Fast food & teens

Adolescent girls who eat fast food frequently may put on pounds they don't want or need.

Researchers at the University of Washington asked 101 healthy girls aged 8 to 12 to keep one-week diet records when they started the study and again when they were 11 to 19 years old. Girls who reported eating fast food at least twice a week gained more weight than girls who ate fast food once a week or not at all.

What to do: Most fast food is calorie dense, but anyone can minimize the damage by replacing the fries, burgers, and shakes with salads, a fruit-and-yogurt parfait, or grilled chicken.

Int. J. Obes. Relat. Metab. Disord. 28: 282, 2004.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Center for Science in the Public Interest
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