Single takeaway can bust calorie limit for whole day, study finds

Some takeaway meals contain more calories in one sitting than people are advised to consume in an entire day, a devastating study of British eating habits has revealed.

- Denis Campbell

Cafes, fast food outlets, restaurants, bakeries, pubs and supermarkets are fuelling the UK's obesity crisis because so many meals they sell contain dangerously large numbers of calories, it found.

Six out of 10 takeaway meals contain more than the 600-calorie maximum the government recommends for each meal of lunch and dinner to avoid gaining weight, according to the research, which was undertaken by the social innovation agency Nesta.

It found one in three takeaways contain at least 1,200 calories - double the recommended limit.

Since 2018 the government has recommended people should have no more than 400 calories at breakfast, 600 more at lunchtime and 600 in the evening, with women and men consuming no more than 2,000 and 2,500 calories respectively across a 24-hour period, with the remainder in snacks or drinks.

However, pizza and chips contains more than either daily maximum typically, 3,142 calories. A pizza generally has between 2,000 and 2,400 calories, while a burger, chicken nuggets, side and soft drink weighs in at 1,658 calories, the Nesta researchers found.

Fish and chips, that ever-popular staple of the British diet, is well over the 600 limit, too, at 1,425 calories.