The association between fast-food consumption and academic achievement in school-aged children and adolescents: A systematic literature review.

Authors

Narendra Sookram, Tiffany Cao, Linda Rothman, Jessica Omand

Published in

Nutrition and health. Pages 2601060261496970. Oct 12, 2026. Epub Oct 12, 2026.

Abstract

BackgroundNutrition plays an important role in brain development and cognitive function. Despite the poor nutritional quality of fast food, consumption is high among children and adolescents.AimTo systematically synthesize and evaluate the evidence on the direction of the association between fast-food consumption and academic achievement among school-aged children and adolescents in Anglosphere countries.MethodsFive electronic databases (CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) were searched from inception to June 2025. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, assessed the risk of bias using JBI critical appraisal tools, and evaluated the certainty of the evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Eligible studies included children and adolescents aged 4 to 18 years from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, or the United States that examined the association between fast-food consumption and academic achievement. The direction of the association across studies was assessed using vote counting and a binomial sign test.SummaryEleven observational studies met the inclusion criteria. All reported a negative direction of association between fast-food consumption and academic achievement, although some associations were not statistically significant. The binomial sign test supported this overall direction; however, statistical power was limited by the small number of studies. The overall certainty of the evidence was rated as very low due to serious concerns regarding risk of bias and imprecision. The preliminary evidence suggests a potential negative direction of association between fast-food consumption and academic achievement among children and adolescents, but higher-quality primary research is needed.

PMID:
42864980
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Oct 2026.

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