Weight gain? Blame your extra crunchy potato chips

Potato Chips Worst Culprit for Weight Gain

Potato chips are a favorite snack among many Americans but also identified as one of the worst junk foods available.

In fact, among foods that cause weight gain, a new study has concluded that potato chips are worse than even soda and ice cream. The reason is that you just can't seem to get enough of them. You tend to eat a whole bag of chips instead of just one or two.

The findings made by researchers at Harvard University are published in Thursday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study which was funded by the National Institutes of Health asserts that diet has far more impact than exercise and we should closely watch what and how much we eat.

Instead of munching potato chips, the study authors recommend fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts. They said it's best to reduce intake of red meat, sweets and junk food.

In the study, which was designed to measure long-term weight gain, researchers found out that eating potato chips resulted to an  average weight gain of 1.69 pounds over four years. In contrast, soda added a pound while desserts and sweets added 0.41 pounds.

An ounce (roughly 15 potato chips) has 160 calories. A large serving of French fries has 500-600 calories but baked potato just 280 calories. Participants, who were not obese at the start of the study, gained 17 pounds on average by the end of the fourth year while eating these and similar foods.

The researchers highly recommended that if you intend to prevent weight gain or lose weight, you might want to start cutting back on those potato chips.

Posted by George Daniels on Friday June 24 2011, 11:11 PM EDT. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0