Restaurant foods, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, and obesity risk among young African American women.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of obesity is disproportionately high in African American women, and consumption of fast foods and sugar-sweetened soft drinks is also especially high among African Americans.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the relation of intakes of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and specific types of restaurant foods to obesity in the Black Women's Health Study.

DESIGN: In this prospective cohort study, 19,479 non-obese women aged 21-39 years at baseline were followed for 14 years (1995-2009). Dietary intake was assessed by validated food frequency questionnaire in 1995 and 2001.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of intakes of restaurant foods and sugar-sweetened soft drinks with incident obesity.

RESULTS: Higher intakes of burgers from restaurants and sugar-sweetened soft drinks were associated with greater risk of becoming obese. The associations were present in models that included both factors and adjusted for overall dietary pattern. The HR of obesity in relation to restaurant burger consumption of > or = 2 times/week compared with < 5 times/year was 1.26 (95% CI: 1.14-1.40; P-trend<.001). For sugar-sweetened soft drink intake, the HR was 1.10 (95% CI: .99-1.23; P-trend = .14) for > or = 2 drinks/day compared with < 1 drink/month. The associations were stronger among women younger than age 30 with normal weight at baseline.

CONCLUSIONS: Frequent consumption of burgers from restaurants and sugar-sweetened soft drinks contribute to obesity among young African American women.