Girls who frequently eat fast food also consume significantly more fat, calories and sodium overall than girls who order fast food less often, study findings show.

On average, fast food lovers - eating the high-fat and high-calorie fare at least 4 times per week - downed an extra 130 calories and 150 milligrams of sodium every day, along with more total and saturated fat, relative to girls who ordered fast food less than once per week.

These findings suggest that cutting back of fast food may improve overall diet quality, the researchers note in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

“The girls that eat a lot of fast food are getting too much fat, salt and calories,” said study author Marcia Schmidt of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio. “This is partly due to the content of the food and partly due to the portion size,” she added.

Consequently, if girls want to eat out, they should keep track of what they order, and how much, the researcher advised. “If (girls) eat out a lot, and especially at fast food establishments, it is important to make good choices and beware of the portion size,” Schmidt noted.

In their report, Schmidt and her colleagues note that children and teenagers are eating more food away from home; indeed, one study showed that teenagers eat fast food, on average, twice a week. These meals tend to be rich in calories, sodium, fat and cholesterol, they write, and may displace healthy meals that contain fruits and vegetables.

To investigate how eating fast food affects girls’ overall diet, the researchers followed 2379 black and white girls for 10 years, asking them periodically about their diet.

The researchers found that girls tended to eat more fast food as they aged, and black girls ate more fast food at all ages than white girls.

Girls who ate more fast food tended to consume more calories, calories from fat, calories from saturated fat, and sodium. On average, black girls tended to eat significantly more calories, calories from fat, and sodium than white girls, across all ages.

Schmidt explained that girls likely eat more fast food as they get older because they become more independent, and can go to a fast food restaurant on their own. Fast food is also appealing because it is often inexpensive, girls may feel peer pressure to eat it, and it is often sold in schools, making it “readily available,” Schmidt noted.

However, this availability may hurt girls in the long run, she noted. “The diet worsens with more fast food because the choices tend to be high in fat, sodium and calories,” Schmidt said.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, July 2005.