Daily Calorie intake too low – Is this irresponsible programming from the BBC?
Normally I find the BBC news to be one of the best news sources. A recent Internet article on Daily Calorie intake has surprised me. In my mind this is completely irresponsible programming – to make a story that would otherwise be a much less-interesting story.
There is a slightly better text based article on the BBC: Rethink for calorie eating levels which is a little better, but still fails to deliver the critical part of the report.
The news relates to a draft report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition. I haven’t seen the actual report, but based on the text based news item this report states that the recommended daily intake of calories could be increased.
Now I’m only a lay person, but to me that is quite clearly relating to the recommended daily intake which is the guidelines issued by the government in relation to healthy eating. It does not state that everyone should start eating more calories which is what the video seams to suggest.
We are a nation with a lot of overweight and obese people, and before I started my recent diet I was in that obese category. I did not get obese by following the recommended calorie intake – the reason I became obese was because I wasn’t watching my calorie intake and it continued to rise well above the recommended levels. This is something I have now corrected with the main aspect of that being to reduce my calorie intake.
Obviously if you are already eating much more than the recommended levels then you are going to put weight on, or at least that is obvious to me, the video puts a completely different spin on it.
Unless you one is counting calories to keep to the recommended levels this report does not mean they should eat more.
If someone is at a healthy weight and eating a balanced diet then this report does not suggest eating any more. It’s more likely that the amount of calories being consumed is close to the recommended amount (or is suitably adjusted to the individuals exercise level). The report does not suggest that they should start drinking an extra beer or having 2 extra packets of crisps. To suggest that, as this video does is in my mind completely irresponsible.
I find it hard to believe that the people that put this report together were unable to understand this. I believe this is just an attempt to make the report sound interesting, but as a result is giving out the wrong message to people that may take the report at face value.