Eating at restaurants not healthy

Researchers have found that eating at restaurants is linked with higher daily total energy intake and poorer dietary indicators.

On days when adults ate at a restaurant, they consumed about 200 additional total daily calories whether they ate at fast-food restaurants or at full-service restaurants, the findings showed.

"Our study confirms that adults' fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption was associated with higher daily total energy intake and poorer dietary indicators," said Binh Nguyen from American Cancer Society.

For the study, researchers used data from more than 12,000 respondents between the ages 20 and 64 taking part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003.

The study found that on days when eating at a fast-food restaurant, there was a net increase of total energy intake (194.49 kcal), saturated fat (3.48 g), sugar (3.95 g) and sodium (296.38 mg).

Eating at a full-service restaurant was also associated with an energy intake (205.21 kcal), and with higher intake of saturated fat (2.52 g) and sodium (451.06 mg).

The study appeared online in the journal Public Health Nutrition.