Bronx teenagers crave what the borough has to offer in abundance: fast food. Often, teens prefer to eat a quick, affordable, and convenient meal and the Bronx is meeting that demand.

However, many of these teens may be unaware of how various fast food restaurants often use ingredients that contain high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, carbohydrates, sodium, and saturated fat, to prepare a meal.

The high presence of fast food eateries in the Bronx coincides with the borough’s dead last rank in healthy New York State counties.

As of 2015, the Bronx “has the strongest growing rate of fast food restaurants in New York City,” according to a report by the Center for an Urban Future, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on pressing issues in New York City. The prevalence of more fast food restaurants negatively affects the health outcomes of Bronx teenagers.

The Center for an Urban Future reports that the Bronx has 43 of the 232 McDonald’s restaurants in the five boroughs, 80 Dunkin’ Donuts coffee shops compared to 568 citywide, 15 Burger King restaurants compared to 85 citywide, and 59 Subway shops compared to 444 citywide.

Jahnoiye Gray, a 17-year-old student at Bronx Academy for Software Engineering in Belmont, said that on his walk to school, he doesn’t see many restaurants selling healthy food.

Bronx teenagers, tend to choose fast food over a healthier restaurant because food orders are usually made quicker. Dwayne Campbell, 16, who lives in the Bronx, says that he eats fast food because it’s near his school and “it’s all that’s available.”

Its availability is nowhere near the amount of calories consumed for each fast food run. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the average teenage boy needs to consume about 2,200 to 3,200 calories per day, and the average teenage girl needs 1,800 to 2,400 calories per day. The group also reports that consuming 100 extra calories a day can cause one to gain 10 extra pounds each year. A possible McDonald’s meal, including a Big Mac burger, small size of french fries and four-piece Chicken McNuggets, is a combined 960 calories, about half the recommended daily caloric intake for a teenager. Burger King’s Whopper sandwich contains 650 calories alone. All of these calorie counts are for one meal alone, not including the additional calories that come with breakfast and dinner.

Consuming too many calories can contribute to weight problems such as obesity. According to Sharon Movsas, a diabetes educator at Montefiore Health System, “Being overweight and not exercising are the main causes of type 2 diabetes, the most common type of diabetes.” Movsas also explained that type 2 diabetes can cause eye damage that could lead to blindness, nerve damage, and heart disease.

BJC HealthCare, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health care organizations, reports pre-teens and teens who consume 1,800 to 2,000 calories daily should only consume 20 to 32 grams of sugar daily. Restaurants such as Dunkin’ Donuts have frozen coffee drinks, such as their Frozen Coffee Coolatta, which contain up to 43 grams of sugar in their small size offering.

Fast food restaurants “encourage teens not to learn about cooking [and] healthier choices,” said Louis Reid, a fitness club supervisor at the Bronx Academy for Software Engineering. “[Teens] develop a taste for [fast food], which is tough because you like things that you have often.”

Still, fast food chains have attempted to polish their image as purveyors of fast food by introducing a more health-conscious menu. Some restaurants have opted to tone down the calorie-heavy foods entirely.

John DeSio, the director of communications for the Bronx Borough President’s Office, has noticed improvements in the borough’s food landscape, thanks to healthier fast food restaurants such as Chipotle, setting up shop in the Bronx. The Mexican-inspired restaurant offers fast food that is made with healthier, organic ingredients that give teens that fast food kick they’re craving.