Researchers Find That Dining Out Frequently Increases Risk of Mortality

Researchers from the University of Iowa recently examined the link between the risk of death and dining out and came to the conclusion that eating out too often was linked to an increased risk of all-cause death. The findings were reported in the “Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.”

Eating out is a popular activity globally, and while not much research has been done into its link with health outcomes, the conclusion warrants further study on the matter.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the daily energy intake from food away from home for Americans had increased to 34% in 2011–12 from 17% in 1977–78. Concurrently, sales in the restaurant industry are projected to rise significantly as the number of restaurants increases steadily.

While there are restaurants that offer high-quality foods, the dietary quality of foods that aren’t cooked at home, particularly those from fast-food chains, is often lower in comparison with food that is cooked in the home. Evidence has demonstrated that foods away from home are usually higher in sodium, fat and density, but lower in protective nutrients such as antioxidants and dietary fiber as well as whole grains, vegetables and fruits.

Assistant professor in the department of epidemiology Wei Bao, who was also the lead investigator of the study, explained that the limited evidence that has been unearthed suggests that eating out often is linked to an increased risk of chronic ailments such as diabetes and obesity as well as biomarkers of other chronic ailments. However, he added, little was known about the link between the risk of mortality and eating out.

For their study, the researchers examined data from questionnaire responses of 35,084 individuals who were all aged 20 and above; the questionnaires were administered during the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 1999–2014. The participants revealed their dietary habits, which included the frequency of dining out.

A College of Public Health PhD candidate in the same department and university, Yang Du, who was also the study’s first author, noted that the researchers linked these records to death records through Dec. 15, 2015, with a focus on cancer death, cardiovascular death and all-cause death.

The researchers found that 2781 deaths had occurred in the period, with 638 of those being caused by cancer and another 511 caused by cardiovascular ailments. The researchers then adjusted for body mass index, lifestyle and dietary factors, socioeconomic status, ethnicity/race, sex and age. They discovered that the hazard ratio of mortality among participants who dined out often, in comparison with those who rarely ate out was 1.67 for cancer death, 1.18 for cardiovascular death and 1.49 for all-cause death.  Du noted that the team’s findings show that eating out too frequently was considerably linked to an increased risk of all-cause death.

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