Paris (AFP)

Sugar, salt, portion size: consumers who often go to fast food restaurants run the risk of having "degraded nutritional intake", warns a study by ANSES, which believes that improving the supply of these restaurants should constitute a "priority".

On average, fast food only represents 5% of food intake by adults, but "its attendance at least once a week doubled between 2006 and 2014", underlines the National Food Safety Agency.

And the recent evolution of their market share, boosted by the health crisis linked to Covid-19, suggests "a greater contribution to the future".

Among regular consumers of these establishments, food families such as sandwiches, pizzas and pies, as well as sugary drinks (sodas, juices, etc.) "contribute a lot to their nutrient intake", observes Carine Dubuisson, the one of the coordinators of the study published Thursday.

"It's not so much the amount of nutrients that will be different, but their nature," she adds.

Thus, the intake of sugars will be "more related to sugary drinks" than to fruits, lipids will come more from processed products such as quiches and pizzas, etc.

The authors also found that the portions of ice cream served were larger than in traditional restaurants or at home.

According to the recommendations of the health agency, revised in 2019, the French are particularly encouraged to reduce their consumption of sugary drinks, meat, fatty, sweet, salty and ultra-processed foods.

Conversely, they should increase the intake from fruits, vegetables and pulses.

The ANSES report, which is based on actual consumption data collected in 2014 and 2015, aims to draw up "an inventory of food consumption and nutritional intake" of meals taken away from home (fast, traditional and collective catering). ).

It focuses on school children (aged 3 to 17), students and working adults, who "constitute the main user populations for out-of-home catering".

If 80% of food is taken at home, "each week, eight out of ten people eat one or more meals outside the home, so it is still an important subject in the diet of the French", underlines Carine Dubuisson.

© 2021 AFP