Fast-Food Intake and Diet Quality in Black and White Girls

Abstract

Dietary intake of fast food is a determinant of diet quality in adolescent girls. Efforts to reduce fast-food consumption may be useful in improving diet and risk for future cardiovascular disease.

Fast Food Intake: Longitudinal Trends during the Transition to Young Adulthood and Correlates of Intake

“…Consistent with geographic analyses of fast food restaurant density [29] and prior observational research both in samples of adolescents [2,16,30] and adults [1,15], the current study found frequent fast food intake was more common among young adults in nonwhite race categories (African American and mixed or other) and the low-middle category of SES. The potential value of using SCT in the design of interventions to reduce fast food consumption was suggested by associations of baseline personal (i.e., concern about health), behavioral (i.e., lunch and snack frequency, time spent watching television), and socioenvironmental (i.e., peer support for healthy eating, unhealthy food availability at home) factors with increases or decreases in fast food intake.…”

Fast-Food and Full-Service Restaurant Consumption Among Children and Adolescents

“…31, 32 Further, research shows significant differences by race in exposure to fast-food advertising across brands. 33 Indeed, this study found additional fat intake from fast-food consumption was twice as large among black compared to white adolescents which was similarly observed in a study by Schmidt et al 9 Only two fast-food companies are members of the self-regulatory Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) and despite this initiative the poor nutritional content of fast-food advertising has been well-documented. 34 Further consideration should be given to improve the initiative’s nutritional guidelines and apply it to teens.…”

Trajectories of eating behaviors in a nationally representative cohort of U.S. adolescents during the transition to young adulthood

“…Similar associations of fruit and vegetable intake with fast food intake, time watching television, and family meal frequency were observed in the Project EAT study, although these associations were not statistically significant once models adjusted for baseline intake [ 38 ]. Similar associations have been observed of diet quality with TV meals [ 39 , 40 ], breakfast [ 41 , 42 ], fast food [ 43 , 44 ] and family meals [ 12 , 37 ] . These observations support findings from qualitative research indicating the importance of context-specific environmental, social and situational influences on food choices [ 45 ], which are manifested by differences in dietary intake [ 46 ].…”