knew how fattening the food was, they might eat fewer Whoppers and Big Macs,” he said.
Legislation regulating fast-food menus has yet to be introduced and probably would face intense opposition from the restaurant industry and its allies, experts said.
McDonald’s, Burger King and other outlets push the bigger sizes because soft drinks and fries have high profit margins that boost the bottom line, said Carlsbad restaurant consultant Hal Sieling. But they also add hundreds of calories to meals already low in nutrients and high in fat and sugar.
At $1.90, a super-size order of fries at McDonald’s costs only 87 cents more than a small order but adds 400 calories. But a typical super-size serving of fries costs the restaurant only an estimated 15 cents more in ingredients than a small bag, Sieling said.
McDonald’s spokesman Walt Riker said restaurants are not to blame for the country’s collective bulge. McDonald’s offers consumers a wide array of options, including orange juice, salads and yogurt parfaits, he said. The chain also allows them to customize sandwiches so they can leave off mayonnaise, cheese and other high-fat, high-calorie items if they so desire.
Steven Grover, vice president of regulatory affairs at the National Restaurant Assn. in Washington, said Americans are gaining weight not because restaurant meals have gotten bigger but because they are watching more television, playing more video games, doing less physical labor and have little understanding about nutrition.
“It’s too easy to blame the food,” he said. “People who have a weight problem are making bad decisions. Overeating is a choice.”
But studies have shown that people will eat more than they normally would when served lots of food. Even diners disciplined enough to take home half their servings might be eating too much. Restaurant meals are often so calorie-laden and big that diners might want to consider eating only one-third of the meal to avoid overeating, said Larry Lindner, executive editor of the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter in Boston.
In the battle for stomach share, several casual-dining restaurants, like their fast-food cousins, offer customers the choice of stuffing themselves.
Irvine-based Claim Jumper has distinguished itself with its mammoth offerings. The 29-store chain, with outlets in five states, is famous for its Six Layer Chocolate Motherlode Cake, which, at $7.95 a slice, can feed an entire family, said Jennifer Weerheim, vice president of marketing.
A big reason some restaurants are so busy is that time-starved Americans no longer have time to cook, said Christopher Muller, a professor of restaurant management at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
With that trend unlikely to change soon, the popularity of eateries should continue to grow, along with Americans’ girth, experts said.
Just ask Catherine Cleeremans. The 52-year-old account executive at Buzzsaw, an Irvine design firm, said she now puts in so many hours at work that she eats 14 restaurant meals a week, up from 10 two years ago. In that time, she has added 15 pounds to her 5-foot-5-inch frame.
“I have no control over the ingredients [restaurants] put in the food or the portion sizes, which are always big,” she said. “But I just can’t resist.”
