Nutritional content of fast foods from INCAP food composition tables

Abstract

Introduction. Food industrialization has generated a worldwide food transition that favors malnutrition, consisting of deficiencies and excesses due to imbalance in caloric intake. The study aim was to analyze the nutritional content of fast foods and highlight their repercussions on health. Methods. The nutritional content of fast foods available in the Central American Food Composition Tables (TCA) of the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) was analyzed. The nutritional composition (total fat, carbohydrates, protein, fiber) and energy values were considered in 100 g (or 100 ml) of edible portion of six subcategories. A univariate descriptive statistical analysis was performed to obtain the measures of central tendency and dispersion of each variable of the subcategories. An analysis of variance (ANDEVA) was applied with a Duncan mean separation. Results. A high protein content was identified in the six subcategories; the highest was in "fried chicken and nuggets" (16 g) and the lowest in "burritos" (9 g). In general, they presented low levels of fiber, with an average of 2.2 g. Conclusion. Fast food is characterized by being high in energy, carbohydrates, protein and fat, and low in fiber. Their regular consumption is one of the main causes of body weight gain and they present a substantial risk of developing non-communicable diseases in the long term, so reducing their consumption is essential to take care of health.