FRIDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- More than 11 percent of adults' daily calorie consumption comes from fast foods, according to a February data brief issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
Cheryl D. Fryar, and R. Bethene Ervin, Ph.D., R.D., from the NCHS in Hyattsville, Md., used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007 to 2010) to examine the percentage of calories consumed from fast foods by adults in the United States.
According to the report, adults consumed, on average, 11.3 percent of their total daily calories from fast food during 2007 to 2010. With advancing age, the consumption of calories from fast food decreased significantly. Compared with non-Hispanic white and Hispanic adults, non-Hispanic black adults consumed a higher percentage of calories from fast food. Among all adults, income status did not affect the percentage of calories consumed from fast food. However, among young adults, the percentage of calories from fast food decreased as income increased. As weight status increased, the percentage of total daily calories from fast food also increased.
"This report indicates that for 2007 to 2010, on average, adults consumed just over one-tenth of their percentage of calories from fast food, which represents a decrease from 2003 to 2006 when approximately 13 percent of calories were consumed from fast food," the authors write.
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