Fast food for all

A new nationwide study of young baby boomers contradicts the popular belief that fast-food consumption is concentrated amongst the poor.

The researchers used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which has questioned the same group of randomly selected Americans since 1979. The NLSY is conducted by The Ohio State University’s Centre for Human Resource Research.

In the study, Jay Zagorsky and Patricia Smith used data from about 8000 people who were asked about their fast-food consumption in the 2008, 2010 and 2012 surveys. Participants, who were in their 40s and 50s at the time of the surveys, were asked how many times in the past seven days they had eaten “food from a fast-food restaurant such as McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut or Taco Bell”.

Results were compared with the participants’ answers to questions about their wealth and income. While there were some slight differences in how wealth and income were related to fast-food consumption, Zagorsky said the results were similar.

Overall, 79% of respondents ate fast food at least once and 23% ate three or more meals during any one of the weeks recorded in the study.

In one analysis, the researchers divided the participants into 10 groups based on income. About 80% of those in the lowest 10% of income ate at least once at a fast-food restaurant, compared to about 85% of those who were ranked near the middle (40 to 50%) in terms of income. Of the richest 10%, about 75% reported eating at least one fast-food meal.

Another key finding was that people whose income or wealth changed dramatically during the four years of the study — either going way up or way down — didn’t change their eating habits.

“If you became richer or poorer, it didn’t change how much fast food you ate,” Zagorsky said. One hallmark of the heavy users of fast food was a lack of time.

The study found that fast-food eaters tended to have less leisure time because they were more likely to work, and work more hours, than non-fast-food eaters.

Zagorsky cautioned that there are some limitations to the study. For one, the participants were not asked what they ate at the fast-food restaurants. Some may choose healthier options such as salads or they may sometimes just go for a cup of coffee.

Also, this study included only people in their 40s or 50s. Consumption habits may be different for people at different ages. Zagorsky said he hopes the results of this study can help guide policymakers when they come up with laws regarding how to prevent obesity or guide nutritional choices for Americans.

“Rich people may have more eating options, but that’s not stopping them from going to places like McDonald’s or KFC.”

Their study will be published in the November 2017 issue of the journal Economics and Human Biology.

Image caption: Jay Zagorsky.