 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Articles |
Products |
Links |
Conditions |
Us |
Directory |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Articles |
Products |
Links |
Conditions |
Us |
Directory |
 |
 |
 |
|
Fast Food Increases Obesity Risk Several recent studies show the correlation between eating at fast food restaurants and obesity. A new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School, have found that - families whose meals frequently consist of fast food are more likely to have unhealthy eating habits, poor access to healthy foods at home, and a higher risk for obesity. Consumers spent over $140 billion on fast food last year (which increased from $6 billion in 1970). The study results were published in the January 2007 issue of Public Health Nutrition. The Study finds that the home food environment of families who ate fast food for dinner more than three times a week consisted of more chips and soda pop and less fruits and vegetables than families who ate fast food less than three times a week. A higher frequency of fast food dinners was also associated with obesity and a higher body mass index (BMI) in adults. “Fast food can be a convenient alternative to cooking for busy families,” said Kerri Boutelle, Ph.D., lead author and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “But, frequently making fast food a family meal can negatively affect food choices in the house and the overall health of the family.” The study is part of Project EAT: Eating Among Teens, a comprehensive study of obesity and nutrition among adolescents in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. It was designed to examine the prevalence of fast food purchases for family meals and the association between eating fast food for dinner and home food availability, dietary intake, and weight status. Out of the 4,746 adolescents that completed surveys for Project EAT, 902 were also selected to have their parents interviewed for this study. Another new study provides evidence that eating fast food makes you fat. Among nearly 3,400 young adults participating in a long-term study, every additional fast food meal they consumed each week correlated with a substantial increase in body mass index (BMI), Dr. Barry M. Popkin of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and colleagues found. "It's a large effect, enough of an effect to take you from being non-diabetic to diabetic." Food eaten away from home now accounts for up to 42 percent of Americans' calorie intake, Popkin and his team note in their report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. While the increase in restaurant and fast food consumption has occurred at the same time as the rise in obesity, they add, it's not clear if it's a contributing factor. To separate out the effects of fast food meals and meals eaten in traditional restaurants, the researchers looked at 3,394 young adults participating in a heart disease study. The researchers compared the study participants' consumption of fast foods and restaurant foods during year 7 and year 10 of the study with their BMIs at both time points. BMI is a ratio of weight to height commonly used to determine if a person is underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese or morbidly obese. The more fast food the subjects ate, the higher was their BMI, Popkin and colleagues found. For each additional fast food meal eaten per week during year 7, BMI increased by 0.13 points, while each additional fast food meal per week at year 10 was tied to a 0.24 rise in BMI. This translates to 0.9 pounds and 1.7 pounds, respectively, for a person 5 foot 10 inches tall. People whose fast food intake rose between year 7 and year 10 showed a 0.20 increase in BMI. However, the researchers found no association between meals eaten at traditional restaurants and increases in BMI; in fact, some analyses linked eating more often in restaurants to a slightly lower BMI. The study confirms, Popkin said, that people who eat more fast food pack on more pounds. "People have been trying to say that, but they didn't have the kind of evidence that we have now." SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2007. Fast Food Makes You One-Third Fatter Watch out for trans-fats in that cheeseburger and fries you're eating! Another recent study showing the high trans-fat content of fast food is leading to higher and higher rates of obesity as well as insulin resistance leading to diabetes is yet another reason why people should avoid fast food restaurants altogether. Researchers found that the kind of fat content in foods such as a burger and French fries at your local fast food joint can actually make you nearly one-third fatter than other fats that contain the same caloric content. Lead researcher Kylie Kavanagh from the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina presented the findings of her study at the 66th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in June 2006. Kavanagh and her fellow research team wanted to see what the actual impact of the fats found in fast food were having on the people's health and she used monkeys to investigate her hypothesis that trans-fats were leading to weight gain and insulin resistance. For the six-year study, she fed one set of monkeys a meal consisting of 8 percent partially hydrogenated soybean oil (trans-fats), which is the same as a human eating a cheeseburger with fries, every single day. A second set of monkey were fed the exact same diet, except the trans-fats were removed from the meal and changed to another chemical form of fat. Amazingly, Kavanagh said she could visibly notice her furry friends' who were fed the trans-fats had a distinct belly on them that measured a full 7 percent increase in body weight compared with a mere 2 percent weight gain in the other group. In fact, the monkeys fed the trans-fat diet had 30 percent more fat around their stomach, which means they stored more fat despite the fact they ate the same number of fat calories as the other group. "You can see white globs of fat in these guys," Kavanagh remarked at the ADA meeting about the group of monkeys who ate the trans-fats. In addition to the weight gain, Kavanagh found the trans-fat monkeys also developed insulin resistance, a precursor to the onset of Type 2 diabetes. She noted that people who regularly eat trans-fats in their diet are "walking down the road to disaster." It has been commonly theorized that consuming trans-fats like the ones found in fast food could lead to obesity and diabetes, but this is the first such study that has measured what impact it has on the body. While the trans-fats can stimulate the pancreas to create more insulin for the body, this makes the body more resistant to control the extra amount of this hormone, which can wreak havoc on blood sugar levels. Some have even surmised that trans-fats change the actual composition of cell membrames so they don't react to insulin as they normally would. Kavanagh admits she does not know how or why the trans-fat-eating monkeys in her study developed larger abdomens. This study is another black eye for trans-fats, which have already been linked to increases in heart disease and cholesterol. However, despite the common belief that all fats are bad (actually, saturated fat can be good for you), that erroneous assumption has now been put to rest. Trans-fat consumption can lead to higher instances of weight gain and the onset of diabetes, but that's not necessarily true with other fats. Nobody's making people buy these unhealthy products, but fast food companies like McDonald's are only paying lip-service to healthy living. Denmark banned trans-fats from processed foods a couple of years ago and New York City just recently banned trans-fats in restaurants to take effect later this year. How much longer and how many more people are going to have to become obese and diabetic for people to become outraged enough to do something about the overabundance of trans-fats and high fructose corn syrup in our society? This issue will have to come to a head at some point. But we’ll all probably die from obesity and diabetes before it happens. Most fast food restaurants offer food that is very low in fiber content. It is wise to supplement your diet with extra fiber. | Dangers of Uric Acid | Fast Food | Benefits of Prunes | Golf Injuries | Tennis Injuries | Dangers of Salt | Nip and Tuck | Flexatarian Benefits | | Return Home | Jewelry | Health Articles | Femhealth Products | Great Links | Health Conditions | Contact Us | Gifts | Site Directory | |
||
 |
 |
