How much unhealthy foods have scaled up over the years
McDonald's.
People eat more when served larger portions. And portions have grown.
Researchers compared the current serving sizes of popular processed or fast foods to their original sizes. Among their findings:
At McDonald’s, a beef patty (1.6 oz. in 1955) now ranges from 1.6 to 8 oz., fries (2.4 oz. in 1955) range from 1.3 oz. (“kids”) to 5.9 oz. (“large”), and a soda (7 oz. in 1955) has ballooned to between 12 oz. (“extra small”) and 30 oz. (“large”).
Likewise, a bottle of Budweiser (7 oz. in 1976) now ranges from 7 to 40 oz., a bottle of Coca-Cola (6.5 oz. in 1916) ranges from 8 to 24 oz., and the size of a Nestlé Crunch bar (1.6 oz. in 1938) ranges from 1.6 to 4.4 oz.
What to do
Beware serving-size creep. Is “medium” your go-to? It may be yesterday’s “large”...and tomorrow’s “small.”
