Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Habitual street food intake and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Street food (SF) is defined as out-of-home food consumption, and generally consists of energy-dense meals rich in saturated fats and poor in fibers, vitamins and antioxidants. Though SF consumption may have unfavorable metabolic and cardiovascular effects, its possible association with atherosclerosis has not been considered. The association between habitual SF consumption and asymptomatic carotid atherosclerosis, defined as the presence of plaques and/or increased intima-media thickness, was therefore investigated. One thousand thirty-five randomly selected adult participants without known diabetes and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases were cross-sectionally investigated in Palermo, Italy. Each participant answered a food frequency questionnaire and underwent high-resolution ultrasonographic evaluation of both carotid arteries. Laboratory blood measurements were obtained in a subsample of 541 participants. A score of SF consumption was obtained by categorizing each of ten SFs consumed more or less than once a month. Participants were divided into three classes based on the tertiles of SF score distribution. Age, gender distribution, body mass index (BMI), prevalence of hypertension and of clinically silent carotid atherosclerosis (I tertile 20.8 %, II tertile 19.7 %, III tertile 19.0 %; P = 0.85) were not significantly different among the three groups. Clinically silent carotid atherosclerosis was independently associated with age, gender and hypertension. The score of SF consumption was significantly correlated with BMI (r = 0.10; P = 0.04), uric acid (r = 0.16; P = 0.002) and high-density lipoproteins-cholesterol (r = −0.13; P = 0.009) blood concentrations. In conclusion, this study suggests that SF consumption is not associated with clinically silent carotid atherosclerosis. However, given the association of SF consumption with other cardiovascular risk factors, caution requires that this category of food should be limited in patients at high cardiovascular risk.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Paeratakul S, Ferdinand DP, Champagne CM, Ryan DH, Bray GA (2003) Fast-food consumption among US adults and children: dietary and nutrient intake profile. J Am Diet Assoc 103:1332–1338

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Winarno FG, Allain A (2010) Street foods in developing countries: lessons from Asia. FAO corporate document repository 2009. http://www.fao.org/docrep/u3550t/u3550t08.htm. Accessed 11 July 2010

  3. Jeffery RW, Baxter J, McGuire M, Linde J (2006) Are fast food restaurants an environmental risk factor for obesity? Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 3:2–12

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Rosenheck R (2008) Fast food consumption and increased caloric intake: a systematic review of a trajectory towards weight gain and obesity risk. Obes Rev 9:535–547

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Mesas AE, Munoz-Pareja M, Lopez-Garcia E, Rodriguez-Artalejo F (2011) Selected eating behaviours and excess body weight: a systematic review. Obes Rev doi:10.1111/j.1467-789X.2011.00936.x (published online 28 Sep 2011)

  6. Stender S, Dyerberg J, Astrup A (2006) High levels of trans fat in popular fast foods. N Engl J Med 354:1650–1652

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Sacks G, Veerman JL, Moodie M, Swinburn B (2011) ‘Traffic-light’ nutrition labelling and ‘junk-food’ tax: a modelled comparison of cost-effectiveness for obesity prevention. Int J Obes 35:1001–1009

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Parente G (2010) Cibo veloce e cibo di strada. Le tradizioni artigianali del fast-food in Italia alla prova della globalizzazione. Storicamente 2007, 3. http://www.storicamente.org/03parente.htm. Accessed 11 July 2010

  9. Pitte JR (1997) Nascita e diffusione dei ristoranti. In: Flandrin JL, Montanari M (eds) Storia dell’alimentazione. Bari (I), Laterza, pp 601–612

    Google Scholar 

  10. Buscemi S (2012) Inchiesta sul cibo di strada a Palermo. Provincia regionale di Palermo, Palermo

  11. Buscemi S, Barile A, Maniaci V, Batsis JA, Mattina A, Verga S (2011) Characterization of street food consumption in Palermo: possible effects on health. Nutr J 10:119

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Deanfield JE, Halcox JP, Rabelink TJ (2007) Endothelial function and dysfunction: testing and clinical relevance. Circulation 115:1285–1295

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Yeboah J, Crouse JR, Hsu FC, Burke GL, Herrington DM (2007) Brachial flow-mediated dilation predicts incident cardiovascular events in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Circulation 115:2390–2397

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Rossi R, Nuzzo A, Origliani G, Modena MG (2008) Prognostic role of flow-mediated and cardiac risk factors in post-menopausal women. J Am Coll Cardiol 51:997–1002

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Buscemi S, Maniaci V, Barile AM, Rosafio G, Mattina A, Canino B, Verga S, Rini GB (2012) Endothelial function and other biomarkers of cardiovascular risk in frequent consumers of street food. Clin Nutr 31:934–939

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Liese AD, Nichols M, Hodo D, Mellen PB, Schulz M, Goff DC, D’Agostino RB (2010) Food intake patterns associated with carotid artery atherosclerosis in the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study. Br J Nutr 103:1471–1479

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Staprans I, Rapp JH, Pan X-M, Hardman DA, Feingold KR (1996) Oxidized lipids in the diet accelerate lipid deposition in the arteries of cholesterol-fed rabbits. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 16:533–538

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Davidsson L, Fagerberg B, Bergström G, Schmidt C (2010) Ultrasound-assessed plaque occurrence in the carotid and femoral arteries are independent predictors of cardiovascular events in middle-aged men during 10 years of follow-up. Atherosclerosis 209:469–473

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Lorenz MW, Markus HS, Bots ML, Rosvall M, Sitzer M (2007) Prediction of clinical cardiovascular events with carotid intima-media thickness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Circulation 115:459–467

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Willett W (1998) Nutrition epidemiology, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Buscemi S, Batsis JA, Verga S, Carciola T, Mattina A, Citarda S, Re A, Arnone M, D’Orio L, Belmonte S, Cerasola G (2011) Long-term effects of a multidisciplinary treatment of uncomplicated obesity on carotid intima-media thickness. Obesity 19:1187–1192

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Simon A, Gariepy J, Chironi G, Megnien JL, Levenson J (2002) Intima-media thickness: a new tool for diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular risk. J Hypertens 20:159–169

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Perk J, De Backer G, Gohlke H, Graham I, Reiner Z, Verschuren M, Albus C, Benlian P, Boysen G, Cifkova R, Deaton C, Ebrahim S, Fisher M, Germano G, Hobbs R, Hoes A, Karadeniz S, Mezzani A, Prescott E, Ryden L, Scherer M, Syvänne M, Scholte Op Reimer WJ, Vrints C, Wood D, Zamorano JL, Zannad F (2012) European guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice (version 2012). The Fifth Joint Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and other societies on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice. Eur Heart J 33:1635–1701

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Friedewald WT (1972) Estimation of the concentration of low density lipoprotein cholesterol in plasma, without use of the preparative ultracentrifuge. Clin Chem 18:499–502

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Matthews DR, Hosker JP, Rudenski AS, Naylor BA, Treacher DF, Turner RC (1985) Homeostasis model assessment: insulin resistance and β-cell function from fasting plasma glucose and insulin concentrations in man. Diabetologia 28:412–419

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Oikonen M, Wendelin-Saarenhovi M, Lyytikäinen LP, Siitonen N, Loo BM, Jula A, Seppälä I, Saarikoski L, Lehtimäki T, Hutri-Kähönen N, Juonala M, Kähönen M, Huupponen R, Viikari JS, Raitakari OT (2012) Associations between serum uric acid and markers of subclinical atherosclerosis in young adults. The cardiovascular risk in Young Finns study. Atherosclerosis 223:497–503

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Kris-Etherton P, Eckel RH, Howard BV, St Jeor S, Bazzarre TL (2001) Nutrition Committee Population Science Committee and Clinical Science Committee of the American Heart Association. AHA Science Advisory: Lyon Diet Heart Study. Benefits of a Mediterranean-style, National Cholesterol Education Program/American Heart Association Step I Dietary Pattern on Cardiovascular Disease. Circulation 103:1823–1825

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Malik VS, Schulze MB, Hu FB (2006) Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 84:274–288

    CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Grundy SM, Becker D, Clark LT et al (2001) Executive summary of the third report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) expert panel on detection, evaluation, and treatment of high blood cholesterol in adults. JAMA 285:2486–2497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. de Lorgeril M, Salen P, Martin JL, Monjaud I, Delaye J, Mamelle N (1999) Mediterranean diet, traditional risk factors, and the rate of cardiovascular complications after myocardial infarction: final report of the Lyon Diet Heart Study. Circulation 99:779–785

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Shimakawa T, Sorlie P, Carpenter MA, Dennis B, Tell GS, Watson R, Williams OD (1994) Dietary intake patterns and sociodemographic factors in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Prev Med 23:769–780

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Morland K, Wing S, Diez Roux A (2002) The contextual effect of the local food environment on residents’ diets: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Am J Public Health 92:1761–1767

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Associazione Onlus Nutrizione e Salute, Palermo, Italia.

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio di Nutrizione Clinica, Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica (DIBIMIS), P. Giaccone Policlinico, University of Palermo, Via del Vespro 129, 90127, Palermo, Italy

    Silvio Buscemi, Alessandro Mattina, Giuseppe Rosafio, Anna M. Barile, Vincenza Maniaci, Alice Bonura, Delia Sprini & Giovam B. Rini

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze per la Promozione della Salute e Materno Infantile, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Fatima M. Massenti

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

    Fabio Galvano, Giuseppe Grosso & Emanuele Amodio

Authors
  1. Silvio Buscemi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alessandro Mattina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Giuseppe Rosafio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fatima M. Massenti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Fabio Galvano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Giuseppe Grosso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Emanuele Amodio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Anna M. Barile
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Vincenza Maniaci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Alice Bonura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Delia Sprini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Giovam B. Rini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Silvio Buscemi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Buscemi, S., Mattina, A., Rosafio, G. et al. Habitual street food intake and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis. Eat Weight Disord 19, 363–370 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-013-0081-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-013-0081-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation