Restaurants meals higher in fat, salt than cheap takeaways

RESTAURANT meals can be just as bad for you as cheap fast-food takeaways, a study has found. They are just as bad for salt and cholesterol levels as burger bars, according to researchers.

Home-cooked meals were healthiest of all, as people who cooked their own food ate around 200 calories less than those who bought their food outside.

The University of Illinois study looked at data from 18,098 adults in the United States (US).

Author Ruopeng An analysed eight years of statistics from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

He found that while restaurant meals were healthier in terms of having more vitamins, potassium and Omega-3 fatty acids than fast food takeaways, restaurant diners ate substantially more sodium and cholesterol.

Prof. An said: “People who ate at full-service restaurants consumed significantly more cholesterol per day than people who ate at home.

“This extra intake of cholesterol, about 58mg per day, accounts for 20 per cent of the recommended upper bound of total cholesterol intake of 300mg per day.”

Fast food diners ate only an extra 10mg of cholesterol per day more than people who ate at home, he found.

Fast food and restaurant diners ate 10 grams more total fat, and 3.49 grams and 2.46 grams, respectively, of saturated fat than those who dined at home.

Recommended limits of saturated fats are around 13 grams of saturated fat a day, An said.

Fast food outlets add about 300mg of sodium – the part of salt that increases blood pressure – to one’s daily diet.

It is said that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but even if you manage to bag a bargain meal, it will not taste as good as a more expensive option, according to scientists.

A new study has found that restaurant goers who pay more for their meals think the food is tastier than if it is offered for a smaller price.

The experts think that people tend to associate cost with quality and this changes their perception of how food tastes.
Scientists at Cornell University in New York studied the eating habits of 139 people enjoying an Italian buffet in an upstate restaurant.