Overweight adolescents ate 400 calories more on days they ate fast food, but lean did not

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Thursday, June 24, 2010 9:06 am Email this article
Overweight adolescents at 409 calories more on days that they ate fast food than days they did not, but lean adolescents did not eat more according to a study from researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston, Mass.

Overweight adolescents ate an average of 2703 calories on days that they ate fast food compared to 2295 calories on days that they did not.

Lean adolescents ate an average of 2575 calories on days that they ate fast food compared to 2622 calories on days that they did not.

The study involved 26 overweight adolescents and 28 lean adolescents, 13- to 17-years-old, who were given an “extra large” fast food meal in a food court setting, and were instructed to eat as much or little as wanted during this one-hour meal.

REFERENCE

Ebbeling C, Sinclair K, Pereira M, Garcia-Lago E, Feldman H, Ludwig D. Compensation for energy intake from fast food among overweight and lean adolescents. JAMA. 2004 Jun 16, 291(23):2828-33.

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Childhood Obesity

• Fast Food