Do Americans have a snacking problem?

Unlike meals, snacks often lack key nutrients and are full of added sugars, making it hard for Americans to limit calorie consumption.

A new study suggests that most Americans consume more than a meal's worth of calories in snacks on an average day. 

According to the study led by Ohio State University and Abbott Nutrition researchers, the average American adult consumes about 400-500 calories per day in snacks, which is often more than what is consumed for breakfast. 

Unlike daily meals, snacks offer little nutritional value, researchers said. 

“Snacks are contributing a meal’s worth of intake to what we eat without it actually being a meal,” Christopher Taylor, senior study author, said. “You know what dinner is going to be: a protein, a side dish or two. But if you eat a meal of what you eat for snacks, it becomes a completely different scenario of, generally, carbohydrates, sugars, not much protein, not much fruit, not a vegetable. So it’s not a fully well-rounded meal.”

The number of calories needed to maintain a healthy weight varies wildly depending on a person's height and activity level, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For adults ages 31-59, the USDA recommends females consume between 1,600 and 2,200 calories a day and males consume about 2,200 to 3,000 calories a day