Study Shows the Hidden Dangers of Home Cooking

Eating at home has now become one of those things that we think back on and wish we’d get back, yet for some unknown reason it’s harder and harder for us to find some time to actually cook something. While the effects of eating out are well known by now (and clearly visible in all of us), it’s the dangers of home cooking that a new study comes to point out, showing that recipes have also changed throughout the years.

The study, published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, reveals that home recipes have also been altered considerably in time, with portions increasing (which translates into fewer servings per recipe) and more calories per each dish. This has prompted researchers to conclude that, in our fight against obesity, we might have been focusing in the wrong direction, since the “enemy” was right in our kitchen all along and no one bothered to notice it.

“There’s so much attention that’s been given to away-from-home eating and so much attention that’s been focused on restaurants and the packaged food industry, it makes me wonder whether it’s actually deflecting attention from the one place where we can make the most immediate change.” professor Brian Wansink from the Cornell University, who has directed the study, says for PhysOrg.

Over the last seven decades, the study shows, all recipes have undergone important alterations, with a 40 percent increase in the calorie content of each serving, which translates into an estimated 77 calories more than before. This, in turn, means that those who do cook at home thinking they’re thus avoiding the extra calories that come with restaurant foods, are actually acting on a false premise. The findings of the study are also illustrative in terms of how people are becoming more and more accustomed to having ever larger portions, without even being aware of it.

For instance, researchers have taken the all-too-famous recipe book “Joy of Cooking” (which has seen countless editions from the ‘30s until 2006) and analyzed the traditional dishes included in it. “Only the chili con carne recipe remained unchanged through the years. The chicken gumbo, however, went from making 14 servings at 228 calories each in the 1936 edition, to making 10 servings at 576 calories each in the 2006 version.” PhysOrg informs.