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Thank God You Have No Idea How Many Calories Are in Your Fast Food
Teens underestimated the calories in fast-food meals by 34%; parents of school-age children by 23%; adults by 20%, study shows.
Many diners are gobbling far more calories in their fast-food meals than they realize, a new study shows.
Teens underestimated the calories in fast-food meals by 34%; parents of school-age children by 23%; adults by 20%, says lead researcher Jason Block of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute.
Block and colleagues surveyed about 3,400 adults, teens and parents of school-age children who visited 89 fast-food restaurants, including McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts and Wendy’s. People were asked to estimate the calories in their meals, then the researchers collected their receipts and figured out how many calories the meals actually contained. The study was conducted in 2010 and 2011.
Among the findings, published Thursday in BMJ, a journal of the British Medical Association:
- One-fourth of participants underestimated the calories in their meals by at least 500 calories.
- Teens’ fast-food orders contained an average of 756 calories, but they underestimated their orders by an average of 259 calories.
- Adults ordered meals containing an average of 836 calories, but they underestimated by 175 calories.
- School-age children got meals that had an average of 733 calories, but their parents’ guestimates were 175 calories too low.
- Diners at Subway underestimated the calories in their orders by a larger amount than diners at McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Wendy’s and Dunkin’ Donuts.
“These large underestimations show that diners don’t really know what they are eating in terms of calorie content, and they need this information to help guide their choices,” Block says.
“They could get it from the company websites or in some other form in the restaurants, such as wall posters, napkins or cups, but soon they’ll be directly faced with it when they see it on the restaurant menu boards before they order their meal. Customers can already do this at McDonald’s — and in some cities,” he says.
The study was funded in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Google Inc. GOOG -1.07% is deep into a multipronged effort to build and help run wireless networks in emerging markets as part of a plan to connect a billion or more new people to the Internet.
These wireless networks would serve areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia to dwellers outside of major cities where wired Internet connections aren’t available, said people familiar with the strategy. The networks also could be used to improve Internet speeds in urban centers, these people said.
(via Google Plans to Develop Wireless Networks in Emerging Markets - WSJ.com)
Under Bloomberg, the cityscape has been reshaped in unprecedented ways.
We’re thrilled to launch coUrbanize with an initiative to help Boston Bikes expand their Hubway bike share system into new neighborhoods.
This online collaboration represents urban development’s shift to catch up with communication trends. Civic technologies are filling this gap with online spaces for people to access and share information and better ways to connect with government officials.
Some of the most innovative cities have demonstrated a deep commitment to civic innovation. Boston and Philadelphia each have offices of New Urban Mechanics that champion civic technologies and actively explore how agencies, citizens, and the private sector might work together to more effectively and collaboratively address challenges.
Some prominent services and platforms already use technologies to drive process-oriented innovation and deepen civic engagement. For instance, SeeClickFix and Open311 allow residents to report and track non-emergency issues in public spaces. Organizations like Code for America have turned their attention to tackling the procurement process, throwing their support behind projects such as Procure.io.
There is also a significant opportunity to bring community management tools to the public input process. This is where coUrbanize enters the civic technology space, offering a platform for urban developers to share project information, presenting complex data and other materials in ways that help the public and other stakeholders make more evidence-based decisions. coUrbanize also provides an online forum for soliciting public feedback, moving beyond traditional methods of engagement around planning matters. This approach helps reduce costly delays. It also lays the groundwork for simplifying how residents can provide public feedback, and helps developers more effectively address community needs.
Though the coUrbanize online platform, Boston Bikes can easily engage the community, solicit feedback, and determine where bikes are needed most. Residents will be able to follow the selection process until the bikes are installed and ready to ride!
In the meantime, check out coUrbanize and the proposed bike share station locations.
Al Jazeera America to Open Detroit Bureau, In Addition To Chicago Expansion
Al Jazeera America, the new American news channel that will launch later this year, announced today that it will open a new Detroit bureau as part of the channel’s 2013 launch.
“We want our reporters to be where the stories are and Detroit continues to be where American business stories and trends are happening,” said Ehab Al Shihabi, executive director of international operations for Al Jazeera. “Al Jazeera America knows that you have to have on-the-ground reporting from the Motor City to really cover America’s economic, financial and socially important news and we’re excited about being here.”
Al Jazeera America also announced that it will be offering an internship at its New York headquarters for a journalism student from the Detroit area. Interns will learn about and participate in the research, planning, shooting and editing of shows on the channel, and they’ll work closely with staff to create on-air and online content.
The Detroit bureau will focus on telling the stories of the people of Detroit and how news in Detroit affects those across the U.S.
In addition to the Detroit bureau, Al Jazeera America announced earlier this week that it will open a bureau in Chicago. The channel will be headquartered in New York City with other bureaus in key locations in the U.S.
“Six neighborhoods have perfect scores: three in Davis, California, and one each in Madison, Wisconsin; Boulder, Colorado and Eugene, Oregon. Multiple cities have several neighborhoods among the top 25. Davis, California has five; neighboring Sacramento has seven; Eugene has four; and Madison has three. Aside from Madison and Cambridge, all of the top 25 are located in the Western part of the United States. Many of the top neighborhoods are located in college towns.”
Ideas section with great illustrations by Michael Kirkham on the dangers “smart” cities pose to what we love about cities. Design: Dan Zedek
Trees are good for everyone- but can the planting of trees start the process of gentrification?
The idea of Urban Planning in Nhon Hoi, Viet Nam.
The following is from Richard Florida’s column he wrote on the “Rob Ford embarrassment” and a “broken Toronto”
Most of all, we must acknowledge that Mr. Ford is a symptom of a set of much deeper maladies. Before Toronto can put itself back together, three key issues must be addressed:
- First is the fact of a weak, dare I say, powerless mayor’s office. …
- Second, we need to become a more unified city. …
- Third, the city and the region need grown-up leadership. …
Not sure I agree with the first point, though. Had the former mayor, David Miller, pushed for strong mayor powers, Rob Ford could have done more damaged to Toronto than Godzilla does to Toyko.
How prepared are American cities for increased natural disasters? Over the years, Americans have insisted on expanding and building cities and suburbs in locations that are clearly threatened by natural hazards. This week’s monster tornado in Oklahoma demonstrates this. Cities and states have encouraged people to live in these areas through city planning, architectural design, and the so-called need for “economic development.”
Thus, instead of encouraging people to not live in these hazard zones, city leaders have created methods to help people survive relatively normal lives there. Houses in California must meet specific earthquake design standards, buildings in Oklahoma have “safe rooms,” and countless structures must be stable enough to handle floods and erosion along American coastlines. These are adaptations. Not good adaptations (I believe people should not be encouraged to live in these areas), but there it is.
With the climate changing, the impacts on communities are likely to increase. Incidences of natural disasters are expected to rise, costing many lives and causing a need for an endless stream of disaster aid.
Researchers at MIT teamed up with the non-profit ICLEI to survey cities around the world. The goal was to compare how they were adapting to climate change impacts, or preparing for future impacts. Progress, the researchers found, is very slow in the US, while cities around the world are far more advanced.
It’s a great read, very visual so if you don’t have time you can skim it.
Survey: U.S. Cities Report Increase in Climate Change Impacts, Lag Global Cities in Planning
