THE 38,000-CALORIE CHRISTMAS BLOWOUT

average adult consumes 38,000 calories over the festive period, gaining up to 6lb in weight, research shows.

The equivalent of 15 days of food is stuffed down over the eight-day spell between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

The three days around Christmas Day itself account for 15,000 calories thanks to a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Around 4,500 calories come from a typical alcohol intake put at 16 cans of lager, nine glasses of wine and two glasses of champagne. The recommended allowance for an eight-day period is roughly 20,000 calories for men and 16,000 for women.

This means the average adult will consume up to double the recommended calorie intake on each day of the holidays which would lead to a potential weight gain of up to 6lb.

The figures were compiled in the run-up to Christmas by diet pill firm Vitagetics.

It polled 1,000 adults in its database about their usual Christmas and New Year eating habits, and also recorded a breakdown of their proposed menus this year.

A spokesman said: ‘ The Christmas period is all about indulgence, but it’s easy to forget that over-indulgence is bad news for the waistline, and for our health.’

One of the key offenders was the mince pie, which on a typical consumption of eight, contributed 2,944 calories. Double Christmas pudding with a topping came in at 1,174 calories.