By the Associated Press
A government study has found that 1 in 3 U.S. adults eat fast food on any given day. That’s about 85 million people.
FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014 file photo, fast food restaurant signs line Peach Street in Erie, Pa. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018 finds that one in three U.S. adults eat fast food on any given day. (Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News via AP/ MANILA BULLETIN)
It’s the first federal study to look at how often adults eat fast food. An earlier study found a similar proportion of children and adolescents ate it on any given day.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the numbers Wednesday. It’s based on a survey of about 10,000 adults over four years.
The study did not find a difference between men and women. But higher-income families ate fast food more often than lower-income families, and blacks ate it more than other racial or ethnic groups.
Health officials say too much high-calorie fast food can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other health problems.