Enjoying that bag of jalapeno-flavored potato chips? You’re not the only one. A study finds that snacking may constitute one-quarter of our total daily calories.

For the Record, 2:04 p.m. June 23: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the Institute of Food Technologists had held its annual meeting and food expo in Chicago. The meeting was in New Orleans.



The study, led by Richard Mattes, professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue University, looked at published research on snacking habits through the years and found that eating between meals has been on the rise. According to a presentation made recently at the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting and food expo in New Orleans, men consumed about 261 calories in snacks a day, on average, from 1977 to 1978. But during 1994 to 1996, average snack calories among men rose to 501. For women it went from 186 to 346.

Accordingly, we’re spending more time eating snacks. From 2006 to 2008 we spent an average of 70 minutes (that long?!) eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. But snacking -- or what the study refers to as “secondary eating” -- went from 15 minutes in 2006 to almost half an hour in 2008. Liquid snacking went from 45 to 85 minutes. Calories from what we drink rose as well, and the study reported that today, half the calories we consume via snacking come from beverages.

However, researchers said they didn’t find persuasive evidence in recent studies linking snacking with obesity. Part of the problem is that snacking itself is sort of an amorphous activity: “Interpreting the collective literature is difficult,” the study authors wrote, “as there is no universal definition for snacking.... What constitutes a snack to one person could be a meal to another.”

However, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine may beg to differ. Researchers found that eating an extra serving of potatoes daily -- including such snacky favorites as French fries and chips -- may add pounds, more than drinking an extra 12 ounces of a sugary drink.


So snack away, or not. Have you become more aware of your snacking habits, or changed them? Let us know.