Researchers: 25% Of Calories Come From Snacks

If you're trying to lose weight, don't focus solely on the calories you consume at mealtime. You can keep that under control and still pack on the pounds.

The reason is simple. As much as 25 percent of your daily caloric intake comes not at the dinner table, but from between-meal snacks.

Researchers presenting at the 2011 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo found that between 1977 and 2006, snacking in the American diet has grown to constitute "a full eating event," or a fourth meal, averaging about 580 calories each day.

We spend more time snacking as well. The amount of secondary eating and drinking – consumption while engaged in another activity – has increased significantly.

Time spent snacking increases

Between 2006 and 2008, time spent eating primary meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner – remained consistent at 70 minutes. However, secondary eating doubled from 15 minutes each day in 2006 to nearly 30 minutes in 2008, and secondary drinking jumped nearly 90 percent from 45 to 85 minutes.

"There has been a significant increase in the amount of calories consumed through beverages," said Richard D. Mattes, Ph.D., professor of foods and nutrition at

Purdue University. “Today, beverages account for 50 percent the calories consumed through snacking.”

Because many Americans don't equate beverages as readily with calorie intake, they are less likely to offset or take into account these calories, said Mattes. So even if they don't think they're consuming that many calories, they probably are.

Not all snacks are bad

That's not to say that snacking is bad. Some nutritionists believe responsible and well-timed snacks can slightly dull the appetite just before meal time, making it less likely you will over-consume.

Children and active adults, who tend to expend more energy during the day, may also need snacks between meals. The researchers say these snacks shouldn't contribute to weight gain if they are healthy in nature.

“Snacking can be part of a balanced and healthy diet, said said Nancy Auestad, Ph.D., of the Dairy Research Institutesaid Nancy Auestad, Ph.D., of the Dairy Research Institute. "Good tasting snacks that provide dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium and potassium can help consumers meet recommended intakes."