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Food

This Country Consumes More Calories Per Day Than Anywhere Else

A new study has analysed the calorie intake of countries around the world to determine who consumes the most and what impact this can have on public health.
Phoebe Hurst
London, GB

When it comes to countries and their daily food intake, we'd probably all assume that America, with its deep-fried butter, irrational love of sugary drinks, and endless pizza options would take the greasy, frosting-topped crown.

Well, maybe not. A new study from addiction treatment provider Recovery Brands has analysed the food intake of countries around the world to find that Americans may have competition in the calorie-loading stakes.

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Using data from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, the study looked at calories served in each country per capita between 2004 and 2013. Countries such as Sweden remained fairly neutral on the scale but North America and certain European countries including Belgium and the United Kingdom were well above average.

READ MORE: This Handy Calorie-Counting App Barrages You With Insults

Somewhat surprisingly, the country with the highest calorific intake was Austria, who topped the list with an average of 3,769 calories consumed per day. American calorie consumption was still above average though, with researchers placing some of the blame on technology for making "producing and consuming food cheaper, putting industrialised nations at risk of obesity problems."

Recovery Brand's study also noted that people living in countries where a smaller portion of income is spent on food costs are generally served a larger amount of calories each day, usually around 3,500 per person. Accordingly, impoverished countries such as Indonesia, in which food costs make up a large amount of household expenditure, are less likely to see extreme levels of obesity.

Residents of India were found to be at the bottom of the calorific intake list, consuming an average daily calorie intake of 2,500 per person.

However some countries with low calorific serving rates were still found to have high obesity rates—such as Mexico, a developing nation in which 32.8 percent of the population is thought to be overweight.

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Recovery Brand researchers also looked at the rise of calorie intake between 1961 and 2011, finding that in some countries, people were consuming as much as 500 or 600 more calories in 2011 than they were in the 60s. In 1961, residents of the UK and Ireland were consuming an average of 3,300 calories per day per person but by 2011, this had reached just over 3,500.

WATCH: FUEL: The 10,000-Calorie Sumo Wrestler Diet

The study puts this down to a rise in eating out over recent years, but also the increase in restaurant portion sizes. Using data from independent eateries, researchers found that the average serving size per meal is 66 percent of an adult's daily recommended calorie intake, something anyone who has ever attempted to update their MyFitnessPal after going HAM at an all-you-can-eat Chinese will sadly attest to.

Researchers hope that their calorific mapping study will help decipher the kind of impact food consumption has on public health but does anyone else kinda want to visit Austria after reading the results?

Weiner Schnitzel and Krainer Wurst must taste better than they sound if people are dropping 3k calories a day on them.