The food portions depicted in paintings of the Last Supper have grown by up to two-thirds over the last 1,000 years, according to a study.

Experts say the trend echoes the "supersizing" of our own meals amid the growing obesity crisis. Researchers compared the size of food in 52 of the most famous portrayals of Jesus Christ and his disciples at their final meal before his death and found dramatic changes. The size of the main dish grew by 69%; the size of the plate by 66%; and the bread, 23 per cent, between the years 1000 and 2000.

Supersizing - a term that became popular in the mid-1990s to describe the ability of McDonalds' customers to increase portion sizes - is considered a modern phenomenon. But Brian Wansink, a food behaviour scientist at Cornell University who conducted the study with his brother Craig, said: "What we see recently may be just a more noticeable part of a very long trend. "We think that as art imitates life, these changes have been reflected in paintings of history's most famous dinner."

He believes that the wider availability of food has led gradually over the millennium to the phenomenon of serving bigger portions on larger plates. Computer technology allowed the brothers to scan, rotate and calculate images regardless of their orientation in the paintings, judging the size of the portions against the size of the heads of the disciples. Details of the study will be published in the April issue of the International Journal of Obesity.

This sounds like another report from the University of Bugger All Better To Do!


Claims of product placement were strenuously denied by the Vatican...

The original was here