Selasa, 24 April 2012

Don't bother counting calories

Don't bother counting calories

By Daily Mail Reporter

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Oscar winner Marion Cotillard lives up to the 'thin French woman' stereotype

Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard lives up to the 'thin French woman' stereotype

At first it seems like a paradox on our plate - a study has found the French adopt a shoulder-shrugging attitude to reading nutrition labels on food while Americans scrutinise the calorie content.

Yet France has an obesity rate of just 12 per cent, which is three times lower than in the U.S.

The unusual finding suggests that the UK Government's drive to encourage food manufacturer's to provide clear labels may do little to encourage healthier eating habits.

For the study, scientists asked more than 300 French, Quebec, and American consumers to answer a questionnaire designed to test what they knew about dietary fats.

Questions dealt with the amount and types of fat contained in various foods and what the nutritional recommendations are regarding these fats. Participants were asked to answer 'Don't know' rather than hazard a guess.

The scientists from the Université Laval in Canada, Cornell University in New York and Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Paul Bocuse in Écully, France, found French respondents said they didn't the answer to 43 per cent of the questions. This compared to just 13 per cent from Canada and four per cent from the U.S.

Fifty-five percent of French respondents said they did not know the percentage of fat in whole milk, compared with five per cent for Quebec and four per cent for the United States. The same trend was observed for butter, margarine, and vegetable oils.

When the participants tried to answers, the Americans were most likely to be right, followed by the Canadians, with the French bringing up the rear.

Twice as many French respondents (17 per cent) didn't know the recommendations regarding avoiding saturated fats compared to unsaturated fats, as Americans (nine per cent.)

Woman looking at a bottle

Worth the bother? Researchers believe aiming for a balance meal could be better than counting calories

Professor Maurice Doyon from Université Laval said: 'The difference among respondents' knowledge essentially indicates that the French don't take much of an interest in the nutrients contained in the foods they eat. The information is on the package, but they don't read it.'

According to the researchers, the correlation found between extensive nutritional knowledge and high obesity rates suggests that focusing on detailed nutritional information may not be the best strategy for encouraging healthy eating habits.

'It's an approach that presents information to consumers in a broken down form,' suggested Dr Doyon.

'This may lead them to think of food in terms of its fat, carbohydrate, and caloric content and lose sight of the whole picture. It might be better to focus on what constitutes a healthy, complete, and balanced meal.'

The researchers reported their findings in a recent edition of the British Food Journal.

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

So the newest fad diet is move to France?!

@Howard Canitbe; They are ultimately the deciding factor in weight gain or loss I am afraid...and restricting overall calories is one of the only documented ways of extending ones life...

I think it's all down to calories in vs calories out, really and watching portion sizes as well as: food quality and ingredients, accompanying food and cooking method. You could have extensive knowledge on calories but be very unhealthy. The French also have better quality butter, milk, cheese, bread ... and on average move more.

I'm slim.fat people are lazy.fact

Calorie counting is easy if you are over 3 years old

Isn't the answer rather obvious? Americans, and Brits, obsess about 'fat' in food, and end up trying to cut it out and then replacing it with highly refined, and nutritionally barren carbohydrates that are actually uniquely fattening. The French, meanwhile, just seem to know that that saturated fat is perfectly harmless, and is actually slimming. Saturated fat got a bad wrap from an American scientist in the 1950s, while the rest of the world didn't care. Only English speaking countries took on board the 'anti-fat' message because they could read the 'scientific papers', and as a result, all the English speaking countries' populations got obese (US, UK, Canada, and Australia).

Calories don't count, nutrients do. Calories are NOT nutrients.

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