Danish holiday meals: The fat that keeps on giving

Extra holiday kilos hang around for months after the duck is done

As the annual bacchanalia that is the Danish julefrokost season creeps ever closer, a new US study is offering up a bit of cautionary advice: those extra kilos packed on during the holidays could be hanging around your waist long after the Christmas tree has been hauled to the dump.

Every holiday season carries its own fat bomb, but the Christmas season is by far the heaviest, and nowhere is it felt more acutely than in northern Europe – not even in the US.

According to figures reported by videnskab.dk based on a study of 3,000 people from different countries, Germans packed on 0.6 percent of their own bodyweight in the ten days leading up to Christmas, compared to 0.4 in the US and 0.5 in Japan.

Extending the numbers out to New Year’s Day, Germans added a full 1 percent of their bodyweight over the holidays, and the extra weight doesn’t come off easily or quickly. Danish holiday traditions are similar to those found in Germany, and in many cases even more fattening.

A moment on the lips, forever on the hips
The Americans in the study did not begin to lose their holiday weight until May, and they then started to slowly add on the pounds again when the holiday treats began their siren call the following October.

“Three different countries, but people from each one all gained weight during the holidays,” wrote Brian Lansink, a PhD at Cornell University in the US who is one of the authors of the study.

“To advise a patient to have better self-control during the holidays is one approach, but perhaps it would be better to tell them that half of the extra holiday weight they add will still be there come the summer or even longer. The less you gain, the less you have to lose.”

READ MORE: Under the Raydar | Surviving the Danish Christmas

The study has just been released in the New England Journal of Medicine.




Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.


  • “It’s possible to lead even though you don’t fit the traditional leadership mold”

    “It’s possible to lead even though you don’t fit the traditional leadership mold”

    Describing herself as a “DEI poster child,” being queer, neurodivergent and an international in Denmark didn’t stop Laurence Paquette from climbing the infamous corporate ladder to become Marketing Vice President (VP) at Vestas. Arrived in 2006 from Quebec, Laurence Paquette unpacks the implications of exposing your true self at work, in a country that lets little leeway for individuality

  • Deal reached to bring more foreign workers to Denmark

    Deal reached to bring more foreign workers to Denmark

    Agreement between unions and employers allows more foreign workers in Denmark under lower salary requirements, with new ID card rules and oversight to prevent social dumping and ensure fair conditions.

  • New association helps international nurses and doctors Denmark

    New association helps international nurses and doctors Denmark

    Kadre Darman was founded this year to support foreign-trained healthcare professionals facing challenges with difficult authorisation processes, visa procedures, and language barriers, aiming to help them find jobs and contribute to Denmark’s healthcare system