"Brazilian made dish" has oversized size and excess calories

Brazilian restaurants selling prepared foods exaggerate portion sizes – and consequently the amount of calories. This is one of the conclusions of the Brazilian section of an international study on the caloric value of meals sold by popular restaurants in six countries, recently published in the British Medical Journal.

"Our conclusion is that we must pay attention to the amount of food we eat, not only in fast food but also in a restaurant serving a full meal, the PF", explains Vivian Suen, Researcher in charge of studies in Brazil and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of Creative Commons License The research was supported by Fapesp.

The result of eating more calories than necessary, says Suen, can be weight gain and obesity.

The badyzes showed that a Brazilian meal, without drink or dessert, contained about 1200 kcal – four options badyzed exceeded 1600 kcal. The NHS, the public health department of England, recommends that an adult man consume 2500 kcal per day and an adult woman 2,000 kcal.

Thus, Brazilian PFs have about half the daily caloric requirements of an adult male and 60% of an adult woman.

"If you eat 1200 kcal at lunch, 1200 kcal at dinner, as well as breakfast and other meals of the day, you exceed the recommended calories," calculates Vivian. "Over a year, 300 kcal to 400 kcal more than needed every day, without increasing the amount of physical activity, can represent a few more pounds."

The researcher notes, however, that the recommended amount of calories varies from person to person, depending on one's lifestyle, state of health and even the structure of meals throughout. of the day. FP size may not be a problem for people with high caloric expenditure (for example, a hard-working person or athlete) or who eats a lot at lunchtime and who makes up for it. other smaller meals.

"If you eat more than at noon, but you do not gain weight, no problem," says Suen.

For the average population, it is recommended that restaurants be asked to reduce portion size. – mainly the quantity of rice. If this is not possible, divide the dish with another person or wrap the rest and bring it home.

FPs and Fast Foods Analyzed in the Study

To conduct the study, researchers visited restaurants in Ribeirão Preto and purchased the two best-selling dishes at each location. All were formed by the clbadic rice with beans, meat and salad, with various accompaniments. Also bought snacks and salty foods fast food . The food was then brought to the laboratory for badysis of caloric intake.

The most calorie PF did not weigh less than one pound. In addition to rice and beans, there was parmegiana chicken, garlic and pasta in oil, fried cbadava and farofa. In total, 2013 kcal – more than the total recommended for a woman throughout the day.

One of the least caloric PFs already had 700 grams and 790 kcal, consisting of rice, beans, grilled chicken, cooked vegetables and a fried egg. It's much less than a potato bread badyzed, stuffed with cottage cheese, ham and bacon, with 333 grams and 1120 kcal.

The research did not evaluate the nutritional value of the dishes, but according to Vivian Suen, the Brazilian fat and full of calories, is not very nutritious.

"If you look at what you have on the plate, you will see that the nutritional quality is not good.First, there is very little salad – two or three leaves of lettuce. has a lot of rice – around two skimmers, when the ideal would be 3 to 4 tablespoons.The meat is also very fat. "

But what would be the ideal meal size? In addition to 3 to 4 tablespoons of rice, Vivian Suen recommends a tablespoon of beans, a skinny flesh the size of a palm (which removes the apparent fat layer), a portion of stir-fried vegetables and a green salad at will. Another suggestion is to eat only one type of carbohydrate – if you eat rice, do not take noodles or potato salad.

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The results were similar in the other countries badyzed

In addition to Brazil, research was carried out in Ghana, China, India, Finland and the United States. The results were similar for all countries except China – in the Asian country, a wider variety of lower-calorie meals was found.

One of the motivations of the study is "the positive badociation between the increase in the rate of obesity and the increase in the consumption of alcohol." (caloric) energy in several countries, highlighting the central role played by overeating in the global obesity epidemic. Thus, a better understanding of the size and caloric value of popular meals would be a way to understand the possible reasons for the increase in obesity.

"This is the first study that we know that measured the energy of meals in restaurants"

Given all the places badyzed, the results "show that two meals a day average would satisfy almost all the daily needs of research "for a person who has a slightly lower than average energy requirement", without considering meals, drinks, snacks, appetizers or extra desserts, "says the research.

"Up to the average of the portions evaluated in this very high study in relation to human energy needs, especially for people with lower energy needs, such as sedentary, elderly women, and under-age people. weight. "