Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jan;167(1):14-20.
doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.417.

Fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption among children and adolescents: effect on energy, beverage, and nutrient intake

Lisa M Powell  1 , Binh T Nguyen
Affiliations

Fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption among children and adolescents: effect on energy, beverage, and nutrient intake

Lisa M Powell et al. JAMA Pediatr. 2013 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the effect of fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption on total energy intake, dietary indicators, and beverage consumption.

Design: Individual-level fixed-effects estimation based on 2 nonconsecutive 24-hour dietary recalls.

Setting: Nationally representative data from the 2003-2004, 2005-2006, and 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Participants: Children aged 2 to 11 years (n = 4717) and adolescents aged 12 to 19 years (n = 4699).

Main outcome measures: Daily total energy intake in kilocalories; intake of grams of sugar, total fat, saturated fat, and protein and milligrams of sodium; and total grams of sugar-sweetened beverages, regular soda, and milk consumed.

Results: Fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption, respectively, was associated with a net increase in daily total energy intake of 126.29 kcal and 160.49 kcal for children and 309.53 kcal and 267.30 kcal for adolescents and with higher intake of regular soda (73.77 g and 88.28 g for children and 163.67 g and 107.25 g for adolescents) and sugar-sweetened beverages generally. Fast-food consumption increased intake of total fat (7.03-14.36 g), saturated fat (1.99-4.64 g), and sugar (5.71-16.24 g) for both age groups and sodium (396.28 mg) and protein (7.94 g) for adolescents. Full-service restaurant consumption was associated with increases in all nutrients examined. Additional key findings were (1) adverse effects on diet were larger for lower-income children and adolescents and (2) among adolescents, increased soda intake was twice as large when fast food was consumed away from home than at home.

Conclusion: Fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption is associated with higher net total energy intake and poorer diet quality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors of this paper have no conflicts of interest.

Summary for patients in

References

    1. Guthrie JF, Lin BH, Frazao E. Role of food prepared away from home in the American diet, 1977–78 versus 1994–96: Changes and consequences. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior. 2002;34(3):140–150. - PubMed
    1. Poti JM, Popkin BM. Trends in Energy Intake among US Children by Eating Location and Food Source, 1977–2006. J Am Diet Assoc. 2011;111(8):1156–1164. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nielsen SJ, Siega-Riz AM, Popkin BM. Trends in energy intake in U.S. between 1977 and 1996: Similar shifts seen across age groups. Obes Res. 2002;10(5):370–378. - PubMed
    1. Bauer KW, Larson NI, Nelson MC, Story M, Neumark-Sztainer D. Fast food intake among adolescents: Secular and longitudinal trends from 1999 to 2004. Preventive Medicine. 2009;48(3):284–287. - PubMed
    1. French SA, Story M, Neumark-Sztainer D, Fulkerson JA, Hannan P. Fast food restaurant use among adolescents: associations with nutrient intake, food choices and behavioral and psychosocial variables. International Journal of Obesity. 2001;25(12):1823–1833. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms