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Education affects who eats fast food, Victoria College class study finds

  • Caty Hirst •
  • Originally published October 7, 2012 at 10:57 p.m., updated October 8, 2012 at 8:36 a.m.

Are you a fast food junkie?

That is the question students at Victoria College asked when they started a study of fast food eating in Victoria - and found that education plays a vital role.

According to the results presented Wednesday by honor students in Phi Theta Kappa, other factors, such as income level, ethnicity or distance from fast food, did not affect how likely residents ate fast food.

Kendra Hanslik, a dietitian major, led the study, hoping to help Victoria County residents form better eating habits.

"I wanted to inform Victoria residents why our society may be consuming more fast food," Hanslik said. "I wanted to be able to help them make better decisions for the next generation, their families, their kids and themselves."

The more educated a person was, the less likely they were to eat fast food, Hanslik said. The study looked at people whose education ranged from some high school through a college graduate program.

In their study, the students surveyed 145 Victoria County residents, which included 101 women.

"As an overall correlation, we found that men are less likely to want to be surveyed," Hanslik joked.

Phylis Canion, a nutritionist, also spoke at Wednesday's presentation. She agreed that education is necessary for people to make good health decisions.

"You have to become educated on reading the food labels because the answer on toxicity of food is right there in the list of ingredients," Canion said.

Canion emphasized the need to eat organic foods and not to eat out of plastic or Styrofoam because of toxins.

Hanslik's study will be submitted to the national Phi Theta Kappa organization for awards.