15-year Study Shows Strong Link Between Fast Food and Obesity

• Eating At Fast-food Restaurants More Than Twice Per Week Is Associated With More Weight Gain And Insulin Resistance In Otherwise Healthy Young Adults [more]
• Too many Fast Food Stores in the Hood [more]

Researchers have shown a correlation between fast food, weight gain, and insulin resistance in what appears to be the first long-term study on this subject. The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study by Mark Pereira, Ph.D., assistant professor in epidemiology, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Obesity Program at Children's Hospital Boston, reported that fast food increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The results of this 15-year study will be published in the Jan. 1 issue of The Lancet. Participants who consumed fast food two or more times a week gained approximately 10 more pounds and had twice as great increase in insulin resistance in the 15-year period than participants who consumed fast food less than once per week. "Fast-food consumption has increased in the United States during the past three decades," said Pereira. "While there have been many discussions about fast-food's effects on obesity, this appears to be the first scientific, comprehensive long-term study to show a strong connection between fast-food consumption, obesity, and risk for type 2 diabetes." "The CARDIA study factored in and monitored lifestyle factors including television viewing, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and smoking, but determined that increase in body weight and insulin resistance from fast-food intake seemed to be largely independent of these other lifestyle factors," said Ludwig.  This was a multi-center, population-based study with study centers in Birmingham, Ala., Chicago, Ill., Minneapolis, Minn., and Oakland, Calif. [more]

• According to the study, men visited fast-food restaurants more frequently than women and blacks more frequently than whites.
  
• Black men reported an average frequency of 2.3 visits per week in 2000-01. White women had the lowest frequency, at an average of 1.3 visits per week in 2000-01.