Britons nowadays are scoffing the equivalent of nearly two extra Jaffa Cakes a day compared to in the 1990s.
Researchers have found the average British man consumes 2,665 calories daily, up from 2,582 three decades ago.
Similarly, women’s intake has risen from 2,038 to 2,078, according to a soon-to-be published study given to the Mail.
In the US, men are now gorging on 2,720 calories daily, up from 2,604 in 1990, while women’s consumption has risen from 2,050 to 2,118.
One Jaffa Cake, for reference, contains around 46 calories, while a Snickers bar tips out at 229.
Experts say the figures illustrate the root cause of the West’s spiralling obesity crisis. Two-thirds of Brits and nearly three-quarters of Americans are considered fat.
Under NHS guidelines, men are advised to stick to 2,500 a day. Women should keep below 2,000.
Americans are offered less strict guidance, with adults urged to stick between 1,600 and 3,000 calories, depending on their age and gender.
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Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, told MailOnline we have to ‘stop’ over-eating if we are to trim our waistline.
The study, led by Oxford University’s Dr Marco Springmann – who researches global food systems, tracked the calorific intake of 198 nations over time.
Consumption rose in every country except Italy between 1990 and 2020.
The Maldives saw the biggest increase, going from 1,802 to 2,206 – the equivalent of four slices of bread.
Dr Springmann, a world-renowned voice in the field, also looked at whether adults in each country typically consumed more than the ‘recommended’ amount.
For example, that figure in the UK was 2,177 – based on calculations made from data in global medical studies on height, weight and physical activity.
These equations were developed by the Committee on Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS).
In essence, Dr Springmann and his team back-calculate what people must have eaten to weigh as much as they do, given the other variables of height and activity.
The recommended figure in the US was 2,164.
Although Brits and Americans may typically only eat a little more than recommended, Dr Springmann said the excess mounts over time.
Discussing his findings with MailOnline, he said: ‘It is surprising how sensitive we as humans are to calorie balances of something as little as 100 calories either way over long periods of time.’
Only women in Timor Leste, Ethiopia, Burundi, Madagascar, Eritrea, Niger and Chad consumed below the recommended amount.
For men, 11 nations fell beneath the threshold: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Timor-Leste, Senegal, Niger, Congo, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Central Africa, Malawi and Uganda.
Dr Springmann said: ‘In recent years there has been a massive shift in consumption where now even low income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and south east Asia are moving rapidly towards obesity, as there is not much of a shortfall in the amount of calories they eat.’
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His study is due to be published in a subsidiary of the British Medical Journal.
It draws on 30 years’ of data from NCD Risk Factor Collaboration – a global network, ran in collaboration with the World Health Organization, that tracks health through population-based surveys.
Eating more calories than your body requires – based on your height, weight and metabolism – will make you gain weight.
Similarly, eating less than you need, known as a calorie deficit, will trigger weight loss.
Scientists say there is no one-size-fits-all calorie target to losing or gaining weight because everyone’s body is different.
Exercise also burns calories, meaning even light activities like housework can help you trim.
Part of the problem behind the obesity epidemic, experts say, is the round-the-clock access to highly-processed, calorie-dense junk.
A ground-breaking study published last October found toddlers in the UK get almost half of their calories from ultra-processed foods.
This figure leaps up to nearly 60 per cent by the time children reach seven.
The study, published in the European Journal of Nutritin, was conducted in 2007-08 when UPFs were far less common across our supermarket aisles than they are now.
Mr Fry said: ‘Every country that has traded its traditional marine or plant based diet for high caloric fast food will inevitably have an obesity problem.
‘The US is the prime example.
‘The only way in which the UK’s crisis will be solved is by robustly regulating the manufacture of sugar and fat- laden ultra processed food and significantly reducing the amount we eat.
‘As a nation we consume more than we require – and that has to stop.’
