--- title: Is Eating Out Healthy: Eating Out Linked To Higher Blood Pressure description: Young people who eat out often are more likely to have high blood pressure than their counterparts who cook their own food, a study says. canonical: https://time.com/3823921/eating-out-blood-pressure/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-16T16:13:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:25:50.008Z article:section: Health og:title: Is Eating Out Healthy: Eating Out Linked To Higher Blood Pressure og:description: Young people who eat out often are more likely to have high blood pressure than their counterparts who cook their own food, a study says. og:url: https://time.com/3823921/eating-out-blood-pressure/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75d9d12e4030dfa8/6987eb62e20a870957a88ed1/pizza.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1959 og:image:height: 1102 og:image:alt: Pizza fast food og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is Eating Out Healthy: Eating Out Linked To Higher Blood Pressure twitter:description: Young people who eat out often are more likely to have high blood pressure than their counterparts who cook their own food, a study says. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75d9d12e4030dfa8/6987eb62e20a870957a88ed1/pizza.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dining Out May Be Linked To High Blood Pressure in Young People  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Apr 16, 2015 4:13 PM UTC  Close-Up Of Pizza On Table Close-Up Of Pizza On TableGetty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Apr 16, 2015 4:13 PM UTC Young people who eat out often are more likely to have high blood pressure than their counterparts who cook their own food, according to a new study in the _American Journal of Hypertension_. The study, which looked at more than 500 university students in Singapore, found that one additional meal eaten away from home correlates with a more than 5% increase in the chance of having prehypertension, or slightly elevated blood pressure. Researchers explained that meals eaten out typically contain more calories, saturated fat and salt than homemade meals. All three of those factors have been shown to cause high blood pressure. Overall, 38% of students ate at least 12 meals, or around half of the total meals in a week, away from home each week and half of the male participants had prehypertension, compared with only 10% of the women. The study authors note that the research doesn’t identify cause and effect and is likely more applicable to residents of South East Asia than elsewhere. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3823921/eating-out-blood-pressure/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3823921/eating-out-blood-pressure/"},"headline":"Dining Out May Be Linked To High Blood Pressure in Young People","datePublished":"2015-04-16T16:13:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:25:50.008Z","description":"One additional meal eaten away from home correlates with a more than 5% increase in the chance of having prehypertension","url":"https://time.com/3823921/eating-out-blood-pressure/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75d9d12e4030dfa8/6987eb62e20a870957a88ed1/pizza.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75d9d12e4030dfa8/6987eb62e20a870957a88ed1/pizza.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pizza fast food","caption":"545770377","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3823921/eating-out-blood-pressure/","name":"Dining Out May Be Linked To High Blood Pressure in Young People"}}]}] ```