Americans get 11.6% of total daily calorie intake from fast food

Americans get 11.6 percent of total daily calorie intake from fast food a new study suggests.

That's a slight drop in calorie intake from fast food among young and old people from a decade ago.

It is believed that a reduction in sugar consumption is leading the trend towards less calories, reported the Washington Post.

The newspaper said that while calories and fast food consumption were decreasing in some populations, among black and low-income people, the numbers remained high.

A decade ago the percentage of calories from fast food was about 13 percent.

More from GlobalPost: Morales says West's fast food a 'threat to humanity'

Young whites and Hispanics between the ages of 15 and 39 had approximately 15 percent of their daily calories from fast food, said LA Weekly.

The same percentage was consumed by blacks of any age.

Obese adults consumed calories from fast food just a few percentage points above the average.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that from 1999 to 2010, Americans lowered their total calorie intake for the first time since the 1960s from 2,260 calories per day (in men) to 2,100. 

The percentage of calories from protein also increased in the last decade, said Counsel and Heal.

More from GlobalPost: India: burgeoning fast-food paradise

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.