Fast-food Frequency, Cooking Methods, and Prediabetes Markers in Romanian University Students

In a cross-sectional analysis of 693 Romanian university students, investigators reported that more frequent habitual fast-food intake and certain cooking methods clustered with less favorable glycemic markers, including higher HbA1c and a higher prevalence of prediabetes. The report, Fast-food Frequency, Cooking Methods and Prediabetes Markers in Romanian University Students, frames these as observed associations in a young adult cohort rather than evidence of causality. The findings are presented as patterns linking how often students ate fast food and how they typically cooked meals with HbA1c-based classification of glycemic status.

Dietary habits, food preferences, and cooking practices were captured via a structured online questionnaire, while anthropometric and biochemical measures (including HbA1c and lipids) were obtained from university health records. Fast-food frequency was categorized as never, rarely, 1–2 times per week, or ≥3 times per week (coded ordinally), and the predominant cooking method was recorded as boiling, baking, grilling, frying, or other. Using k-means clustering of fast-food frequency, main meal of the day, fruit/vegetable intake frequency, and cooking method, the authors identified three patterns labeled Health-Conscious, Mixed, and Fast-Food Oriented; prediabetes overall was defined by HbA1c 5.7–6.4%. Analyses were reported using group comparisons and multivariable regression models, with HbA1c emphasized as the primary glycemic marker and prediabetes as a related categorical outcome. These exposure definitions and clusters formed the framework for the paper’s reported glycemic and lipid associations.

In adjusted models, each category increase in the fast-food consumption score was associated with higher HbA1c (standardized β = 0.147; p < 0.001) and higher odds of prediabetes (OR = 1.78 per category; 95% CI, 1.38–2.30; p < 0.001), with a reported dose–response trend across categories (p-trend < 0.001). As one example from the dose–response table, mean HbA1c increased from 5.09% among students reporting no fast-food intake to 5.58% among those reporting ≥3 times weekly. In the same multivariable HbA1c model, fruit and vegetable intake frequency was inversely associated with HbA1c (β = −0.109; p < 0.001). The authors also reported a mediation analysis in which the indirect effect of fast-food frequency on HbA1c through BMI was not statistically significant, while the direct association remained after BMI adjustment. Overall, the results were described as multiple dietary dimensions relating to HbA1c in this cohort.

Cooking method was also reported to differentiate mean HbA1c, with higher values among students primarily using high-temperature methods—grilling (5.44%) and frying (5.43%)—compared with boiling (5.27%), with an overall ANOVA p = 0.0155. In interaction analyses, the authors reported a statistically significant frying × fast-food interaction for HbA1c (interaction β = −0.196; p = 0.023). They described the pattern as consistent with a ceiling effect, with HbA1c already elevated among frying users even at lower fast-food intake, while maintaining the overall framing as non-causal. The interaction was presented as a modeled statistical finding linking cooking practice with the observed fast-food–HbA1c association pattern.

For lipid outcomes, the paper reported that BMI and sex were the strongest predictors across models, while fast-food frequency was independently associated with higher triglycerides (p = 0.034). A sensitivity analysis excluding participants with HbA1c ≥ 6.5% was reported to show similar overall associations for the primary glycemic models, without emphasis on changes in the main effect estimates. The authors also noted methodological constraints typical of this design, including the cross-sectional structure and reliance on self-reported questionnaire exposures alongside record-derived biomarkers. Overall, the report linked fast-food frequency, dietary clustering, and cooking practices with HbA1c-based glycemic status, with comparatively more limited independent dietary associations reported for lipid markers.

Key Takeaways:

• In this cross-sectional student cohort, higher fast-food frequency was associated with higher HbA1c and greater odds of prediabetes, and investigators reported a dose–response trend across intake categories.
• Mean HbA1c differed by cooking method, and the authors reported a frying × fast-food interaction for HbA1c that they described as consistent with a ceiling-type pattern among frying users.
• Fruit and vegetable intake frequency was inversely associated with HbA1c, while BMI and sex were described as stronger predictors of lipid outcomes and fast-food intake was associated with higher triglycerides.