Athletes 'healthier' than TV chefs

From the BBC:

Prominent TV chefs are less healthy than footballers and Olympians, Newcastle University researchers say.

Jamie Oliver, Lorraine Pascale, Nigella Lawson and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall were compared to Premier League players and members of Team GB. The TV chefs' bodies contained more calories, fat, saturated fat and sugar - but less muscle.

The researchers said this was not about "bashing" chefs as many campaigned to tackle obesity. The team said it was widely agreed that cooking from scratch was healthier than buying prepared meals, but nowhere as good as pounding the track or pumping iron for up to ten hours a day, however, they said there was a lack of scientific testing of the claim.

In the study, published in the British Medical Journal, they compared 100 TV chefs, who had books at the top of the bestseller charts, to 100 top sports personalities. These were then compared to fitness guidelines set by the World Health Organization...

Prof Martin White, from the Institute of Health and Society at the university, told the BBC: "Both athletes and TV chefs are not as healthy as they could be. We're not bashing TV chefs, and some younger male members of the team were even of the opinion that Lorraine Pascale is in fact fitter than her opposite number, Jessica Ennis."