Americans Consume 11% of Calories From Fast Food

The tallies are in. According to a study done by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans consumed about 11.3 percent of their calories from fast food joints. The study was done between 2007-2010 and reached out to various people across generations and ethnic backgrounds.

What many haven’t mentioned is the fact that this number is a decrease from previous years when the fast food caloric consumption was at 12.8 percent.

It was found that as age increased, the amount of fast food decreased. As well among young adults with an increase of income, there was a decrease in fast food.  However, young adults across the board, ages 20-39 consumed approximately 20 percent of their caloric intake from fast food.

Among ethic groups, adults in the Black community consumed more calories from fast food than Whites or Latinos, who maintained similar percentages.

This may be because of the fact that there is still an illusion that healthy food is more expensive. According to a study done by the Economic Research Survey, measuring the worth of food depends on how you look at in. In the study, they measured the price per calorie, average portion and edible gram.

Major findings of this study include:

• Foods low in calories for a given weight appear to have a higher price when the price is measured per calorie. For example, vegetables and fruits, which are low in calories, tend to be a relatively expensive way to purchase food.
• Conversely, less healthy food, especially those with high saturated fat and added sugar, tend to be high in calories and have a low price per calorie.
• When measured on the basis of edible weight or average portion size, grains, vegetables, fruit and dairy foods are less expensive than most protein foods and foods high in saturated fat, added sugars and/or sodium.

After this research, it was noted that there isn’t much difference between healthy and unhealthy food, but there are other factors that feed into this 11 percent.

Food choices are a big deal when it comes to eating healthy or not. Food deserts play a role among underrepresented communities. These are defined as areas where access to healthy, nutritious and affordable food is limited.

According to the CDC, more than one third of Americans are obese, which is due in part to the fast food diet that many people encounter on rushed schedules.

It was also found that as weight gain increased, so did the percentage of caloric intake from fast food.