The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would like Americans to know that some of them purchase fast food in order to save themselves time.

Seriously.

The USDA spent taxpayer dollars on a study (pdf) that says, “findings show that Americans purchase fast food as a means of saving time.”

Other findings in the report include such discoveries as:

-“Fast food purchasers have different eating patterns than others.”

-“They spend less time eating meals and snacks on an average day and are more likely to report no primary eating and/or drinking beverages time.”

-“They are more likely to engage in eating while at work and while driving.”

-“Fast food purchasers spend less time sleeping, doing housework, eating and drinking, and watching television than nonpurchasers, and more time traveling from place to place.”

-“They also tend to have higher incomes and higher education levels.”

-“While the time that Americans spent eating out at all restaurants declined during and after the 2007-09 recession, the share of the population eating at fast-food restaurants on a given day stayed fairly constant, seemingly unaffected by the economic downturn, but the share for sit-down restaurants declined.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

The Role of Time in Fast-Food Purchasing Behavior in the United States (by Karen S. Hamrick and Abigail M. Okrent, U.S. Department of Agriculture) (pdf)

Battling Obesity in U.S., FDA Approves Sweeping New Rules for Calorie Disclosure (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Nutritional Value of Fast Food Has Hardly Increased in 14 Years (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)