Restaurants and pub chains are more calorific than fast food places

Meals at restaurant chains contain MORE calories than fast food outlets like McDonalds and KFC, with the average ‘full service’ dinner at 1,033 calories

• Chain restaurants have an average of 977 calories per meal, while Leon has 597
• Experts say full-service restaurants are as bad or worse than fast food places
• Public Health England recommends eating no more than 600 calories per meal
• But some of the worst offenders have average calorie counts of more than 1,200 

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Meals at popular restaurants and pub chains in the UK contain ‘excessive’ numbers of calories, a study has found.

And only one of 27 restaurants in the research – Leon – has an average calorie count of less than 600 in its meals, with the overall average a huge 977.

Researchers say full-service restaurants are just as bad, if not worse, than fast food takeaways which tend to have a worse reputation.

The worst offenders, Hungry Horse and Stone House pizza and carvery, have more than 1,200 calories per meal, and 11 out of 21 restaurants have more than 1,000.

Experts warn the unhealthy options at some of the country’s most popular restaurants is contributing to an obesity crisis which has left at least a quarter of adults and one in five children dangerously overweight.

Leon, a restaurant which prides itself on ‘good fast food’, is the only restaurant in a study of 27 popular chains which doesn’t have a single meal with over 1,000 calories and which has an average calorie count of lower than 600, the amount recommended by Public Health England

A study led by the University of Liverpool compared the average calorie counts in 13,500 main meals at popular chain restaurants in the UK.

Researchers said they were shocked to discover just one in 10 of the meals on offer could be considered healthy.

On average, people eating out at one of the restaurants can expect to be served a meal containing 977 calories – more than a third more than is healthy.

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And many contain more than twice the 600 calories recommended for a lunch or dinner meal by Public Health England.

Leon, a restaurant which prides itself on ‘good fast food’, is the only chain restaurant to hit the 600-calorie target.

It has an average of 597 calories in its meals and no options with more than 1,000, according to the report in the British Medical Journal.

HOW THE GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO STOP OBESITY 

The proposed plans to restrict the number of calories in pizzas, pies and ready meals comes as part of drastic Government moves over the past year to try and cut down on obesity.

A tax on added sugar in drinks came into force in April, requiring companies to hand over more of the money they make from drinks which contain more than 5g of sugar per 100ml of liquid.

As a result, many soft drinks have had their recipes changed in order to avoid paying the tax and putting prices up. Sugary drinks are the biggest single source of sugar for children and teenagers.

The Government is also considering making it compulsory for all restaurants and fast food outlets to display the number of calories in each meal on their menu.

Some food outlets already do this but there can be unexpected numbers of calories in popular dishes, and the Government is consulting on the plans before a decision is due in spring.

In March this year, Public Health England warned Brits to crack down on the number of calories they’re eating, advising people to consume no more than 1,600 per day.

The watchdog says adults shouldn’t eat any more than 400 calories for breakfast, 600 for lunch and 600 for dinner – this would allow for some snacks, experts said.

Examples of 600-calorie meals include a tuna pasta salad and a small cereal bar, a chicken salad sandwich and a pack of crisps, or half a pepperoni pizza with a quarter of a garlic baguette and a banana.

In the same announcement PHE said shops selling the food should cut down their portion sizes to help people slim their waistlines.

Plans are also being considered to ban advertising junk food on television before 9pm, to reduce the number of children who are exposed to it. 

Pub companies were among those with staggeringly high calorie counts, with Wetherspoons, Chef and Brewer, Ember Inns, Flaming Grill, Old English Inns, Sizzling Pubs and Vintage Inns all pushing past an average 1,000 calories.

And big-name restaurants Harvester and Nando’s also had their names beside four- figure calorie counts.

Shockingly, McDonald’s – for years used as shorthand for unhealthy eating and getting fat – had the second lowest average calorie count of all the restaurants.

While 72 per cent of fast food dishes were over the 600-calorie recommendation, a whopping 94 per cent of those in full-service restaurants were.

‘A sizeable proportion of main meals from fast food and full service restaurants were excessive in [calorie] content,’ said lead researcher Dr Eric Robertson.

He said many places did not provide enough information on menus for diners to be able to work out how many calories they would end up eating.

Dr Robertson added: ‘Although some of the results are shocking our findings probably underestimate the number of calories consumed in restaurants because our analysis did not include drinks, starters, desserts or side orders.

‘It’s really clear what the food industry need to do – they need to act more responsibly and reduce the number of calories that they’re serving.’

The research also looked at the proportion of meals included in the study which have more than an ‘excessive’ 1,000 calories and how many have fewer than 600.

Hungry Horse and Stone House were worst, with 78 per cent of all their meals having more than 1,000 calories – two thirds of a woman’s daily intake.

They were followed by Flaming Grill and Harvester, which both had 69 per cent over 1,000 calories.

And Stone House didn’t have a single meal with fewer than the Government’s 600-calorie meal limit.

Dr Robertson said the research shows restaurants are contributing to over-consumption and making people fat as part of an ongoing obesity crisis.

As a result they should be required to dish up smaller portions and print calorie counts on menus to help people take better control of their health, he said.

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