THOSE CALORIE COUNTS ON MENUS LIE

Many restaurant chains are now printing calorie counts, but are they accurate? Researchers at Tufts University bought 29 dishes from 10 restaurant chains, including Ruby Tuesday, McDonald’s and Wendy’s, and analyzed them to see whether the menu calorie counts were right. It turns out on average, the tested dishes contained 18% more calories than the amount listed. The differences ranged from 36% fewer calories to a jaw-dropping 200% more. Denny’s grits topped the higher-calorie list, due to what turned out to be a super-sized portion. It wasn’t all bad news – the Taco Bell nachos, P.F. Chang’s Cantonese shrimp, and Domino’s thin-crust pizza had around 30% fewer calories than the menu listed.