Friday, May 25, 2012

Eating Fast Food Means Weight Gain, Insulin Resistance for Teens

Eating frequent fast food meals causes teens and young adults to gain more weight and face an increased risk of developing insulin resistance according to the results of a study funded by the National Heart,Lung, and Blood Institute(NHLBI) and published in the January 1, 2005 issue of The Lancet.*

After 15 years, those who ate at fast-food restaurants more than twice each week compared to less than once a week had gained an extra ten pounds and had a two-fold greater increase in insulin resistance, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease.

“Obesity and diabetes are on the rise in this country and this important study highlights the value of healthy eating habits,” said NHLBI Acting Director Barbara Alving, M.D.

Fast-food consumption has increased in the United States over the past three decades. “It’s extremely difficult to eat in a healthy way at a fast-food restaurant. Despite some of their recent healthful offerings, the menus still tend to include foods high in fat, sugar and calories and low in fiber and nutrients,” said lead author Mark Pereira, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. People need to evaluate how often they eat meals at fast-food restaurants and think about cutting back, according to Pereira.

One reason for the weight gain may be that a single meal from one of these restaurants often contains enough calories to satisfy a person’s caloric requirement for an entire day.

Participants were asked during the physical examinations given as part of the study how often they ate breakfast, lunch or dinner at fast-food restaurants. Researchers found that the adverse impact on participants’ weight and insulin resistance was seen in both blacks and whites who ate frequently at fast-food restaurants, even after adjustment for other lifestyle habits.

Study participants included 3,031 young black and white adults who were between the ages of 18 and 30 in 1985-1986. The participants, who were part of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, received dietary assessments over a 15-year period. CARDIA centers are located in Birmingham, AL, Chicago, IL, Minneapolis, MN, and Oakland, CA.

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.

“It is important to watch carefully what you eat, especially at a fast-food restaurant. Knowing the nutritional content is important. Consumers may want to ask for this information,” said NHLBI’s Gina Wei, M.D., project officer for CARDIA. Salads and grilled foods tend to be lower in fat than fried foods, she said.
Keep portion sizes small, and ask that high-fat sauces and condiments, such as salad dressing and mayonnaise, be “on the side” and use them sparingly to reduce calories, Wei said.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey I know thіѕ is off topic but І was
wondering if you kneω of any wiԁgets I cοuld add to my blog that аutomatically tweet my newest
twitter updates. I've been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.

my page: good cheap earphones

Anonymous said...

I was сuriouѕ if уou ever thought of changing the structure of yοur website?
Itѕ ѵеry well written; Ι loνe what уouve got to sаy.
But maybе you cοuld а little more in the way оf
contеnt so pеople сould connect with it bеtter.
Youѵe got an awful lot of tеxt for only having 1
or 2 pictureѕ. Maybe уou could space it out betteг?


My sitе; cheap earphones for ipod touch

Anonymous said...

Hello І am so happy I founԁ your
ωeb site, I really found yоu by error, while Ι wаs
researching on Αѕkjeеve fоr something еlse, Anywayѕ I am
here now anԁ woulԁ just likе to sаy kudos for a гemarkable post
аnd a all гοunԁ thгilling blοg (І alsо loѵe
the theme/design), I don't have time to look over it all at the minute but I have saved it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the superb job.

my homepage cheap earphones with good bass with mic
My web site :: cheap earphones

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Popular Posts