30,000 men 'eat take-aways daily'

Are you addicted to take-aways?

Thirty-thousand men in Wales are estimated to eat a take-away meal every day, according to BBC research.

BBC Wales' X-Ray programme also found just under 40% of families ate take-aways at least once a week.

Researchers, who spoke to more than 1,000 people in Wales about their eating habits, found men were most keen on take-away food.

It was also found that eating habits are changing with fewer households eating meals around a table.

The consumer programme followed several volunteers trying to make changes in their lifestyles.

One, Darren Holmes, 20 from Penarth, south Wales, weighed just over 20 stone (127kg), and had dangerously high blood pressure.

He admitted doing no exercise, drinking four litres of cola a day, and said he lacked energy.

Mr Holmes said he had "cravings" at all times of day.

I would wake up in the night, and I would open up a glass of coke Darren Holmes

He said: "I would wake up in the night, and I would open up a glass of coke, this was midnight, 1am in the morning - have a glass of coke and go back to bed."

After undergoing a four-week programme to change his lifestyle, which included giving up caffeine and walking to work, Mr Holmes said he didn't "feel like that any more".

The programme's research also showed that the way people in Wales eat meals is also changing, with more than a million people out of the country's 2.9 million population preferring to eat their evening meal in front of the television.

But the majority of people aged over 55 said they still eat at the table.

X-Ray is broadcast on BBC One Wales at 1900 BST on Wednesday.