When men and women were served a larger beverage at lunch, they consumed more calories from the beverage without reducing their food intake according to a recent study from researchers at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.

Men and women in the U.S. are eating more calories than they did in 1976-1980. Men are eating an average of 207 calories more per day, while women are eating 317 calories more according to the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) of self-reported food intake among American adults.

Children under-report their calorie intake. The amount of under-reporting increases with age to the point of 15- to 17-year-olds under-reporting their calorie intake by a third (34 percent) according to a study from the Elsie Widdowson Laboratory in Cambrige, England.

“During our adult lifetime, each of us in the UK will, on average, eat more than 80,000 meals amounting to some 60 million calories, or to pit it another way, we each eat 600 chickens, 4000 loaves of bread and 5000 kg [11,000 pounds] of potatoes,” John R. Krebs from the University of Oxford in Oxford, England stated in a lecture on “food, fact and fantasy”.

How much weight will a person gain if they consume an extra 24 calories per day for a year? Men will gain 3.9 pounds in a year, while women will gain 4.6 pounds according to a new study from Denmark. Yikes!

From 1971 to 2000, carbohydrate intake in the U.S. increased by an average of 68 grams per day in men and 62 grams per day in women. Fat intake increased in women by 6.5 grams per day, but decreased by 5.3 grams per day in men.

From 1971 to 2000, the average daily calorie intake for U.S. adults increased by 335 calories in women and 168 calories in men.