11% of calories come from fast food

A new U. S. report has revealed that 11.3 percent of daily calories consumed by adults in 2007 through 2010 came from fast food. The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was based on data pulled from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), CBS News reported. Fast food is a quick alternative to making a meal at home, and it''s steadily becoming am increasing part of the American diet, the report noted. However, the 2007 to 2010 fast food-calorie statistics are lower than the levels reported from 2003 to 2006, when the American diet was about 13 percent fast food, it said. Researchers cited that eating fast food frequently has been linked to weight gain. The CDC report revealed that more than one-third of U. S. adults are obese and that obese people had the highest percentage of fast food making up their diet. Non-Hispanic black adults ate more fast food in their diet than non-Hispanic whites and Hispanic adults. Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest rates of obesity at 49.5 percent, according to the CDC. However, there were no differences in the amount of fast food consumed by adults when income status was taken into account. But, for young adults, the higher the income they reported, the lower the chances they ate fast food. "The good news from this study is that as we get older, perhaps we do get wiser and eat less fast food," Samantha Heller, a clinical nutritionist at the NYU Center for Musculoskeletal Care in New York City told HealthDay. But Heller pointed out that bad food habits in a person''s 20s can set them up for a lifetime of disease, adding that eating poorly early in life can lead to metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. "A take-home message is that the study suggests that the more fast food you eat, the fatter you get,"she said. From : ANI