Imagine for a moment that all of the nation's fast-food establishments--all the striped awnings and golden arches, the drive-thru windows, the beckoning dollar deals and wafting odor of French fries--were to vanish overnight. Would the number of our kids who carry an unhealthful amount of extra weight plummet? 
 
 The answer is very likely no, says a study published Thursday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Because if you shut off the supply of 24-ounce fountain drinks, bacon cheeseburgers, fried chicken and stuffed tacos, the children who frequently eat at fast-food restaurants will go home and do what they generally do when not eating at a fast-food restaurant: They'll snarf cookies and chips, chug sugar-sweetened soda from a bottle, and heat up frozen pizzas. 
 
 In a new study, researchers from the University of North Carolina led by nutrition professor Barry Popkin have found that even when they are not eating at fast-food restaurants, children who frequent them tend to eat food that would probably make many of them overweight or obese anyway. The authors of the latest research combed through a national database of Americans' health and nutrition behaviors and grouped 4,466 American kids--from ages 2 to 18--according to what they ate when they were not eating food purchased at a fast-food restaurant. 
 
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 Participants were designated "Western diet" consumers if their consumption from non-fast-food sources was relatively high in saturated fats and added sugars. Those classified as following a "prudent diet" ate more fruits and vegetables, leaner proteins and less added sugar and saturated fat. 
 
 After doing so, they went back to the children's detailed food consumption records and categorized them as nonconsumers of fast food (those whose food tracking records indicated no calories consumed from a restaurant or eating establishment without servers), low consumers (whose food tracking records indicated that no more than 30% of their calories came from such an establishment), and high consumers (for whom more than 30% of calories consumed came from a fast-food restaurant). 
 
 The result: Those who followed the Western dietary pattern when not dining at fast-food restaurants--even those who were considered "nonconsumers" of fast food--had the highest rates of being overweight or obese. Those who followed a "prudent diet" when not dining on fast food--even those who were considered high consumers of fast food--were significantly less likely to be overweight or obese. 
 
 On average, low consumers of fast food were 1.5 times as likely to follow a Western diet pattern of consumption than people who were considered nonconsumers of fast food. High consumers of fast food were 2.2 times as likely to do so. 
 
 "Our findings suggest that the location where foods are obtained may not be as important as the nutritional quality of the foods consumed," the authors wrote. They also suggest that "the effect of public health efforts targeted at fast food restaurants may also be overestimated, such that these efforts may be necessary but not sufficient to reduce child obesity if the remainder of the diet is not addressed." 
 
 The study was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the authors--Jennifer M. Poti, Kiyah J. Duffy and Popkin--declared they had no financial conflicts of interest with respect to the article. ||||| Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online 
 
 A new study from researchers at the University of North Carolina has found that fast food isn’t necessarily the cause of childhood obesity – it’s a symptom. 
 
 The study, which was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said poor dietary habits that obese children learn at home are the main cause of their weight problems. 
 
 “This is really what is driving children’s obesity,” said study author Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. “Eating fast foods is just one behavior that results from those bad habits. Just because children who eat more fast food are the most likely to become obese does not prove that calories from fast foods bear the brunt of the blame.” 
 
 In the study, researchers looked at data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected between 2007 and 2010. The team analyzed dietary intake in nearly 4,500 children between 2 years and 18 years old. The children were categorized as being non-consumers of fast food, low consumers (less than or equal to 30 percent of calories from fast food) or high consumers (more than 30 percent of calories from fast food). 
 
 The researchers discovered that fast food is only a small portion of a larger dietary pattern established by children’s parents and caregivers. The obese children’s diet often includes too few fruits and vegetables and too much processed food and overly-sweet beverages. This unhealthy diet pattern is often reinforced in the meals students are offered as school lunches. 
 
 “The study presented strong evidence that the children’s diet beyond fast- food consumption is more strongly linked to poor nutrition and obesity,” said study author Jennifer Poti, doctoral candidate in UNC’s Department of Nutrition. “While reducing fast-food intake is important, the rest of a child’s diet should not be overlooked.” 
 
 Popkin noted that a better understanding of the patterns behind childhood obesity is important in the attempt to foster healthier habits, such as the reduction of sugary drink consumption and the greater inclusion of fresh vegetables and fruits. 
 
 “Children who rely on fast foods may tend to have parents who do not have the means, desire or time to purchase or prepare healthy foods at home,” Popkin said. “This is really what is driving children’s obesity and what needs to be addressed in any solution.” 
 
 Another study published this week from University of Illinois researchers found three main predictors for preschool obesity risk: a lack of adequate sleep, having parents with high body mass index (BMI) and having their eating habits restricted for weight control purposes. 
 
 Published in the journal Childhood Obesity, the study included data from a survey sent to over 300 children and their parents living in east-central Illinois. The study’s conclusion was based on the first round of data collected when the youngsters were two years old. 
 
 “What’s exciting here is that these risk factors are malleable and provide a road map for developing interventions that can lead to a possible reduction in children’s weight status,” said study author Brent McBride, director of the university’s Child Development Laboratory. “We should focus on convincing parents to improve their own health status, to change the food environment of the home so that healthy foods are readily available and unhealthy foods are not, and to encourage an early bedtime.”
– Fast food isn't making your kids fat—not really. What's truly behind the trend of childhood obesity are the sodas, frozen pizzas, and cookies consumed at home, school, and whenever kids aren't in a McDonald's or Burger King booth—a "Western diet" high in saturated fats and added sugars, according to a new study. Researchers looked at the eating habits of 4,466 American kids, aged 2 to 18, and grouped them based on what they ate when they weren't eating fast food. What they found: Those with the highest rates of being overweight or obese ate a Western diet—even if they ate no fast food; on the flip side, those who were high fast-food consumers but otherwise ate a "prudent" diet were much less likely to be overweight or obese, the Los Angeles Times reports. The more often a child ate at fast food spots, however, the more likely he or she was to follow a similar diet at home. But "just because children who eat more fast food are the most likely to become obese does not prove that calories from fast foods bear the brunt of the blame," one author says, per Red Orbit. In fact, health campaigns targeting fast-food restaurants may be "overestimated" in that they are "not sufficient to reduce child obesity if the remainder of the diet is not addressed."