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Lead researcher Ami Zota and his colleagues handed out both a questionnaire and a urine sample collection cup to be returned by more than 8,500 contributors. This data-gathering has been accounted to be the first to deeply delve into the correlation between fast-food intake and the public's contact with chemicals.

The feedback form used a 24-hour dietary recall data in which they put into figures the fast food intake, the fast food-derived fat intake and the fast food intake by food group along with related assessments involving urinary chemical concentrations and dietary exposures.  

The study then found out that the individuals who gave an account of fast-food consumption were linked to a higher exposure to levels of phthalates, giving them the sorry possibility of having diabetes and genital birth defects such as infertility, particularly in the male demographic of the registry.

A di-2-ethylhexylphlatate (DEHP) of more than 23.8% and a di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP) of more than 40% registered as breakdown products in the urinary samples of those who consumed fast foods.

"Studies have definitely looked at and measured items in grocery stores, and they do find detectable levels [of phthalates]," Zota was quoted in Medical Daily.

"Because often those items have gone through processing before it gets to your grocery store. I think our study points to the fact that the more processing and packaging that food comes in contact with, the more likely it will contain phthalates," she added while pointing to an understanding that how the food was process could be another important factor in the study.

With more additional research to be done, they have advised that consuming more fresh fruits and vegetables can lower one's exposure to phthalates.