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Quick Service Restaurant (Fast) Food and Obesity: A systematic review of human studies
Author(s) -
Idigo Adeniyi,
Brown Andrew,
Jeansonne Madeline,
Kell Kenneth,
Allison David
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.600.2
Subject(s) - anthropometry , obesity , inclusion (mineral) , service (business) , healthy food , systematic review , medicine , psychology , gerontology , environmental health , medline , marketing , business , political science , food science , pathology , social psychology , biology , law
BACKGROUND Some hypothesize that quick service restaurant food (QSRF; i.e., fast‐food) uniquely contributes to obesity. Here, we present preliminary characterizations of scientific reports on the relationship between QSRF and obesity. METHODS We searched for primary research in English that tested relationships between QSRF and anthropometry in humans. This generated 3,394 papers that were evaluated by at least two of the authors, yielding a current inclusion of 22 theses and 178 journal articles. RESULTS From 200 papers included, 75 (37.5%) specified their own definitions of QSRF, while in 70 (35%) QSRF was unclearly defined and thus may be confounded. Anthropometry was directly measured by researchers in 112 (56%) studies. Presently, 699 analyses were extracted based on having unique populations, primary outcomes and/or greatest inferential strength. Of these, there were 118 (16.9%) longitudinal analyses and only 1 (0.14% of analyses; 0.5% of papers) randomized control trial, which was the only study declaring solely industry funding. Funding was not disclosed in 68 (28.3%) of the papers, and only 4 (1.7%) reported some industry funding. Corresponding authors were predominantly affiliated with the United States (119; 59.5%).
Conclusions Few studies used designs providing meaningful causal inference on the relationship between QSRF and obesity, and most have varied or non‐standard definitions of QSRF. Forthcoming meta‐analyses of these results should help inform future directions for QSRF‐obesity research.
PROSPERO #: CRD42013006170
NIH P30DK056336