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Fast food and Weight gain
Eating fast food makes you fat. Among nearly 3,400 young adults participating in a long-term study, every additional fast food meal they consumed each week correlated with a substantial increase in body mass index (BMI). This, according to Dr. Barry M. Popkin of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Dr. Barry M. Popkin looked at 3,394 young adults participating in a heart disease study. He compared the study participants' consumption of fast foods and restaurant foods during year 7 and year 10 of the study with their BMIs at both time points. BMI is a ratio of weight to height commonly used to determine if a person is underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese or morbidly obese. The more fast food the subjects ate, the higher was their BMI. For each additional fast food meal eaten per week during year 7, BMI increased by 0.13 points, while each additional fast food meal per week at year 10 was tied to a 0.24 rise in BMI. This translates to 0.9 pounds and 1.7 pounds, respectively, for a person 5 foot 10 inches tall. There was no association between meals eaten at traditional restaurants and increases in BMI; in fact, some analyses linked eating more often in restaurants to a slightly lower BMI. People who eat more fast food pack on more pounds. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2007.

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