To avoid middle-age weight gain, drop the chips and hot dogs

By Anne Harding Health.com June 22, 2011 4:29 p.m. EDT

Everyone knows the basic prescription for staving off excess weight gain in middle age: Eat less and exercise more.

But a new study of long-term weight patterns among more than 120,000 adults suggests that some foods and behaviors -- such as potato chips and TV watching -- have a disproportionate impact on our waistlines.

The men and women in the study, who ranged in age from about 33 to 60 and were of normal weight when the researchers began following them, gained an average of 3.4 pounds every four years -- just shy of the 1 pound per year that people typically amass as they age.

Those with a taste for certain unhealthy foods packed on pounds faster, however. Eating one serving of potato chips per day was associated with an extra 1.7 pounds every four years, while a daily serving of french fries was associated with an extra 3.4 pounds. And each daily serving of soda, processed meat, and red meat was associated with about 1 extra pound.

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