Does knowing the amount of calories in a punnet of McDonald's fries put you off eating them? Photo / Instagram Calorie Brands
Does knowing the amount of calories in a punnet of McDonald's fries put you off eating them? Photo / Instagram Calorie Brands
The information may be there on the packaging, but the last time you scoffed a punnet of Macca's fries, did you stop to consider just how many calories you were ingesting?
You definitely would if this Instagram artist's depiction of junk food in its packaging became a reality.
Calorie Brands has amassed more than 45, 000 followers in eight days with their images of popular junk food and takeaways that show the brand logo replaced by the item's dreaded number of calories.
If you're eyeing up a certain hazelnut chocolate spread for your toast this morning, you may reconsider it when you see that a jar of Nutella costs you 4520 calories.
You may want to rethink your morning spread. Photo / Instagram, Calorie Brand
And for those enjoying an Instagram trawl while digging into a tub of Ben & Jerry's, you may be halted mid-spoonful by the tweaked image of the ice cream revealing just how many calories are packed in.
While the account's artist remains anonymous they have revealed that this is how they believe food should be packaged.
But not everyone is convinced that the numbers should be taken as gospel.
Nutritionist Sarah Flower told the Mail Online viewers should remain skeptical of the account's calorie claims.
A nutritionist has argued the calorie count on this bottle of sauce isn't quite right. Photo / Instagram, Calorie Brand
"A quick comparison using Sainsbury's online as a check on the product labels and there appears to be a few discrepancies, Heinz tomato sauce on Instagram states 760 calories with what looks like the 700g bottle, but the product states 714 (102 per 100g)."
She also notes while the numbers can appear shocking, "they don't really mean much to people".
"Calories are just a number and many people overestimate how many calories are burned with exercise or any activity.
A bucket of chicken will set you back a whopping 1440. Photo / Instagram, Calorie Brand
"The [British] government states 2000 calories per female and 2500 for a male.
"But this could be dramatically over what someone needs depending on their size and activity levels, and as stated, really much depends on the food you eat not the calories."
