Fast Food Health Risks
Not many people would consider fast food a healthy option, but the latest research may cause you to stand up and take notice. Opting for the ease of a fast food drive through even once a week ups your risk of dying from heart disease by 20%. Give in 2-3 times a week and your risk shoots up to 50%. And those who make a fast food choice four or more times per week, are 80% more likely to die from heart disease. To top off the findings, those eating fast food twice a week were 27% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
The University of Minnesota School of Public Health researchers wanted to find out the impact of the movement of fast food into new markets. They looked at the eating habits of 52,000 Chinese residents who have experienced a sudden transition from their traditional foods to Western-style fast food.
“What’s interesting about the results is that study participants who reported eating fast food most frequently were younger, better educated, smoked less and were more likely to be physically active,” said one of the researchers. “This profile is normally associated with lower cardio-metabolic risk.”
Read more from the University of Minnesota.
