Science - May 18, 2006
‘Snacks not big factor in overweight’
We are eating relatively less for breakfast, lunch and supper, but we are eating more snacks in-between. A popular theory suggests that this is why we are getting fatter. Appetite professor Kees de Graaf does not believe in it.
Nevertheless, the link between overweight and snacks has never been proven. The Dutch have become fatter over the last fifteen years, but, according to data from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and TNO, the frequency of snacking has not increased.
Snacks are probably not such a terribly important factor in the ‘obesity epidemic’, says De Graaf. The professor suspects that the size of the average meal is a more important factor. All our meals and snacks contain more calories these days. / WK