Study: Calorie Count On Restaurant Menus Not Always Accurate

DENVER (CBS4) - When checking a calorie count on a restaurant menu, customers expect it to be accurate. Now a new study finds that's not always the case.

"We had one food that came in that contained 1,000 calories more than the amount listed on the menu, which even we were shocked about," Dr. Susan B. Roberts at Tufts University said.

That was one finding from a study done Roberts. Roberts and her colleagues tested the calorie count of 269 food items from 42 fast food and sit-down restaurant menus.

"Fast food restaurants are doing pretty well in terms of quality control. It's really the sit-down restaurants that need to examine their quality control and step up to the plate better," Roberts said.

Out of the food items tested, 40 percent were slightly over the stated menu calorie count, while 52 percent were just under. The biggest discrepancies were seen on items from sit-down restaurants.

Regardless of the numbers, dietician Shana Patterson says knowledge is key.

"What we found is that customers actually do make the healthier option when they know the healthy option is available," Patterson said.

Then again, for some customers, seeing an accurate calorie count doesn't really matter.

"I wouldn't object to it being there. There are definitely people that enjoy counting calories. The math of it really weighs me down," a restaurant-goer said.

"It doesn't matter, but if it did have a lot of calories, I might change my mind," another said.

"It is really good news," Patterson said. "I think that anything that brings awareness to customers that want to know this information is a really good thing."

Find lots of help counting calories and adding exercise to your routine just by visiting CBS4's Fit 4 Colorado page.