A study conducted by scientists at the University of Minnesota and the Children’s Hospital in  Boston has provided the first concrete evidence supporting a link between fast-food consumption, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study investigated the association between the reported fast-food habits and changes in bodyweight and physical conditions in adults over the course of a 15-year period.

The study included 3,031 men and women living in the USA aged 18 to 30. The researchers recorded strong, positive, and independent associations between the frequency of visits to fast-food restaurants and increases in bodyweight and insulin resistance, two major risk factors for type 2 diabetes.

Those participants with frequent visits to fast-food restaurants more than twice a week experienced an extra 10-pound weight gain during the study and had more than double the chance of developing insulin resistance than those participants who ate fast food less than once a week.

Pereira, M, Kartashov A, Ebbeling C, et al. Fast-food habits, weight gain, and insulin resistance (the CARDIA study): 15-year prospective analysis. Lancet. 2005; 365 (9453): 36-42.