Modern Thanksgiving meal bigger than in past

November 23, 2009 But food experts say it probably won't matter because, despite leaner ingredients, most Americans will eat too much anyway.

Cornell University's food and brand lab analyzed recipes from the 1950s and compared them to contemporary versions.

A modern Thanksgiving dinner including turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing is estimated at about 2,057 calories. The tally for 1956 was 2, 539.

But those numbers are only accurate if you eat proper serving sizes and researchers say portion sizes in this country are bigger than ever.

Even the plates we eat off tend to be larger than what was around 50 years ago.