According to recent statistics, Americans eat out on an average of four to five times a week–and chances are that doesn’t include healthy food, according to registered dietitian Katie Bogue.
“For many of us, grabbing a burger or pizza is part of our everyday routine,” says Bogue. “Fast food can be inexpensive, easy, and good tasting. You can be satisfying your hunger within ten minutes or less.”
But when it comes to your diabetes though, opting for fast food isn’t a good choice, according to a recent study published in the European Journal of Nutrition.
The study, which compared the effects of a fast food diet versus a more balanced diet, found something frightening: Diets with a high fast food intake was associated with a 70 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
Meanwhile, those who opted for a diet of fish, chicken, and raw vegetables didn’t face this same risk.
“The increase in risk of 70% is significantly higher than studies that have looked at one particular food group, such as sugary soft drinks or red meat,” says Benedict Jephcote, editor of Diabetes.co.uk, who did not participate in the study. “The fact that higher amounts of processed fast food could more than double the risk of type 2 diabetes should be sending a clear message to decision makers in the UK. Only last month did the Minister for High Streets, Brandon Lewis MP, state that fast food restaurants were ‘massively important’ for town centres [sic].”
The Study Details
Considered one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers from the Netherlands examined how certain diets, such as a diet rich in fast food, affected a person’s diabetes risk.
Enrolling over 20,000 people as part of the EPIC-NL, or European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition for the Netherlands, study, researchers sought to find out their eating habits by asking about their dietary intake.
After the data was compiled, researchers closely examined how consuming more fast food affected a person’s type 2 diabetes risk–and there was definitely more than a slight risk.
“The results found that not only did those in the fast food group have an increased risk of diabetes but one that was 70% higher,” says representatives from Diabetes.co.uk. “Fast food is characterised [sic] by a number of negative factors for health and is typically energy dense and high in calories, fat and carbohydrate. Whilst having a lot of calories, these foods are often nutritionally lacking, particularly the likes of crisps and chips, and have little fibre [sic] or essential vitamins and minerals.”
But if that wasn’t bad enough news, it fares even worse for those with the highest fast food intake–researchers estimate their risk for diabetes was over 100 percent.
Obviously eating out a lot probably isn’t a good idea.
“The average restaurant meal contains almost an entire day’s worth of calories and fat,” says Bogue. “Not to mention too much sodium and limited vitamins, minerals, and fiber.”
Bottom line? If you’re eating out more than once per week, it’s seriously time to cut the habit; eating home cooked meals is a better way to minimize your diabetes risk.
Readers: How much fast food do you eat every week?
Sources:
Fast Food Increases Type 2 Diabetes by 70 Percent – Diabetes.co.uk
Fast Food Dangers – UCSDNutritionLink.org
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