Modern and Traditional fast foods consumption in Benghazi, Libya

The study was conducted to compare between Modern and Traditional fast foods in terms of consumption, and to evaluate the calorific value of the most preferred Modern and Traditional fast foods. This study included 400 participants randomly selected from individuals attending fast foods restaurants, parks, and malls from 21 regions in Benghazi city. Questionnaires were used to collect data among the study population; the questioners were filled by the investigator. From five different restaurants, ten types of fast foods (sandwiches) were collected; five traditional and five modern fast foods. The results shows that the majority of participants were young people especially those under forty years of age, mostly men and the predominant categories were students and employees. Most of participants consume fast foods on a daily basis especially at dinner and lunch, they preferred both modern and traditional fast foods, and more preferable to sandwiches than meals. Modern fast food samples were higher in terms of total caloric content than traditional fast food samples, which mainly came from its higher fat content and serving size. This study indicated that fast foods consumption were a growing phenomenon among consumers in Benghazi city and revealed that fast food is a concentrated source of energy which simply means “an empty caloric food”.