American Waistlines Continue To Grow

June 30, 2011 7:30 AM

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waistline2 e1309436544347 American Waistlines Continue To Grow

Photo by CRISTINA PEDRAZZINI/Getty Images

It’s no secret that Americans love to eat.

A new study out reports that our waists continue to expand from more frequent eating and eating more at each meal.

The number of daily meals and snacks consumed by U.S. adults rose to 4.8 in 2006 from 3.8 in 1977, according to University of North Carolina researchers who examined surveys of daily eating habits over a 30-year period. In the top 10 percent of those surveyed, the number of daily meals and snacks rose to seven from five.

The analysis also found that although the size of meal portions has stabilized in recent years, but the number of total calories consumed is rising. By 2006, the end of the period studied, Americans were consuming 570 more calories per day than they did in the late 1970s. A chief culprit behind the calorie gain: Americans now consume 220 more calories daily from sugar-sweetened soft drinks than they did in the 1960s, the study found.