Apparently restaurants and fast food joints are not the only ones to blame for portion distortion, the (I’m going to say) American trend of eating larger and larger portions. According to a study published by the Annals of Internal Medicine, cookbooks are also to blame.

The study, found a nearly 40% increase in calories per serving for nearly every recipe reviewed. That’s about an extra 77 calories.

Although the study focused on several cookbooks, “The Joy Of Cooking” was singled out. In one instance, the study mentioned the cookbook’s brownie recipe. In the 1960s and 70s, the brownie recipe yielded 30 brownies. In 1997, the same recipie and same pan, yielded 15. Crazy!