Introduction Canadians eat at fast food restaurants more regularly than in the past. Fast foods are higher in energy, saturated fats, and sodium than most other foods, and the portion sizes are often very large. Thus, excessive fast food consumption contributes to an unhealthy diet and a host of adverse health effects.

Individuals with a low socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnic minorities are at increased risk for excessive fast food consumption. Another determinant of fast food consumption is the density of fast food restaurants in the environment. There is a greater density of fast food restaurants in poorer neighbourhoods and neighbourhoods with larger ethnic minority populations. Disparities may also exist in the extent to which fast food restaurants are associated with fast food consumption. However, this relationship has not been examined in young Canadians.

Objectives To examine the associations between fast food restaurant density in the home neighbourhood and fast food consumption within youth, and to determine whether this association is modified by SES and ethnicity.

Methods Data are from the 2009/2010 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey, which is a nationally representative sample of 26,078 grade 6–10 students. Frequency of fast food consumption, SES, ethnicity, home postal code, and several confounders were assessed by self-report. Density of chain fast food restaurants within 1 km of each participant's home postal code was determined using computerized geographic information systems (GIS). A multilevel logistic regression model will be used to determine the relationship between neighbourhood fast food restaurant density and excessive fast food consumption (>2 times/week). Regression models will test for SES and ethnicity interactions and will control for several confounding variables.

Results and conclusion To be presented at conference (work in progress).