ND1031116

Title: Fast Food More Popular With Middle Class

Description: The study challenges assumed links among poverty, fast food and obesity.

Page Content: SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? A new UC Davis suggests that fast-food dining becomes more common as earnings increase from low to middle incomes, weakening the popular notion that fast-food should be blamed for higher rates of obesity among the poor.

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?There is a correlation between obesity and lower income, but it cannot be solely attributed to restaurant choice,? said J. Paul Leigh, professor of public health sciences at UC Davis and senior author of the study, which is published online in Population Health Management. ?Fast-food dining is most popular among the middle class, who are less likely to be obese.?

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Leigh and co-author DaeHwan Kim used data from the 1994 to 1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals and the accompanying Diet and Health Knowledge Survey. The nationally representative sample of nearly 5,000 people in the U.S. included data about food consumption patterns, including restaurant visits, over two nonconsecutive days, which was compared with demographic variables such as household income, race, gender, age and education.

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They found that eating at full-service restaurants followed a pattern: As income rose, visits increased. In contrast, eating at fast-food restaurants, characterized by minimal table service and food preparation time, followed a different pattern. Fast-food restaurant visits rose along with annual household income up to $60,000. As income increased beyond that level, fast-food visits decreased.

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Leigh believes that the fast-food industry attracts the middle class by locating restaurants right off freeways in middle-income areas and by offering products that appeal to a large proportion of Americans. ?Low prices, convenience and free toys target the middle class ? especially budget-conscious, hurried parents ? very well,? he said.

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While the results of the study challenge assumptions that fast food chains are partly to blame for America?s obesity problem, Leigh?s suggested solution regarding taxes is problematic ? and one that NACS does not support: ?One potential way to encourage healthier eating could be to charge taxes that increase based on the number of calories in food. Proceeds from the taxes could then be used to subsidize and reduce the costs of healthy foods,? Leigh said.

Content Subject: Research

Formatted Article Date: October 31, 2011

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