What junk food is and its collateral effects

The first of October 2011 Denmark introduces what has been known as the first “fat tax” ever. The Danish tax involved food with more than 2,3% of saturated fats, which were taxed 2,15 euro for kilogram of nutrient.

In the UK advertising of junk food has been banned before 9 pm, in order to prevent children to be affected. The reason? In the country on out of three children at the age of 10 is obese.

The term “junk food” was used for the first time by Micheal Jacobson to define food with low nutritional value but with high caloric content due to the presence of fats and sugars.

These kinds of food are obtained with many production phases which depauperate the main nutritional substances and add preservatives and chemical additives. This food has different color and taste compared to the original. The three main ingredients at the foundation of junk food are: salt, sugars and animal fats (or low quality plant based oil).

We can consider as junk food the like of hamburger, sandwich, wurstel, kebab, fried chips, sodas, industrial baked products (sweet and/or salty), ready meals, various sausages and creams. Obviously, this does not mean that all hamburger in the world are junk food; however, if you are going to a fast food with the idea of eating hamburger and fried at 2 euros, you should know that you going to swallow junk food.

Someone could ask what is wrong in eating at a fast food restaurant, since in many of those places you can find tasty and cheap dishes. The thing is exactly this one: junk food seriously damages health.

The first sore point is about the risk of obesity and diabetes. As demonstrated by several scientific studies, and made famous by the documentary “Super size me”, there is a correlation between how many times people go to a fast food restaurant and increase in body weight. A study of 2005 has evaluated the connection between junk food consumption, body weight change and insulin resistance (possible cause of type 2 diabetes mellitus). The result was clamorous: people who go to a fast food restaurant more than twice a week have registered a weight increase of 4,5 kg and an insulin resistance increase of 104% compared to people who go less than once.

Another sore point of consuming junk food regards the outbreak of cardiovascular diseases. The University of Minnesota has done a research on 52.000 inhabitants of Singapore a few years after the diffusion of junk food in the country. The typical person going to fast food restaurant in Singapore was young, physically healthy, educated and non smoker. Regardless of all of this, the risk of premature death for cardiovascular diseases increases by 20% for who eats more than once a week in a fast food restaurant; of 50% for who eats 2 or 3 times; and a staggering 80% for who eats more than 4 times.

Let’s come to the psychological problems: several studies show how junk food creates addiction (junk food addiction) which is comparable to that of psychotropic substances.

This addiction is introduced by a great quantity of fats and refined carbs (made by a particularly artificial production).

In practice, food where fats, sugars and salt are added can act in the receptors of hormone called dopamine (which is activated also by taking drugs). In the moment when this kind of receptors are not stimulated anymore, our organism feels deprived of something and addiction is triggered.

But this is not all: an American study shows how food with a high glycemic index generates a few hour after the consumption an evident lowering of mood, which results in a sense of fatigue and a sensation of loss of energy.

Finally, a study made on a statistic sample of Iranian children and teenagers shows that there is a statistically significant correlation between the consumption of junk food and the psychological disorders and between junk food and violent behaviours.

In the present article we have listed various problems which a frequent consumption of junk food can generate. Naturally every and each of the food which can be considered junk food have specific negative effects. In the next articles of our blog we will examine the pros and cons of this single food, which often people use when the need energy for their body but do not have the time to enjoy a complete meal. In the meantime we can just suggest you to avoid any kind of junk food and to prefer food which are nutritionally complete, balanced and possibly natural.

Data which are used in the article are taken from:

Super-sized and diabetic by frequent fast-food consumption?; Astrup; 2005.

Western-Style Fast Food Intake and Cardio-Metabolic Risk in an Eastern Country;  Odegaard, Woon Puay Koh, Jian-Min Yuan, Gross and Pereira; 2012.

The Yale Food Addiction Scale; Gearhardt, Corbin, Brownell; 2009.

High Glycemic Index Diet as a Risk Factor for Depression: Analyses from the Women’s Health Initiative; Gangwisch, Hale, Garcia, Malaspina, Opler, Payne, Rossom, and Lane; 2015.

Association between junk food consumption and mental health in a national sample of Iranian children and adolescents: The CASPIAN-IV study; Zahedi, Kelishadi, Heshmat, Motlagh, Ranjbar, Ardalan, Payab, Chinian, Asayesh, Larijani, Qorbani; 2012.