‘One masala dosa packs half
your daily calorie needs’
The all-time favourite masala dosa
may be deceiving you with its thin, golden look and humble potato filling. The
aroma of melting butter and ‘kemp chutney’ (red chilli chutney)would make you
crave for one, but what probably only a few would know is that a single masala
dosa provides almost half the calories a healthy human being requires in a day.
A four-continent, five-nation
study has quantified the calorific content of masala dosas sold in Benglauru at
1,023 kcal, while the daily requirement of a human being stands at around 2,200
kcal. The findings were recently published in the British Medical Journal.
Led by Prof Rebecca Kuriyan, head
of Nutrition and Lifestyle Clinic at St John’s Medical College Hospital and
Professor at St John’s Research Institute, the study,conducted in late 2017,
measured the calorific content of frequently ordered meals from sit-down and
fast-food restaurants from five countries — India, Brazil, China, Finland and
Ghana.
Restaurants in these countries
usually do not provide nutritional information of the food they serve. Prof
Rebecca said the recommended calorific content of a single meal should be less
than 600 kcal since “any healthy and active human being should be consuming not
more than 2,200 kcal a day.”
“This study showed over 94% of
meals served at full service restaurants and 74% at fastfood restaurants
contained over 600 kcal each,” said Prof Rebecca. The research findings have
been shared with the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI),
urging the government to mandate restaurants mention calorific value of the
food items sold.
Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com
TOI23DEC18
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