AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.4%)
AIRLINK 129.53 Decreased By ▼ -2.20 (-1.67%)
BOP 6.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.15%)
CNERGY 4.63 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (3.58%)
DCL 8.94 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.36%)
DFML 41.69 Increased By ▲ 1.08 (2.66%)
DGKC 83.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-0.37%)
FCCL 32.77 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.33%)
FFBL 75.47 Increased By ▲ 6.86 (10%)
FFL 11.47 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.06%)
HUBC 110.55 Decreased By ▼ -1.21 (-1.08%)
HUMNL 14.56 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (1.75%)
KEL 5.39 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (3.26%)
KOSM 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-6.46%)
MLCF 39.79 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (0.91%)
NBP 60.29 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
OGDC 199.66 Increased By ▲ 4.72 (2.42%)
PAEL 26.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.15%)
PIBTL 7.66 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.41%)
PPL 157.92 Increased By ▲ 2.15 (1.38%)
PRL 26.73 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.19%)
PTC 18.46 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.87%)
SEARL 82.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-0.7%)
TELE 8.31 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.97%)
TOMCL 34.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.12%)
TPLP 9.06 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (2.84%)
TREET 17.47 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (4.61%)
TRG 61.32 Decreased By ▼ -1.13 (-1.81%)
UNITY 27.43 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.04%)
WTL 1.38 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (7.81%)
BR100 10,407 Increased By 220 (2.16%)
BR30 31,713 Increased By 377.1 (1.2%)
KSE100 97,328 Increased By 1781.9 (1.86%)
KSE30 30,192 Increased By 614.4 (2.08%)

Men are almost four times as likely as women to have a poor grasp of how many calories they need to consume daily for their age and activity level, a US study suggests. American obesity rates are at historically high levels, researchers note in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. An estimated 40% of adults, or more than 93 million people nationwide, are obese.
While obesity has many causes, consuming too many calories is a big part of the problem. For the current study, researchers examined data on 6,267 adults surveyed about their health and eating habits in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010.
Overall, 37% of men and 17% of women were unable to correctly answer questions about how many calories they would need daily to maintain their current weight, based on their age, sex and activity levels, the study found. To get the right answer, people had to pick the right calorie range from a list of choices: 500-1,000; 1,001-1,500; 1,501-2000; 2,001-2,500; 2,501-3,000; or more than 3,000.
"So, it's possible - even likely - that some participants may have simply guessed in the correct range," said Robin McKinnon, lead author of the study and a senior advisor for nutrition policy at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in College Park, Maryland.
"Our analysis probably overestimates rather than underestimates how many people answered correctly," McKinnon said by email.
The gender gap in calorie knowledge persisted across racial and ethnic groups as well as different ages, incomes and education levels. About 30% of white men and 56% of black and Hispanic men didn't know the right range of calories for their weight and age. Nor did 10% of white women, 33% of black women or 42% of Hispanic women.
With less than a high school education, 56% of men and 37% of women didn't know their daily calorie needs, compared to 24% of men and 6% of women with college degrees. Proportions were similar when comparing men and women with annual incomes under $20,000 versus over $100,000. The study can't show whether knowing daily calorie needs impacts how much people actually eat, or whether they are overweight.
"The take-home message is that having a good idea of how many calories your body needs is really helpful for managing your weight - and that men could do (better) to be especially aware of this since they seem to be behind the curve in knowledge of this kind," said Susan Roberts, a nutrition researcher at Tufts University in Boston who wasn't involved in the study.
"Another message is that we should all be aware that calorie requirements decrease as we get older and factor that into changing food habits to age in a healthy way," Roberts said by email. Calories are not the only thing people need to consider when making choices about what to eat, McKinnon said. People also need to eat a balanced diet.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.