While the average American eats roughly the same amount of food during meals as in the 1970s, the number of calories Americans consume as snacks has increased to 580 calories per day, the equivalent of a fourth meal, said Richard D. Mattes, a professor of nutrition at Purdue University.Time spent snacking has increased as well, and so has our daily intake of calorie-rich beverages, which now account for up to 50 percent of the calories we consume outside of meals, Mattes said.

“Snacking may be an important source of nutrients that we would like to increase in our diet,” Mattes said. But when snacks become a source of excess calories, they contribute to obesity, he said.

Further, Americans are now more likely to slurp up calories in the form of sugary drinks. The percentage of Americans who consume calorie-rich beverages on a daily basis increased from 41 percent in 1965 to 67 percent in 2004, according to a 2009 study Mattes published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Beverages can account for up to half the calories Americans ingest outside of mealtimes, he said.

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