The Paper of the Month for June is ‘Food insecurity (hunger) and fast-food consumption among 180,164 adolescents aged 12-15 years from 68 countries‘ and is free to access for 1 month.

Fast-food is sold in restaurants and snack bars as a quick meal or to be taken out, and often consists of low-nutrient and energy-dense foods. Consequently, fast-food consumers tend to have higher intakes of energy, fat, saturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids, sugar and sodium, as well as lower intakes of fibre, macronutrients and vitamins. This means that regular fast-food consumers have a higher risk of multiple physical and mental health complications. Worryingly, among adolescents the consumption of fast food is on the rise across the globe.

Food insecurity is where households lack access to adequate food because of limited money or other resources, and severe food insecurity can lead to hunger. Hunger is likely a risk factor for fast-food consumption as people tend to shift to more calorie dense but less nutritious options when food is scarce. In our study consisting of 180,164 adolescents aged 12-15 years from 68 countries, representing all levels of economic development, we found that fast-food consumption was 1.17 times higher amongst adolescents who had experienced hunger during the previous 30 days compared to those who had not experienced hunger. Importantly, when looking at consumption by economic region, this association between hunger and fast-food only occurred in low and middle-income countries.

It is possible that fast-food is a comparatively more expensive food option in high-income countries, and high-income countries are also more likely to have measures in place to help support those experiencing hunger. Many high-income countries provide free and healthy school meals, and food banks are able to offer more nutritious alternatives to fast-food. These types of initiatives are rare in low and middle-income countries. Whether such methods, that require strong governmental and societal buy in, would be feasible and effective in low and middle-income countries is not known. Future research is therefore required to identify the efficacy of implementing such approaches in low economic settings.

Each month a paper is selected by one of the Editors of the five Nutrition Society Publications (British Journal of Nutrition, Public Health Nutrition, Nutrition Research Reviews, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society and Journal of Nutritional Science). Take a look at the entire Nutrition Society Paper of the Month Collection.

Infographic created by Martha Redway