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Food Away from Home and Childhood Obesity

  • Economy and Environment (LM Powell, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Childhood obesity is associated with a number of serious health risks that can persist into adulthood. While trends in food away from home and fast-food consumption have paralleled trends in childhood obesity, it is important to identify whether this is a causal relationship. This paper reviews recent literature in this area to summarize if there is a consensus in research findings. We group the literature into two areas — consumption of and access to food away from home (FAFH). While no consensus findings have been reached in either area, the evidence of an association between FAFH consumption and childhood obesity has gained strength. Further, there is evidence that FAFH meals add calories to children’s diets. The literature on the role of FAFH access and childhood obesity has continued producing mixed results.

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Acknowlegments

Views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the US Department of Agriculture or the Economic Research Service.

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Conflict of Interest

Lisa Mancino, Jessica E. Todd, Joanne Guthrie, and Biing-Hwan Lin declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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  1. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Economic Research Service, 355 E St. SW, Washington, DC, 20024, USA

    Lisa Mancino, Jessica E. Todd, Joanne Guthrie & Biing-Hwan Lin

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  1. Lisa Mancino
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  2. Jessica E. Todd
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  3. Joanne Guthrie
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  4. Biing-Hwan Lin
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Correspondence to Lisa Mancino.

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Mancino, L., Todd, J.E., Guthrie, J. et al. Food Away from Home and Childhood Obesity. Curr Obes Rep 3, 459–469 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-014-0121-z

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