US adolescents get a fifth of their calories from fast food, study finds

A study of the 12 largest fast food chains in the United States has criticised the energy, sugar, fat, and sodium content in the foods they market to children. Its authors hope that a combination of public outrage and the threat of new laws and enforcement of existing laws on truth in advertising may bring about the changes they seek.

The report, by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, was presented on 8 November at the 138th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in Denver.

It found that every day a third of US children and teenagers eat fast food; it is …