Our friend Casey Neistat made a wonderful documentary for the New York Times. He went and compared the actual calories of food to what’s listed on the nutrition facts. And guess what? More times than not, food had more calories than what was advertised.
It’s a fascinating study because though calories can rule our figure obsessed (or shape obese, depending on your perspective) society, they’re kind of doing it with an invisible hand. How many people really know how to scientifically count calories? How many people take what’s listed on the nutrition facts as gospel? What if we’re being lied to all this time!
Casey Neistat took five items: a muffin, a tofu sandwich, a Subway sandwich, a Starbucks Frappuccino and a Chipotle burrito and brought it to food scientists at the New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center at St Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center to test each food’s caloric content. In total, four out of the five foods he tested had more calories than what the labels said (a Tofu sandwich had more than double the calories listed, only Subway came in at under the Nutrition Facts. Go Jared!).
Those unaccounted calories added up to an extra 550 calories! People obsessed with counting calories would never know about this fuzzy maths. People who don’t care about calories are eating even more than they should be. And the crazy thing? No one verifies the accuracy of these calories. Companies can list whatever the hell they want!
Watch the short video on calories here to find out what each company’s excuse for having more calories is. If you can’t believe it, don’t eat it. [NY Times]