For decades fast food has been written off as ultimately unhealthy and fattening. So much of it is fried, processed, or both. But in its March issue, Health magazine tells about the top ten healthiest fast food chains in the country.
Archive for category Food service
Fast food versus homemade
Feb 21
It’s fair to say that per ounce the cost of a burger – homemade or from a fast food restaurants – is nearly the same. But cost is only one element that goes into our decisions about food. Find other arguments by clicking on the headline.
Researchers stidied a region of Texas, analyzed neighborhoods for the number of fast food restaurants, and found a 13% elevated risk of ischemic stroke in neighborhoods with the highest number of fast food restaurants. Ischemic strokes are caused by blood clots.
The qualitative and quantitative content of 4,365 meals theoretically available and 330 meals consumed was recorded during five weekdays spread over three weeks in a Belgian university canteen. To ensure overall compliance with dietary recommendations, considerable changes on the supply side, i.e. an increase in fruit and vegetable portions and a reduction in salt and fat of the lunch, are needed first in this setting.
Can lifestyle changes really improve people’s health? In this WHO podcast you can learn about new evidence from research conducted in Iran. Amongst a large number of interventions also you can find the introducing half-portions in restaurants and fast food eateries and advocating for the development of bicycle lanes in the city. Read the orginal article here: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/1/07-049841.pdf
Junk food was studied among 1019 children and adolescent in the Haidian District in Beijing. 97.5% had eaten at least one type of junk food and 15.88% of them had eaten all types: deep fried food, pickled food, processed meat products, biscuits, coke or alike drinks, convenience/fast food, canned food, dried or preserved fruit, cold and sweet food, barbecue food. Most of the children and adolescent ate junk food mainly during breakfast at home. Most of the surveyed children and adolescent did not have correct idea on nutrition of junk food.
Youth who study just a short walk from a fast-food outlet eat fewer fruit and vegetables, drink more soda and are more likely to be obese than students at other schools, according to research published in the American Journal of Public Health (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19106421?dopt=Abstract). The study, which involved more than 500,000 adolescents at middle schools and high schools in California, lends new fuel to a growing backlash against the fast-food industry as studies suggest they contribute to the rising obesity epidemic.
Only 3 percent of kids’ meals served at fast-food restaurants met federal dietary guidelines in the first study to examine the nutrient quality of such meals in a major U.S. metropolitan market. The study, “Nutrient Quality of Fast Food Kids Meals,” was recently published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Volume 88: 1388-1395).
In small towns in the Midwestern US, people who eat out often at buffets and cafeterias and who perceive their community to be unpleasant for physical activity are more likely to be obese.
A new study in the Review of Agricultural Economics compares fast food and table service meals at restaurants. Results show that both are larger and have more calories than meals prepared at home, with the typical fast food meal being smaller and having fewer calories than the average meal from a table service restaurant.