TV Recipes Aren't Healthy Says Survey; Will Gain 11 Pounds More

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If you are faithfully following TV show recipes from your favorite celebrity chefs, there's a good chance you already gained or will be gaining an average of 11 pounds, a study shows.

A research from Cornell University Food and Brand Lab shows that people who look at cooking shows for recipes weigh more than those who don't.

"One reason for this phenomenon may be that often the recipes portrayed on TV are not the healthiest and allow you to feel like it's ok to prepare and indulge in either less nutritious food or bigger portions," states Brian Wansink, one of the authors of the study and the Director of Food and Brand Lab.

The research team conducted a survey on 501 women, with ages ranging from 20-35, to find out how they obtained their recipes and to know their cooking habits. The result of the survey says that those who got their recipes from cooking shows weighed an additional 11 pounds more from those who only watch food shows but not cook, and those who look for recipes in cookbooks, online or from close person sources.

"Because many cooking shows normalize overconsumption and gratification, it comes as no surprise that viewers' culinary habits are negatively influenced," says Lizzy Pope, the lead author of the study.

However, according to an article by CTV News, homemakers and people who are in the habit of cooking healthy meals must still be wary of cookbook recipes. There was an increase of caloric content by an average of 44 percent from the recipes in the newer editions of the book, The Joy of Cooking. This was suggested in the study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2009, led by Wansink.

Weight gain and obesity are major public health concerns in North America. According to an article at Harvard School of Public Health, two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese. In the past 30 years, Canada's obesity rates have taken a dramatical increase although still not as high as the rates in the U.S.

The research team in Cornell was composed of Lizzy Pope, the Assistant Professor and Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics at the University of Vermont; Lara Latimer, a Consultant and Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin; and Brian Wansink, Professor and Director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, and author of the book "Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life."