Poor diet and big bellies linked to takeout food

Young adults who regularly feast on takeaway or takeout food tend to have less healthy diets and larger waistlines than their peers.

Abdominal obesity is considered a key risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Past studies have suggested that people who regularly consume fast food, typically burgers, fries and pizza, tend to have poorer diet quality. Young adults are high consumers of takeaway food. Not many studies have investigated the associations of takeaway food consumption with overall diet quality and abdominal obesity. To examine this, researchers from Australian identified 1,277 men and 1,585 women aged between 26 and 36 years.

The participants were asked to complete questionnaires on demographic and lifestyle factors; a 127-item food frequency questionnaire; usual daily frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption and usual weekly frequency of takeaway food consumption. The researchers asked participants not only about fast food, but also about takeout from Chinese, Thai and Indian restaurants. Nearly 38 percent of the men ate takeout at least twice per week, as did 18 percent of the women.

The researchers compared the participants' dietary intake with the dietary recommendations from the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. Moderate abdominal obesity was defined as = 94 cm for men and = 80 cm for women.

It was found that those who ordered takeout at least twice a week were less likely to get the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy and whole grains. They also tended to eat too many desserts and high fat, high-salt snack foods.

Moreover, among frequent takeout eaters, 25 per cent of women and 31 per cent of men more likely to be moderately obese around the middle than those who had takeout once a week or less often.

Takeout customers tended to be less physically active and watch more TV than those who got takeout once a week or less often. They were also younger, on average, and more likely to be single.

But even when the researchers considered those factors, as well as participants' employment status, higher takeout consumption remained linked to a higher risk of abdominal obesity.

The above findings suggest that reducing takeaway food consumption or choosing healthier takeaway food options may improve diet quality and prevent obesity.