Brits 'are consuming 50 per cent more calories than they admit'

Brits are lying about their calorie intake, claiming that they eat 50 per cent less than they actually do, new research reveals.

The first official use of a biological test which measures calorie intake showed that the average British person exceeds official health recommendations by the equivalent of a McDonald’s Big Mac per day.

The experimental research revealed that people are reluctant to admit how many calories they consume in a day.

But experts claim that the inaccuracy of diet research based on people lying can undermine dietary recommendations.

The Office of National Statistics estimated that women are eating 2,393 calories per day compared to the 1,570 they confess too.

Men are also downplaying their calorie intake claiming that they consume 2,065 per day but in reality the figure is closer to 3,119.

When the ONS studied the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, a source considered to be a reliable piece of data reflecting what British people eat, they found that 34 per cent of respondents claimed they were eating less calories than physically necessary to stay alive.

In order to create a more accurate estimate, researchers monitored a subset of 200 people using the “gold standard” technique.

The technique measures how energy is metabolised by asking candidates to drink water containing isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen which can be tracked over 24 hours.

Using the “gold standard”, researchers found that the amount of energy people claimed to consume compared to their actual energy intake did not match up.

This disparity was then used to create a model to adjust the responses of the other candidates in the survey.

Rowena Bailey who carried out the research told The Times that the biological measure should be used in obesity research.