We Get a Quarter of Our Calories from Outside Food

Ordering a takeaway was once an occasional luxury - a way of celebrating a special occasion or treating the family. But it is now so common that a quarter of all the calories we consume come from food produced outside the home, experts have revealed.

Britain is set to be put on a nationwide diet from March as public health officials impose new calorie caps. The health body's chief nutritionist Alison Tedstone said Britons were consuming 200 to 300 calories a day too many.

‘Officials are drawing up guidelines aimed at drastically cutting calories in restaurant meals. Limits have not yet been set, but it is likely to mean major chains will be asked to shrink portions of unhealthy food.’

She said meals "out of home" were a major cause, with retailers selling high-calorie foods as "treats" which encouraged overconsumption.

"This is all about things like pizzas and ready-made sandwiches. We will need to set out guidelines and, I suspect, a series of calorie caps," she said.

Eating a meal or snack on the move does not fill you up as much as sitting down to a meal at a table. Even when calories are equal, if people think of their food as a �snack' they will eat 50 per cent more later on than if they regard it as a �meal'.

The most recent nationwide statistics, published last year, showed that some 63% of adults in England were too heavy, with 36% overweight and 27% registering as obese.

Rates of obesity were particularly high among older people and in deprived areas, with men more likely to be overweight or obese than women.

Source: Medindia