The strengths of our study include: long-term prospective study design with high rates of follow-up over 15 years; standardized, repeated, and detailed measurements of dietary practices; direct assessment of specific fast-food habits, rather than proxy measures such as meals away from home or fried foods; use of the Nutrition Coordinating Center (University of Minnesota) archival system, which attempts to keep pace with the food supply, including changes in use of fats in fast food; extensive data for excoriates with which to explore con-founders and mediators of the associations under investigation; and the demographics of the cohort—young adult black and white men and women from four US metropolitan areas who have been examined during a period of life when substantial
weight gain occurs and chronic diseases arise.