Celebrity chefs ‘fuelling obesity crisis’ - study

Nigella Lawson was cited in a recent separate study, published in the British Medical Journal, which found that celebrity chef recipes are less healthy than ready meals. Picture: PA

CELEBRITY chefs are “exacerbating” the country’s obesity crisis by encouraging people to eat fatty dishes, a new study has claimed.

Nutrition experts tested more than 900 recipes from 26 famous cooks and found 87 per cent fell “substantially short” of the government’s healthy-eating recommendations.

Just 13 per cent used ingredients to create “healthy” meals in line with Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidelines, researchers from Coventry University said.

The study, published in the Food and Public Health journal, found that many recipes in celebrity chefs’ cookbooks contained “undesirable levels” of saturated fatty acids, sugars and salt which are linked to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

The study comes just months after a separate survey, published in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal, found that recipes by TV chefs, including Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, are “less healthy” than ready meals.

That study suggested that meals randomly selected from the books of top TV chefs contained “significantly more” fat, saturated fat, energy and protein and less fibre per portion than supermarket ready meals.

But experts behind the latest study have refused to name the worst-offending chefs due to “professional practice protocols”.

Lead author Dr Ricardo Costa, a senior lecturer in dietetics at Coventry University, said: “Given the level of trust the public tends to place in the nutritional integrity of these cooks’ recipes, it’s important to highlight where they’re falling short of healthy-eating benchmarks.

“When you have celebrity chefs involved with promoting many of the government’s healthy-eating initiatives, you inevitably encourage a culture of confidence in their culinary practices. I think there ought to be a tightening up of regulation around what these chefs can present on their own terms when it comes to nutrition or healthy-eating messages.”

Some 92 per cent of celebrity chefs’ recipes sampled had at least one recipe with saturated fatty acids above the recommended intake for one day, the study found.

One meal contained more than five times the recommended amount, while half of the chefs had recipes with a salt content equalling or exceeding the daily recommended limit of 6g.

Researchers also found 96 per cent of recipes contained a high saturated fatty acids content, while 65 per cent had an average sugar content above the FSA’s benchmark.

Dr Costa added: “If people regularly use the recipes found in these cookbooks, it could be that celebrity chefs are exacerbating public health nutrition issues in the UK. Our research … will hopefully prompt the chefs to consider working with qualified dietetic and nutritional professionals in the future to reverse their potential negative impact.”

The study’s authors said evidence showed three-quarters of the public believed celebrity chefs promoted healthy eating.

The experts formed their list of famous chefs from the best-selling cookbooks on Amazon, as well as those listed on the Good Food Channel’s website.

The study found that recipes from male ­celebrity chefs contained substantially more energy, macro nutrients, sodium and salt per portion on average than their female counterparts.