cause and effect essay about eating too much junk food

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The Impacts of Junk Food on Health

Energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods, otherwise known as junk foods, have never been more accessible and available. Young people are bombarded with unhealthy junk-food choices daily, and this can lead to life-long dietary habits that are difficult to undo. In this article, we explore the scientific evidence behind both the short-term and long-term impacts of junk food consumption on our health.

Introduction

The world is currently facing an obesity epidemic, which puts people at risk for chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes. Junk food can contribute to obesity and yet it is becoming a part of our everyday lives because of our fast-paced lifestyles. Life can be jam-packed when you are juggling school, sport, and hanging with friends and family! Junk food companies make food convenient, tasty, and affordable, so it has largely replaced preparing and eating healthy homemade meals. Junk foods include foods like burgers, fried chicken, and pizza from fast-food restaurants, as well as packaged foods like chips, biscuits, and ice-cream, sugar-sweetened beverages like soda, fatty meats like bacon, sugary cereals, and frozen ready meals like lasagne. These are typically highly processed foods , meaning several steps were involved in making the food, with a focus on making them tasty and thus easy to overeat. Unfortunately, junk foods provide lots of calories and energy, but little of the vital nutrients our bodies need to grow and be healthy, like proteins, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Australian teenagers aged 14–18 years get more than 40% of their daily energy from these types of foods, which is concerning [ 1 ]. Junk foods are also known as discretionary foods , which means they are “not needed to meet nutrient requirements and do not belong to the five food groups” [ 2 ]. According to the dietary guidelines of Australian and many other countries, these five food groups are grains and cereals, vegetables and legumes, fruits, dairy and dairy alternatives, and meat and meat alternatives.

Young people are often the targets of sneaky advertising tactics by junk food companies, which show our heroes and icons promoting junk foods. In Australia, cricket, one of our favorite sports, is sponsored by a big fast-food brand. Elite athletes like cricket players are not fuelling their bodies with fried chicken, burgers, and fries! A study showed that adolescents aged 12–17 years view over 14.4 million food advertisements in a single year on popular websites, with cakes, cookies, and ice cream being the most frequently advertised products [ 3 ]. Another study examining YouTube videos popular amongst children reported that 38% of all ads involved a food or beverage and 56% of those food ads were for junk foods [ 4 ].

What Happens to Our Bodies Shortly After We Eat Junk Foods?

Food is made up of three major nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. There are also vitamins and minerals in food that support good health, growth, and development. Getting the proper nutrition is very important during our teenage years. However, when we eat junk foods, we are consuming high amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, which are quickly absorbed by the body.

Let us take the example of eating a hamburger. A burger typically contains carbohydrates from the bun, proteins and fats from the beef patty, and fats from the cheese and sauce. On average, a burger from a fast-food chain contains 36–40% of your daily energy needs and this does not account for any chips or drinks consumed with it ( Figure 1 ). This is a large amount of food for the body to digest—not good if you are about to hit the cricket pitch!

• Figure 1 - The nutritional composition of a popular burger from a famous fast-food restaurant, detailing the average quantity per serving and per 100 g.
• The carbohydrates of a burger are mainly from the bun, while the protein comes from the beef patty. Large amounts of fat come from the cheese and sauce. Based on the Australian dietary guidelines, just one burger can be 36% of the recommended daily energy intake for teenage boys aged 12–15 years and 40% of the recommendations for teenage girls 12–15 years.

A few hours to a few days after eating rich, heavy foods such as a burger, unpleasant symptoms like tiredness, poor sleep, and even hunger can result ( Figure 2 ). Rather than providing an energy boost, junk foods can lead to a lack of energy. For a short time, sugar (a type of carbohydrate) makes people feel energized, happy, and upbeat as it is used by the body for energy. However, refined sugar , which is the type of sugar commonly found in junk foods, leads to a quick drop in blood sugar levels because it is digested quickly by the body. This can lead tiredness and cravings [ 5 ].

• Figure 2 - The short- and long-term impacts of junk food consumption.
• In the short-term, junk foods can make you feel tired, bloated, and unable to concentrate. Long-term, junk foods can lead to tooth decay and poor bowel habits. Junk foods can also lead to obesity and associated diseases such as heart disease. When junk foods are regularly consumed over long periods of time, the damages and complications to health are increasingly costly.

Fiber is a good carbohydrate commonly found in vegetables, fruits, barley, legumes, nuts, and seeds—foods from the five food groups. Fiber not only keeps the digestive system healthy, but also slows the stomach’s emptying process, keeping us feeling full for longer. Junk foods tend to lack fiber, so when we eat them, we notice decreasing energy and increasing hunger sooner.

Foods such as walnuts, berries, tuna, and green veggies can boost concentration levels. This is particularly important for young minds who are doing lots of schoolwork. These foods are what most elite athletes are eating! On the other hand, eating junk foods can lead to poor concentration. Eating junk foods can lead to swelling in the part of the brain that has a major role in memory. A study performed in humans showed that eating an unhealthy breakfast high in fat and sugar for 4 days in a row caused disruptions to the learning and memory parts of the brain [ 6 ].

Long-Term Impacts of Junk Foods

If we eat mostly junk foods over many weeks, months, or years, there can be several long-term impacts on health ( Figure 2 ). For example, high saturated fat intake is strongly linked with high levels of bad cholesterol in the blood, which can be a sign of heart disease. Respected research studies found that young people who eat only small amounts of saturated fat have lower total cholesterol levels [ 7 ].

Frequent consumption of junk foods can also increase the risk of diseases such as hypertension and stroke. Hypertension is also known as high blood pressure and a stroke is damage to the brain from reduced blood supply, which prevents the brain from receiving the oxygen and nutrients it needs to survive. Hypertension and stroke can occur because of the high amounts of cholesterol and salt in junk foods.

Furthermore, junk foods can trigger the “happy hormone,” dopamine , to be released in the brain, making us feel good when we eat these foods. This can lead us to wanting more junk food to get that same happy feeling again [ 8 ]. Other long-term effects of eating too much junk food include tooth decay and constipation. Soft drinks, for instance, can cause tooth decay due to high amounts of sugar and acid that can wear down the protective tooth enamel. Junk foods are typically low in fiber too, which has negative consequences for gut health in the long term. Fiber forms the bulk of our poop and without it, it can be hard to poop!

Tips for Being Healthy

One way to figure out whether a food is a junk food is to think about how processed it is. When we think of foods in their whole and original forms, like a fresh tomato, a grain of rice, or milk squeezed from a cow, we can then start to imagine how many steps are involved to transform that whole food into something that is ready-to-eat, tasty, convenient, and has a long shelf life.

For teenagers 13–14 years old, the recommended daily energy intake is 8,200–9,900 kJ/day or 1,960 kcal-2,370 kcal/day for boys and 7,400–8,200 kJ/day or 1,770–1,960 kcal for girls, according to the Australian dietary guidelines. Of course, the more physically active you are, the higher your energy needs. Remember that junk foods are okay to eat occasionally, but they should not make up more than 10% of your daily energy intake. In a day, this may be a simple treat such as a small muffin or a few squares of chocolate. On a weekly basis, this might mean no more than two fast-food meals per week. The remaining 90% of food eaten should be from the five food groups.

In conclusion, we know that junk foods are tasty, affordable, and convenient. This makes it hard to limit the amount of junk food we eat. However, if junk foods become a staple of our diets, there can be negative impacts on our health. We should aim for high-fiber foods such as whole grains, vegetables, and fruits; meals that have moderate amounts of sugar and salt; and calcium-rich and iron-rich foods. Healthy foods help to build strong bodies and brains. Limiting junk food intake can happen on an individual level, based on our food choices, or through government policies and health-promotion strategies. We need governments to stop junk food companies from advertising to young people, and we need their help to replace junk food restaurants with more healthy options. Researchers can focus on education and health promotion around healthy food options and can work with young people to develop solutions. If we all work together, we can help young people across the world to make food choices that will improve their short and long-term health.

Obesity : ↑ A disorder where too much body fat increases the risk of health problems.

Processed Food : ↑ A raw agricultural food that has undergone processes to be washed, ground, cleaned and/or cooked further.

Discretionary Food : ↑ Foods and drinks not necessary to provide the nutrients the body needs but that may add variety to a person’s diet (according to the Australian dietary guidelines).

Refined Sugar : ↑ Sugar that has been processed from raw sources such as sugar cane, sugar beets or corn.

Saturated Fat : ↑ A type of fat commonly eaten from animal sources such as beef, chicken and pork, which typically promotes the production of “bad” cholesterol in the body.

Dopamine : ↑ A hormone that is released when the brain is expecting a reward and is associated with activities that generate pleasure, such as eating or shopping.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

[1] ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2013. 4324.0.55.002 - Microdata: Australian Health Survey: Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2011-12 . Australian Bureau of Statistics. Available online at: http://bit.ly/2jkRRZO (accessed December 13, 2019).

[2] ↑ National Health and Medical Research Council. 2013. Australian Dietary Guidelines Summary . Canberra, ACT: National Health and Medical Research Council.

[3] ↑ Potvin Kent, M., and Pauzé, E. 2018. The frequency and healthfulness of food and beverages advertised on adolescents’ preferred web sites in Canada. J. Adolesc. Health. 63:102–7. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.01.007

[4] ↑ Tan, L., Ng, S. H., Omar, A., and Karupaiah, T. 2018. What’s on YouTube? A case study on food and beverage advertising in videos targeted at children on social media. Child Obes. 14:280–90. doi: 10.1089/chi.2018.0037

[5] ↑ Gómez-Pinilla, F. 2008. Brain foods: the effects of nutrients on brain function. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 9, 568–78. doi: 10.1038/nrn2421

[6] ↑ Attuquayefio, T., Stevenson, R. J., Oaten, M. J., and Francis, H. M. 2017. A four-day western-style dietary intervention causes reductions in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory and interoceptive sensitivity. PLoS ONE . 12:e0172645. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172645

[7] ↑ Te Morenga, L., and Montez, J. 2017. Health effects of saturated and trans-fatty acid intake in children and adolescents: systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE. 12:e0186672. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186672

[8] ↑ Reichelt, A. C. 2016. Adolescent maturational transitions in the prefrontal cortex and dopamine signaling as a risk factor for the development of obesity and high fat/high sugar diet induced cognitive deficits. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 10. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00189

Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on harmful effects of junk food.

Junk Food is very harmful that is slowly eating away the health of the present generation. The term itself denotes how dangerous it is for our bodies. Most importantly, it tastes so good that people consume it on a daily basis. However, not much awareness is spread about the harmful effects of junk food.

The problem is more serious than you think. Various studies show that junk food impacts our health negatively. They contain higher levels of calories, fats, and sugar. On the contrary, they have very low amounts of healthy nutrients and lack dietary fibers. Parents must discourage their children from consuming junk food because of the ill effects it has on one’s health.

Impact of Junk Food

Junk food is the easiest way to gain unhealthy weight. The amount of fats and sugar in the food makes you gain weight rapidly. However, this is not a healthy weight. It is more of fats and cholesterol which will have a harmful impact on your health. Junk food is also one of the main reasons for the increase in obesity nowadays.

This food only looks and tastes good, other than that, it has no positive points. The amount of calorie your body requires to stay fit is not fulfilled by this food. For instance, foods like French fries, burgers, candy, and cookies, all have high amounts of sugar and fats. Therefore, this can result in long-term illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure . This may also result in kidney failure .

Above all, you can get various nutritional deficiencies when you don’t consume the essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and more. You become prone to cardiovascular diseases due to the consumption of bad cholesterol and fat plus sodium. In other words, all this interferes with the functioning of your heart.

Furthermore, junk food contains a higher level of carbohydrates. It will instantly spike your blood sugar levels. This will result in lethargy, inactiveness, and sleepiness. A person reflex becomes dull overtime and they lead an inactive life. To make things worse, junk food also clogs your arteries and increases the risk of a heart attack. Therefore, it must be avoided at the first instance to save your life from becoming ruined.

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Ways to Avoid Junk Food

The main problem with junk food is that people don’t realize its ill effects now. When the time comes, it is too late. Most importantly, the issue is that it does not impact you instantly. It works on your overtime; you will face the consequences sooner or later. Thus, it is better to stop now.

You can avoid junk food by encouraging your children from an early age to eat green vegetables. Their taste buds must be developed as such that they find healthy food tasty. Moreover, try to mix things up. Do not serve the same green vegetable daily in the same style. Incorporate different types of healthy food in their diet following different recipes. This will help them to try foods at home rather than being attracted to junk food.

In short, do not deprive them completely of it as that will not help. Children will find one way or the other to have it. Make sure you give them junk food in limited quantities and at healthy periods of time.

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10 Harmful Effects of Junk Food: Potential Health Risks and Dangers

There’s no denying the fact that junk food has gone global. It may be difficult to resist the lure of this sweet, fatty, and tasty food that is now can be found just about everywhere. Yet, we should not forget that consuming junk food regularly can have negative effects on our general health and well-being. ‘Junk foods’ refer to foods that contain a lot of calories, but have little nutritional value.

These foods are high in calories, fat, sugar, salt, and processed carbohydrates, but low in nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and fiber. In this article, doctors at Fortis Hospital, Mulund , explore the scientific evidence behind the adverse effects of junk food consumption on health.

Why junk food is bad for your health?

A lot of research has shown that eating junk foods (such as hamburgers, fries, cakes and biscuits, sugary sodas, etc) regularly can put you at risk for obesity and other chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer . Here are 10 major harmful effects of eating junk food you should know:

10 harmful effects of eating junk food

• Cardiovascular problems
• High cholesterol
• Kidney damage
• Liver disease
• Dental cavities
• Skin problems

1. Cardiovascular problems

One of the major detrimental side effects of junk food consumption is increased cardiovascular disease risk. A large Harvard study showed that eating high amounts of red meat and sugary treats may trigger inflammation, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. However, a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and other anti-inflammatory foods can reduce the risk while promoting cardiovascular health.

2. High cholesterol

Diets high in saturated fat can raise the levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, or ‘bad’ cholesterol. Avoid or limit the intake of junk food and other unhealthy high-cholesterol foods to reduce your risk while creating a more favorable LDL-to-HDL ratio. High-density lipoproteins (HDL), also known as ‘good’ cholesterol, helps remove other types of cholesterol from your bloodstream.

3. Diabetes

Research has shown that junk food may raise the risk of developing diabetes in various ways. For instance, foods that are high in calories and low in nutrients break down quickly in the body, which causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels. Regularly eating junk food may lead to weight gain and excess body fat, which are major risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes. Junk foods are usually high in added salt, which can contribute to high blood pressure linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Junk food can also raise the levels of triglycerides due to the high content of trans and saturated fats. High levels of triglycerides can raise your risk for type 2 diabetes. Make healthier food choices to reduce your risk of developing diabetes and help manage the condition, in case you have it.

4. Kidney damage

Eating junk and processed foods can take a huge toll on your kidney health. Researchers reported in a 2016 study published in the journal Experimental Physiology that eating junk food can cause damage to your kidneys as much as diabetes. Maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle to promote and protect your kidney health.

5. Obesity

Consuming energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods , such as junk food, is associated with an increased risk of obesity , which has been declared an epidemic irrespective of age, gender, or ethnicity. Obesity is also a major risk factor for heart disease, respiratory problems, cancer, and many serious chronic conditions. Being aware of the adverse effects of eating junk food and making healthier lifestyle choices will help you avoid unhealthy weight gain and promote good health.

6. Liver disease

Diet plays a major role in the development and progression of liver disease. Several studies have shown that excessive consumption of foods that are loaded with unhealthy fats, proteins from meat, refined carbs, and sugar, can cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease . Unhealthy foods such as junk food combined with a sedentary lifestyle can cause liver damage, leading to cirrhosis and increasing the risk of liver cancer.

7. Cancer

A poor diet that is high in fats, sugars, salts, and kilojoules, has been linked to a higher risk of many cancers. In a study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, researchers reported that people who ate the most junk food showed a higher risk of stomach, colorectal, and respiratory tract cancers. Follow a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and plant-based proteins to reduce the risk of certain cancers and help you stay healthy.

8. Dental cavities

Junk foods taste so good, but they can ruin your oral health. The sugar and salt in these foods feed harmful bacteria in your mouth, which produce acids that break down tooth enamel and cause cavities. Consider a diet rich in whole foods instead to help protect your teeth.

9. Depression

Experts have warned that not only junk food affect your body, but also impacts your mind. A study, namely, by the Molecular Psychiatry journal, showed that eating junk food raises the risk of depression. Furthermore, high junk food intake may make you less active, eat fewer fruits and veggies, and promote other poor dietary habits. One should focus on a healthy, balanced diet to improve mental health.

10. Skin problems

Eating a lot of junk or processed foods can cause various skin problems like pimples and acne breakouts. For example, a research review from 2021 showed that foods high in fats, refined carbs, and sugars were linked with acne. Other studies have also reported that diets high in dairy foods may be associated with an increased risk of acne. Adopting a balanced diet will go a long way toward preventing acne and other skin issues. A balanced diet is a diet that contains an adequate amount of all essential nutrients.

Key Takeaway

Junk food, also known as discretionary food or optional food, is not required as part of any diet. This doesn’t mean you would have to necessarily give up on all those delicious treats, but you may only have it occasionally and in small amounts. This will help you avoid gaining excessive weight and other health complications linked to junk food. The bottom line is, a balanced diet combined with other healthy habits will not only help prevent or reduce the risk of chronic diseases but also promote overall health.

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Essay on Effects of Junk Food

Students are often asked to write an essay on Effects of Junk Food in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Effects of Junk Food

Introduction.

Junk food refers to food that has little nutritional value and often contains high levels of sugar, salt, and fat. Despite its popularity, consuming junk food can have serious health effects.

Effects on Health

Eating too much junk food can lead to obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. These foods are high in unhealthy fats and sugar, contributing to weight gain and high blood pressure.

Impact on Academic Performance

Junk food can affect a student’s academic performance. High sugar levels can cause energy spikes and crashes, making it hard to concentrate.

While junk food may be tempting, it’s important to understand the negative effects it can have on our health and performance.

250 Words Essay on Effects of Junk Food

Impact on physical health.

A primary concern is the link between junk food and obesity. High in sugars and fats, junk food contributes to excessive caloric intake, leading to weight gain. This excess weight can trigger a cascade of health issues, including heart diseases, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Furthermore, the lack of essential nutrients can lead to deficiencies, impacting overall bodily functions.

Effects on Mental Health

The effects of junk food extend beyond physical health, impacting mental well-being. Studies have shown a correlation between high junk food consumption and mental health disorders, including depression and anxiety. The high sugar content can lead to fluctuations in blood sugar levels, causing mood swings and fatigue.

Environmental Consequences

The environmental impact of junk food production is another area of concern. The mass production of these foods often involves intensive farming practices, contributing to deforestation, soil degradation, and water pollution.

The effects of junk food are far-reaching, impacting not only individual health but also our environment. As responsible consumers, it is imperative to understand these implications and make informed dietary choices. Encouragingly, a shift towards healthier alternatives can mitigate these adverse effects, promoting both personal health and environmental sustainability.

500 Words Essay on Effects of Junk Food

Junk food, a term popularized in the 20th century, refers to food items that are high in calories, sugar, salt, and fat, but low in nutritional value. Despite the well-documented health risks, the consumption of junk food has been on the rise, especially among young adults. This essay aims to explore the effects of junk food on various aspects of human life and society.

The Impact on Physical Health

Recent research has shed light on the link between diet and mental health. Junk food, lacking in essential nutrients, can negatively impact brain function, leading to poor concentration, mood swings, and even depression. For instance, the excessive sugar in junk food can cause fluctuations in blood glucose levels, leading to mood instability and difficulty concentrating.

Socio-Economic Impact

The socio-economic effects of junk food consumption are far-reaching. The rising healthcare costs associated with treating chronic diseases caused by unhealthy diets strain economies, especially in developing countries. Moreover, the loss of productivity due to illness and the social stigma associated with obesity can lead to reduced quality of life and increased inequality.

Junk food, while convenient and appealing, has far-reaching effects on physical and mental health, socio-economic structures, and the environment. As society becomes more aware of these impacts, it is crucial to promote healthier dietary choices and sustainable food production practices. In the end, the responsibility lies not just with individuals, but also with governments, educators, and food producers to create an environment where making healthier choices becomes easier.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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Too Much Junk Food Could Cause Lasting Damage to The Brain

The evidence that junk food isn't good for our bodies , let alone our brains , is piling up just like a cheeseburger stacked with all the toppings.

Now a new study has found that feasting on a high-fat, sugary diet can lead to lasting memory impairments in rats fed those foods from a young age. That seems to be because diets high in simple sugars and saturated fats disrupt acetylcholine , a key neurotransmitter in animals' brains involved in memory.

"What we see not just in this paper, but in some of our other recent work , is that if these rats grew up on this junk food diet, then they have these memory impairments that don't go away," says Scott Kanoski, a neuroscientist at the University of Southern California (USC).

Recent research has linked diets of unhealthy, processed foods to people's risk of Alzheimer's disease in later life. Since acetylcholine is involved in memory and learning, and gets depleted in Alzheimer's – a neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory problems – the researchers behind this latest study wondered what eating sugary, fatty foods could mean for younger people in the long term.

Other studies suggest certain eating junk foods can undermine the brain's appetite control , and that obesity can alter the human brain's ability to detect fullness and feel satisfied after people consume foods high in sugar and fat.

A common finding running through these studies is that these types of foods, which are common Western diets, often affect memory, even when eaten occasionally .

So what then if people, or in this case rats, ate a Western-style diet from a young age?

The research team fed rats a diet of high fat, sugary foods from 26 to 56 days old, a period that parallels human adolescence when the brain is undergoing significant development. Another group of rats of this same age ate healthy chow instead.

In memory tests, rats on the cafeteria-style diet couldn't identify new objects in a scene they had explored days earlier, or if a familiar object had moved slightly, whereas the control group could. These memory problems persisted even when the junk food group switched to the healthy chow for 30 days, in what equates to adulthood.

The researchers also found that the junk food group had reduced levels of a protein that transports acetylcholine in the hippocampus , a brain region that helps consolidate memories and spatial information.

Further imaging showed that this reduction impaired acetylcholine signaling in the animals that performed poorly on the memory task, while drugs that prompted cells in the hippocampus to release acetylcholine restored the animals' memory abilities.

"Acetylcholine signaling is a mechanism to help them encode and remember those events, analogous to 'episodic memory' in humans that allows us to remember events from our past," lead author and USC nutrition researcher Anna Hayes explains . "That signal appears to not be happening in the animals that grew up eating the fatty, sugary diet."

The team's previous work uncovered some differences in timing and sex that still need to be resolved: Eating a Western-style diet in early, but not late adolescence had long-lasting impacts on memory in male, but not female rats who ate healthily for long periods after adolescence.

Which is to say that teasing apart the influence of consuming fatty, sugary foods in adolescence on brain function in adult life is difficult to do – and the findings of these animal studies may or may not translate to humans. But it's certainly food for thought.

The research has been published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity .

The Impacts of Junk Food on Health

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Science News Explores

Warning junk foods can harm a teen’s brain.

Though hard to resist, these foods pose risks to learning and mental health

Adolescent brains have a hard time resisting junk food. Researchers now are showing that high-fat and high-sugar diets — such as burgers, fries and sweets — can lead to disturbing changes in mental health.

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By Sharon Oosthoek

November 19, 2020 at 6:30 am

“You are what you eat.” When people say that, they mean a healthy diet can boost your health. But the opposite is also true. In fact, if you’re between the ages of 10 and 19, eating too much junk food can harm your body and your brain.

Junk food shapes adolescent brains in ways that impair their ability to think, learn and remember. It can also make it harder to control impulsive behaviors, says Amy Reichelt. It may even up a teen’s risk of depression and anxiety, she notes.

Reichelt is a brain and nutrition specialist at Canada’s Western University in London, Ontario. Adolescents are more sensitive than any other age group to foods with a lot of processed fat and sugar, she says. She is part of a group of scientists around the world who have been studying why.

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She and two other researchers at Western recently reviewed more than 100 studies (including their own) about how poor food choices can impact adolescent brains. They described what they learned in the May issue of  The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health .

One problem: Adolescent brains are not yet fully formed . And that actually leads to three problems in one, says Reichelt. First, adolescent brains are still developing the ability to assess risks and control actions. Second, teen brains get more pleasure than adult brains do from rewarding behaviors such as eating junk food. Third, adolescent brains can be more easily influenced by their environment. This can include any stress you’re feeling, any isolation or any drugs you may be taking. It can also be influenced by diet. Together, these all can combine to make junk food both hard to resist and extra bad for teen health.

Brains under construction

Let’s break that down, starting with preteen and teen behaviors. The brain region that tells us we shouldn’t eat chips all the time — and helps us resist that urge — is the last to mature. Called the prefrontal cortex, this region doesn’t fully develop until we are in our early 20s.

Brain imaging studies show that the prefrontal cortex turns on when we weigh risks and make decisions about how to act.

“Most of our complex brain functions happen in the prefrontal cortex,” says Reichelt. This includes complex math and reading. But she notes that it also includes “how to assess risky behavior.”

At the same time, teen brains get more buzz from rewards. Unlike the prefrontal cortex, the parts of the brain that make us feel good when we do something pleasurable — like eating tasty foods or being with friends — are fully developed by the teen years.

In fact, these regions are even more sensitive when we are young. That’s because of a natural chemical called dopamine (DOH-puh-meen). Dopamine is sometimes called the “feel good” chemical. It lifts our mood when we experience something rewarding. And it is especially active in adolescent brains.

As a neurotransmitter, it zips across the spaces between brain cells. Once it arrives at a new cell, dopamine binds to docking stations there. These molecules are known as receptors . When dopamine docks, those receptors relay the “feel good” signal from the last cell to this new one. That tells the brain that whatever it just experienced is worth getting more of. Adolescents have more dopamine receptors in the brain than do adults. So they get more good vibes from anything they find enjoyable.

The teen brain, thus, has two strikes against it when it comes to resisting junk food. “It has a heightened drive for rewards and reduced self-regulation,” says Reichelt.

That’s a big problem for adolescents because of the third issue: Growing brains can be more easily changed by eating high-fat, high-sugar foods. That’s what Reichelt and her team discovered in their studies of “teenage” mice.

Mouse brains on fat and sugar

Since mouse brains develop very much like our own, they can be used to understand how what we eat affects the human brain. In 2017, Reichelt was part of a team that fed adolescent mice high-fat foods to see how it affected their brains.

One group of mice ate a diet in which 63 percent of their calories came from fat. (That’s a lot of fat. It would be like eating bacon cheeseburgers and ice cream every day.) A second group ate a healthy diet.

As expected, mice eating high-fat food gained weight and put on body fat. But that was not all. These mice also performed worse on memory tests than did mice eating a normal diet.

The researchers tested the mice for what’s known as working memory. It’s the type that allows us to hold onto information long enough to use it. For example, working memory helps you remember which five things you need to buy at the store. Or what time you said you’d meet your friends. It’s also important for reasoning and decision-making. And it involves the prefrontal cortex — that’s the same brain area that helps make decisions.

Reichelt and her team used two different tests to gauge this working memory. In the first, they put the animals in a Y-shaped maze. Each mouse started in the center of the Y shape. From there they were free to explore two of the three arms of the maze. The third arm was blocked off.

Then the researchers opened up the maze’s third arm. Mice will naturally explore their environment and are drawn to new things. Given the chance, they should prefer to visit a new arm of the maze rather than one they’ve already explored. Or they would if they could remember which arms of the maze they had already visited.

Mice eating a healthy diet behaved as expected. They chose to explore the new arm of the maze. But those eating a high-fat diet did not prefer any one arm. The fact they explored all three at random seemed to show they could not remember which parts of the maze they had seen already.

The second test used a maze set up in a tank of murky water. The end of the maze is a platform just under the water’s surface. To get out of the water, a mouse must navigate to the platform by remembering landmarks. (The mice are scooped up to avoid drowning if they can’t find their way.)

Mice fed a healthy diet performed much better than did those eating high-fat chow. The fatter mice were just as good at swimming; they just did not find their way to the platform. This suggests they could not remember the landmarks.

Then the researchers looked at the animals’ brains. Here they found important differences in reelin, a chemical that helps brain cells chat with each other. Mice on high-fat chow had roughly 35 percent less reelin in their prefrontal cortex compared to mice on a healthy diet. The high-fat diet may have made the prefrontal cortex in these mice work less effectively.

People with brain diseases (such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) often have lower levels of reelin, too, says Reichelt. “We can’t blame that on junk food in adolescence,” she says. “But it may be a contributing factor [to risk of disease].”

Reichelt found similar behavioral effects in adolescent rats that got daily access to a sugary drink. They showed less desire to explore new things than did rats not fed sugar.

Each rat had been placed in an enclosed square area with different objects in each corner. The rats could explore all four objects. The researchers then removed the rats from the pen for five minutes and swapped the locations of two objects. Then each rat returned to the enclosure. Animals not fed sugar spent more time exploring objects that were now in a new place. This suggests they could tell the objects had been moved. But the sugar-fed rats spent just as much time with the unmoved objects as they did with the changed ones. It seems they couldn’t tell what had been moved.

Human brains on junk food

Other researchers have found links between brain health and what teenage kids eat. Felice Jacka is one of them. She is an expert in nutrition and psychiatry at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia.

In one 2013 study , she and her team recruited more than 2,000 11- to 14-year-olds living in London, England. Each answered questions about what they ate and how they felt, mentally. The kids were asked how many servings of fruits and vegetables they ate each day. They also were asked how often they ate chips, candy, cookies, fried foods and sugary soft drinks. Then they were sorted into five groups, depending on how healthy their diets were.

Next, the adolescents answered 13 questions designed to figure out if they suffered from depression. The questions asked about their emotions and behavior over the previous two weeks. They were phrased as statements. The kids described if those statements were true, not true or sometimes true. Questions ranged from “I feel miserable or unhappy” and “I didn’t enjoy anything at all” to “I felt so tired, I just sat around and did nothing.”

The researchers scored each kid’s answers for signs of depression. Adolescents who ate the most junk food were nearly 50 percent more likely to show signs of depression.

Why might eating junk food be linked to depression? The data are unclear. Some research suggests that processed foods, such as lunch meat, increases inflammation in the body and the brain. Inflammation is one of the body’s responses to cellular injury and involves swelling. Other research has linked inflammation with depression. In one study , researchers found that people with depression had 30 percent more brain inflammation than did people who were not depressed.

Good fat, bad fat

The good news is that you can make food choices that support a healthy brain.

“The brain is the most fat-rich organ we have,” notes Alexandra Richardson. She is an expert in how diet affects the brain and a researcher at the University of Oxford in England. “And where does it get its fats? From what we put in our bodies.”

But not all fats are the same. Our brains need a type known as omega-3 fats. These helpful fats are found in fish, flaxseed and some oils. These fats help build the membrane that surrounds brain cells. Brain cells need membranes to hold them together and to communicate well with each other.

In one 2005 study , Richardson and her team showed improved mental health in children who took omega-3 supplements. The 117 children who took part were between the ages of five and 12. All had problems with attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. They also struggled with reading and spelling.

Over three months, about half the children took omega-3 pills. The others took look-alike pills with no fats. Such inactive “treatments” are known as placebos (Pluh-SEE-bohs). Compared to kids who got the placebo, those who took omega-3 pills showed improved attention and ability to control their hyperactive, impulsive behavior. Their reading and spelling scores also went up. This may have reflected being able to pay closer attention in class.

Junk food may trigger attention-related problems because it does not contain the good fats needed to build healthy brain cells, says Richardson. But downing foods with more good fats can support healthy brains.

Exercise for your brain

Research shows exercise can be a good way to fend off damage from junk food, notes Cassandra Lowe. She works at Western University, where together with Reichelt she has studied kids’ brain and nutrition.

Two important things happen in the brain when we exercise. The first is that the brain’s reward system — the one that feels good when we do something we like — becomes less sensitive to food cues. While scientists don’t quite know why, the outcome is a good thing. “We don’t find high-calorie foods as rewarding,” explains Lowe.

Exercise also triggers the body to make a protein called BDNF. That stands for brain-derived neurotrophic (Neur-oh-TROH-fik) factor. BDNF helps brain cells grow. It also strengthens links between them.

This means exercise can boost strong connections between the prefrontal cortex and other brain regions. When that happens, the prefrontal cortex “can exert control better,” says Lowe. In other words, better connections help us weigh risks, make informed decisions on how to act, and curb our impulses.

What is the take-home message for kids? Many already know that junk food can make people fat and physically unhealthy, says Richardson. Most don’t often understand that it also can lead to unhealthy brains.

Processed and fried foods, such as cold cuts, store-bought baked goods, candy and chips don’t have many of the nutrients our bodies and brains need, Richardson says. Kids need to understand that they tend to be rich both in calories and in “concoctions of chemicals that do not support human health — physical or mental.”

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Eating And Health

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Are Junk Food Habits Driving Obesity? A Tale Of Two Studies

Maria Godoy

What role do high-calorie, low-nutrition junk foods play in expanding waistlines? Two recent studies tackle that question. Morgan McCloy/NPR hide caption

What role do high-calorie, low-nutrition junk foods play in expanding waistlines? Two recent studies tackle that question.

More than 36 percent of American adults and 17 percent of youth under 19 are obese, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Scientists still don't fully understand what got us here. And sometimes, the answers they've come up with turn out to be wrong. Consider the changing advice on fat , which has been amended of late from its days as a dietary demon.

By now, it would seem that the link between the obesity epidemic and the consumption of high-calorie, low-nutrition foods like sodas, cookies and fries is well-established. But as two recent studies show, researchers are still probing the mechanics of that connection.

Broadly speaking, both studies explore the connection between junk food and weight — though they do so using different data sets from two different populations (adults and kids).

Let's start with the finding that seems most counterintuitive: For most of us, junk foods may not be what's driving weight gain. That's what behavioral economist David Just and his colleagues at the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab concluded in a paper in the journal Obesity Science & Practice.

The researchers looked at data collected in 2007-2008 from a nationally representative sample of roughly 5,000 U.S. adults as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) , including information on weight, height and eating habits. Junk food was defined as fast food, soda and sweets.

Some of that data set had been used in a 2013 CDC study that found that heavier Americans were indeed getting more of their daily calories from fast food. But the Cornell researchers wondered what would happen if they excluded the people on the extreme ends of the weight spectrum — those who are clinically underweight and the very morbidly obese.

And they found that once those groups were eliminated, there was no association between body mass index and how much fast food, sugary sodas and sweets people consume.

The finding, which applies to 95 percent of the population, "was really counterintuitive — not what we expected at all," Just tells The Salt.

But if fast food isn't driving the obesity epidemic, what is? "I suspect we're eating too many calories from all foods," Just says. He points to data from the USDA's Economic Research Service showing that Americans, on average, now eat 500 calories more daily than they did around 1970, before the obesity epidemic took off.

To be clear, Just isn't saying that you can eat all the junk food you want with no consequence. "You increase your consumption of these things, yeah, you're going to put on weight," he says. "But that's not to say that is the differentiator between those who are overweight and those who aren't." And if that's the case, Just says, instead of targeting junk foods in the war against obesity, maybe we should be preaching the gospel of moderation and portion control with all foods.

Sure, that's good advice in general — but it may not mean we can let junk foods off the hook.

Eric Finkelstein , an associate professor at the Duke Global Health Institute at Duke University, notes that the data the Cornell researchers used is only a snapshot of what a cross-section of Americans were eating at a single moment in time. So it's possible, for example, that the overweight and obese people included in the study reported eating less junk foods because they were trying to lose weight.

"I'd lend a lot more credence to studies that follow change [in eating habits and weight] over time," Finkelstein tells The Salt.

And, over time, he says, the evidence suggests strongly that even modest increases in the consumption of certain foods will result in long-term weight gain. He points to a 2011 study in the New England Journal of Medicine that looked at data gathered over decades on 120,000 U.S. adults. Over a four-year period, an extra daily serving of potato chips was associated with weight gain of 1.69 pounds, the study found. That may not sound like much, but for most adults, that's how the pounds add up — gradually, over time, at an average rate of about a pound a year .

And problem foods will pack on the pounds for kids, too. Last week, Finkelstein and his colleagues published a similarly detailed breakdown of the links between weight gain and certain foods in children. The researchers turned to data on more than 4,600 kids from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children , an ongoing study in the U.K. that has tracked the same set of children — with records on their height, weight and food intake — since their birth in the early 1990s.

Once again, potato chips raised red flags.

As the researchers reported in the journal Health Affairs , over a three-year period, every 25-gram serving of potato chips (a little under an ounce) that kids ate daily was linked to about a half-pound of excess weight gain. (Basically, that's defined as weight beyond what a child should weigh for his or her height and age.)

Again, half a pound doesn't sound alarming, "but if you're also getting an extra half a pound from burgers, and half a pound from french fries, these things add up. And some kids are eating more than a serving" daily, Finkelstein says.

Other foods the study linked to excessive weight gain included "kid food" staples — like breaded and coated fish and poultry (think fish sticks and chicken nuggets) and french fries — and processed meats, butter and margarine, desserts and sweets.

That's important, because some 31 percent of American and 38 percent of European kids are now overweight or obese — and the pounds we gain as kids often stay with us through adulthood.

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A little junk food is fine, right?

We look at why junk food is bad for our health

Junk food. It’s cheap, easy and whether you prefer it sweet, savoury or fried, it’s hard to resist.

Nearly four out of five Australians , opens in a new tab eat too much junk food (and this includes drinking alcohol) every day. Also known as ‘discretionary’ food, junk food makes up more than a third , opens in a new tab , opens in a new tab of the total energy Australians get from their diet.

So why is junk food bad for you?

“Junk foods are highly processed foods that are nutrient poor and kilojoule rich,” says accredited practising dietitian Jemma O'Hanlon , opens in a new tab . “They often have high levels of saturated fat, salt and sugar, and come with a long list of ingredients that your grandmother wouldn’t recognise.”

At the opposite end of the scale to junk foods are whole foods. These are foods that have not been altered or are as close to their natural state as possible – think: fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, beans, wholegrains, seeds, nuts, lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs and milk.

“If we overdose on junk food, we miss out on key nutrients from whole foods and our health can be impacted,” Jemma says.

Related: Sweet little lies: sugar facts vs myths , opens in a new tab

What foods are considered junk food?

The obvious examples of junk food are cakes, biscuits, chocolates, chips, lollies, savoury pies and pasties, fast food (including fried food) and processed meats. Sweetened drinks, sports drinks and alcohol are also considered discretionary foods.

There are less obvious examples of junk foods that are marketed as being healthy, Jemma warns.

People often assume banana bread is a better choice because it contains bananas

“For example, people often assume banana bread is a better choice because it contains bananas,” she says. “But really, it’s not bread ­– it’s cake. The texture is like cake, the ingredients are those that form a cake, the nutritional value matches that of a cake, and it tastes like cake.”

Even the supermarket “health food” section includes a host of junk food, Jemma notes. “Just because a product, let’s say a melting moment cookie, is gluten-free, it doesn’t mean that it’s healthy.”

What are the effects of eating junk food?

Day to day, too much junk food will prevent our bodies and minds , opens in a new tab from functioning at their best. But the longer-term effects of eating junk food can be very serious.

“We know that the consumption of junk foods is linked with many chronic diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and some cancers,” Jemma says.

Obesity, which is a key driver of physical disease and disability , opens in a new tab in Australia, is one of the more visible dangers of junk food. Some 67% of adult Australians , opens in a new tab , opens in a new tab and a quarter of children and adolescents , opens in a new tab , opens in a new tab are overweight or obese.

As well as the risk of diseases caused by junk food, the dangers of junk food can extend to our mental wellbeing.

“There are links between junk food and mental health, and there is more and more research now suggesting that a poor diet is linked with depression,” says Jemma.

Related: 10 foods that help lift your mood , opens in a new tab

How often can you get away with eating junk food?

Most of us won’t be able to get away with eating junk food on a regular basis, Jemma says.

According to the Australian Dietary Guidelines, the average adult should only have none to , opens in a new tab three serves of discretionary foods per day , opens in a new tab depending on their age, height and activity level.  

One 'serve' of discretionary food , opens in a new tab is equal to 600 kilojoules. So, one serve could mean:

Two to three sweet biscuits

Two scoops of ice-cream

12 hot chips

A few squares of chocolate

Two slices of salami

Related: Healthy ways to eat your daily energy (kj) requirements , opens in a new tab

Should you give up junk foods completely?

Despite its health risks, junk food adds pleasure and variety to our diets and is often part of enjoying special celebrations with family and friends. So rather than completely swearing off it, Jemma recommends not getting into the habit of having junk food every day, and to start making small changes to your diet if you need to cut down on it.

“We need to enjoy and embrace whole foods most of the time, and keep our more indulgent foods for special occasions,” she says.

Tips for cutting down on junk food:

Swap it for a healthier option

When eating out, choose a restaurant that offers a lot of healthy options

Try to eat more ‘mindfully’ – avoid eating on the run and instead sit down and take time to enjoy your meal

Reduce your portion size

Find a basic cookbook and try cooking some healthy recipes from scratch.

If you’re still struggling to cut down, talk to your GP or visit an accredited practising dietitian for extra support.

Ready to start cooking a few delicious and nutritious meals from scratch? We can help! Check out The Check Up’s range of healthy dietitian and nutrition-approved recipes , opens in a new tab .

Please note: The tips throughout this article serve as broad information and should not replace any advice you have been given by your medical practitioner. 

Jemma O'Hanlon

Jemma O’Hanlon is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist who inspires Aussies to transform fresh produce into easy, delicious meals. She believes that if we embrace food with gratitude, enjoy our meals mindfully and maintain an active lifestyle, we can be healthier and happier. When she’s not in the kitchen Jemma loves to run and enjoys chilling at the beach.

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Junk food and your health

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• 'Junk food' is food that contains high levels of fats, salt or sugar, and lacks nutrients such as fibre, vitamins and minerals.
• Reading nutritional information labels and following the Health Star Ratings system can help you make healthy food choices.
• Understanding the nutritional value of the food you eat and being aware of advertising 'tricks' can also help you reduce your junk food intake.
• Eating junk food, and having sweet drinks, can lead to short- and long-term health complications, including weight gain, diabetes and heart problems.

What is junk food?

'Junk foods' are foods that lack nutrients, vitamins and minerals , and are high in kilojoules (energy), salts , sugars , or fats . Junk food is so called because it doesn't play a role in healthy eating, especially if you eat too much of it. Junk food is also known as 'discretionary food' or 'optional food'.

Some examples of junk food include:

• cakes and biscuits
• fast foods (such as hot chips, burgers and pizzas)
• chocolate and sweets
• processed meat (such as bacon)
• snacks (such as chips)
• sugary drinks (such as sports, energy and soft drinks)
• alcoholic drinks

If your diet is high in fats, salt and sugar and you are not receiving essential nutrients , your risk of obesity and other chronic (long-term) diseases may increase.

These diseases include:

• cardiovascular disease
• type 2 diabetes
• non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• some cancers

How do I know if a food product is 'junk food'?

While finding healthy alternatives to junk food can sometimes be difficult, the Health Star Rating system is a convenient tool to help you know how healthy a product is. It's a quick and easy way to compare similar packaged foods.

The Health Star Rating system rates packaged foods between half a star and 5 stars, based on how healthy they are. These ratings are found on the front of packaged items. However, it is important to note that this system is very general, and the nutritional value of some products may not be accurately expressed by the rating they receive.

Remember also that the Health Star Rating system is designed only for packaged products sold in shops, so it won't include some healthy foods — including fresh unpackaged food such as fruit and vegetables.

How do I make healthy food choices?

It's important to understand the nutritional value of the food you are buying. You can do this by reading the nutrition panel found on the back of all packaged items in Australia.

Food labels can tell you things like the amount of energy , protein , fat , carbohydrates , sugars, fibre and sodium (salt) in each product, as well as the recommended serving size.

Understanding health claims

When checking a product for its nutritional value, make sure you look at the health claims such as 'low in fat' or 'sugar free', as these can be misleading. When a product is advertised as 'light' or 'lite', this may refer only to the product's colour or flavour. This means that the product may still be 'full-fat' — be sure to read the nutrition information panel at the back of the package for the actual fat content.

Another common claim is that a product is 'sugar-free' or has 'no added sugar'. In truth, this means that a product has no added sucrose or table sugar, but it may still contain other types of sugar. The product may also contain salt or fat and may be high in kilojoules, so even sugar free products can be junk foods.

Note also that products known as 'health foods' such as some fruit juices and muesli bars can actually be junk food if they contain high levels of sugar, salt or fat. Check a product's Health Star Rating for a better guide to how healthy the product is. Keep in mind that this rating system is limited in accuracy, but may be a better guide than advertised claims.

Can I include a small amount of junk food in a healthy diet?

Yes, in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines , a small amount of junk or discretionary food can be included in a healthy, balanced diet. This means you should only have junk food occasionally and in small amounts. In general, most Australians eat too much junk food and should work on eating less of it, less often.

It is important to balance your junk food intake with increased exercise to help burn off extra energy. This will help you avoid gaining excessive weight.

When thinking about how much junk food you eat, remember that everybody is different — if you are shorter or smaller than average, or you do less exercise than the average person, you will also need to eat less than the average person. If you are trying to lose weight, try and keep the amount of junk food you eat to a minimum.

Check the Australian Dietary Guidelines to help you decide if you need to improve your diet, and to guide your food and drink intake.

How can I reduce the amount of junk food I eat?

While it can be challenging to reduce the amount of junk food you eat, you don't have to give up on all your favourite foods.

Here are some tips on how to create healthy eating habits :

• Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time so you decide what you eat based on nutrition, not based on what is left in your pantry. Planning ahead also helps you keep to a budget and makes shopping easier.
• Choose wholefood options such as wholemeal and wholegrain carbohydrates like pasta, bread and flour.
• Choose fresh fruit for dessert instead of junk food to keep away from added salt, sugar and saturated fat.
• Check your food's nutritional value using the nutritional information panel on the back of the packet.
• Watch out for advertising 'tricks', including claims that a product has 'no added sugar', since it can still be high in kilojoules, salt or fat. A product can claim to be 'reduced in fat' as long as it has less fat than an earlier version of the product — but it may still be high in fat.
• Use the Health Star Rating system to compare similar packaged items and choose the healthiest one.

NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT? — Use the BMI Calculator to find out if your weight and waist size are in a healthy range.

Why is junk food so appealing?

While you may feel that you enjoy junk food just because it tastes so good, there is a scientific explanation for why you want to have more of it. The brain naturally encourages you to seek experiences that you find pleasurable, including eating tasty food. This encouragement from the brain is known as the 'reward' system.

When a person eats tasty food (including junk food) the reward circuit in the brain is switched on. This releases a brain chemical called dopamine . The chemical rush floods the brain with pleasure and so the brain creates more receptors for dopamine in response. In the same way that people with a drug or alcohol addiction require a bigger dose over time, you crave more junk food the more you eat it.

Does eating junk food cause health complications?

Eating too much junk food can have a negative effect on your general health and wellbeing and can also reduce your ability to be active.

Short-term effects of junk foods

As well as causing you to gain weight, the other short-term effects of eating junk food include:

• increased stress levels
• fatigue and decreased energy levels
• difficulty sleeping
• concentration difficulties
• feeling down
• tooth decay

Long-term effects of junk foods

In the long-term, eating junk food can lead to:

• heart-related problems (such as cardiovascular disease , high blood pressure and cholesterol )
• overweight and obesity
• osteoporosis
• certain cancers
• eating disorders

These complications are all associated with a diet high in sugar, salt, trans- and saturated fats and with a lack of essential nutrients like fibre, vitamins and minerals.

Is it more expensive to eat healthily?

Eating healthily doesn't have to be expensive, and can even save you money if you cut down on junk food purchases.

Here are some tips to help you eat healthily on a budget:

• Plan ahead and make a list you can stick to in the supermarket.
• Shop smart — buy what's in season and what's on special.
• Use the fresh fruit and vegetables you already have at home first, before buying more.
• Meal preparation means you can buy and cook in bulk, which will save you both time and money.
• Only buy what you need.

Resources and support

For more information and support, you can visit the following websites:

• Heart Foundation provides information on healthy eating to protect your heart
• Nutrition Australia aims to 'inspire healthy eating' through information, education and consultation services.
• Parents' Voice are parents interested in improving the food and physical activity of Australian children
• Rethink Sugary Drink highlight the amount of sugar in soft drinks
• Dietitians Australia teaches how diet and nutrition can improve your health and wellbeing — Call on 1800 812 942.
• The George Institute's FOODSWITCH website and app can help you find out what's in the packaged food you're looking to buy, as well as help you make healthier food choices.

Call healthdirect on 1800 022 222 at any time to speak to a registered nurse (known as NURSE-ON-CALL in Victoria) for more information and advice.

Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content .

Last reviewed: June 2023

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• Am J Lifestyle Med
• v.12(5); Sep-Oct 2018

The Hidden Dangers of Fast and Processed Food *

The fundamental concern as we look to reform health in America is the known reality that most chronic diseases that afflict Americans are predominantly lifestyle induced; and the belief is that the vast majority of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented if people were willing to adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors. In addition, healthy lifestyles would impact a significant number of cancers which are also believed to be related to lifestyle exposures, especially to obesity, cigarettes, and other toxins.

Over the past 50 years, the health of Americans has gotten worse, and now 71% of Americans are overweight or obese—not 66%, which was reported 5 years ago. 1 That means a staggering 100 million people in America are obese. Today, eating processed foods and fast foods may kill more people prematurely than cigarette smoking. 2

Authorities determined the 71% figure by classifying people with a body mass index (BMI) over 25 kg/m 2 as overweight or obese. Yet in long-lived societies such as in the “Blue Zones” (Ikaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica; and Loma, Linda California) and wherever we find groups of centenarians, we observe a healthy BMI below 23 kg/m 2 , not 25 kg/m 2 . If we use above 23 kg/m 2 as the demarcation for overweight or obesity, then we find that 88% of Americans are overweight. And out of the approximately 10% that are of normal weight, the majority of those so-called “normal weight individuals” are either cigarette smokers, or suffer from alcoholism, drug addiction or dependency, autoimmune disease, occult cancers, inflammatory disorders, autoimmune conditions, digestive disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, and other illnesses that lower their body weight. Therefore, perhaps that only about 5% of the American population is at a normal weight as a result of eating healthy and living a healthy life. A recent study documented that only 2.7% of Americans adopt a relatively healthy lifestyle by combining exercise with healthy eating. 3 The Standard American Diet (SAD) is clearly not a healthy diet.

I use the term “Fast Food Genocide” because most don’t understand the depth and breadth of the harm as a large segment of our society eats a diet worse than the dangerous SAD. Many people recognize that junk food, fast food, processed food, white flour, sugar, maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, and all the junk people are eating contribute to in obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, dementia and cancer, but many don’t realize the strong causative role an unhealthy diet may have in mental illness. Currently, 1 in 5 Americans suffers from a psychiatric disorder. And many people don’t realize the harm that processed foods have on Americans living in urban areas where they don’t have easy access to whole, fresh foods.

These unfortunate folks live in what we call “food deserts,” with reduced availability to fresh fruits and vegetables. Because of the limited access to supermarkets, they eat more unhealthy fast and processed foods and end up having 7 times the risk of early-life stroke (before age 45), putting people in nursing homes in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. 4 - 7

The vulnerable poor in these areas also have double the risk of heart attack, double the risk of diabetes, and 4 times the risk of renal failure 8 - 10 ; Unfortunately, the decrease in life span due to food inequality is shocking but rarely discussed. A substantial proportion of people in these urban environments are overweight, prediabetic, or fully diabetic. Researchers determined that compared with other areas in America with easy access to supermarket food, that the YPLL (Years of Potential Life Lost) for an overweight diabetic living in a zone classified as a food desert was a shocking 45 years! 11 , 12

A link may even exist between fast food, processed food, commercial baked goods, and sweets and destruction of brain cell and a lowering of intelligence. Candy and sweetened baked goods may even stimulate the brain in an addictive fashion, which can lead to more serious illnesses.

The nutritional fundamentals accepted by the World Health Organization and most nutritional authorities today include vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and fruit as healthy foods; and salt, saturated fat, and excess sugar as disease causing. Excessive amounts of animal products may lead to premature aging, increased risk of chronic disease and higher all-cause mortality. Multiple studies have been published on hundreds of thousands of people, followed for decades showing that the objective endpoint of death is increased with higher amounts of animal product consumption. 13 - 17 Furthermore, refined carbohydrates may not just lead to being overweight and diabetic but also contribute to dementia, mental illness, and cancer. 18 - 21 There is considerable evidence today that heart disease is not only promoted by saturated fat and increased animal products but also by refined carbohydrates, including white rice, white bread, sugar, honey, maple syrup, and agave nectar. 22 - 25

Research has shown that excess calories shorten lifespan, whereas moderate caloric restriction slows the aging process and protects the body and brain. Americans consume more calories than any other population; and they consume foods, many of which have minimal or no nutritional value (soda and alcohol as examples). So let’s consider the individual who is consuming 50 excess calories per day. What will be the short- and long-term result? Fifty excess calories per day, over and above your basic metabolic needs, over a 10-year period, adds about 50 pounds of extra body weight. The excess weight increases the risk of multiple chronic illnesses, cancers, and also takes many years of life away from the individual simply as a result of consuming only 50 calories a day too many.

Conversely, if an individual consumed 50 calories a day less that their metabolic requirements what would happen then? Would he or she become too thin, anorexic, and unhealthy? Would their bones fall apart? Obviously not! When you moderately caloric-restrict, even a small amount such as 50 to 100 calories a day, weight remains about the same, the person is slim, not too thin, and healthy. He or she will have a lower body fat percentage, and the skeletal mass, bones, and muscle mass are strong. In this scenario, the metabolic rate would slow down accordingly. The respiratory quotient, (the number of calories lost through respiration) would decrease, the body temperature would lower, and thyroid function would decrease slightly, all lowering the metabolic rate, which overall may result in a slowing of the aging process. The secret to a long life and freedom from chronic disease may be simply to moderately reduce calories in order to slow down our metabolic rate. The only behavior proven scientifically to dramatically increase life span in every species of animals, including primates, is to lower caloric intake while maintaining an environment of micronutrient adequacy, assuring that we have exposure to every micronutrient humans need. The American diet is also deficient in antioxidants and phytochemicals that are needed for normal immune function, for maximizing brain health, protecting against dementia, chronic illness, cancer, and premature aging.

A nutritarian diet is designed to establish excellent micronutrient intake without excess calories . A nutritarian diet is designed to help prolong human life span, decrease the risk of cancer, and keep the brain functioning well for many years. This principle is represented by the equation I use: H = N /C, which means your healthy life expectancy (H) is proportional to the micronutrient (N) per calorie intake (C) over your life span. This means that we are encouraged to seek out foods that are rich in nutrients. We should try to limit or exclude empty-calorie foods and drinks. We should also limit or avoid calorically dense foods, and not eat for recreation or when we are not hungry.

A nutritarian diet is rich in phytochemicals and antioxidants. It is a vegetable-based, utilizing a wide assortment of colorful vegetables, root vegetables, green vegetables, peas, beans, mushrooms, onions, nuts, seeds, and some intact whole grains. While the standard American diet and most traditional diets are grain-based and lack sufficient exposure to the broad spectrum of antioxidants and phytochemicals (with their anticancer effects), it is important to note that not all plant-based diets are equally cancer-protective. As an example, a rice-heavy, macrobiotic diet limits phytochemical diversity, and brown rice produced in this country is contaminated with arsenic, extensively documented by Consumer Reports and white rice is refined, high glycemic food, and therefore not a healthy starch.

In comparison, the SAD is almost the opposite of a nutritarian diet. Over 55% of the SAD’s calories are processed foods, and about 33% of calories come from animal products. If we are looking at the amount of fresh produce (fruits and vegetables) consumed in America, the food consumption data reports about 10%; but in actuality, it is less than 5%, because they include French fries and ketchup in the definition of “produce!” The point here is that processed foods such as bread, pasta, salad oil, mayonnaise, doughnuts, cookies, rice cakes, breakfast bars, chips, soda, candy, and popcorn do not contain a significant micronutrient benefit. A piece of chicken is like a bagel, because they are both rich sources of macronutrients (calories), but neither one contains the necessary amounts of micronutrients, especially the antioxidants and phytochemicals only found in plants.

The high glycemic white flour products with added sweetening agents, flood the bloodstream with glucose without fiber, nutrients, or phytochemicals; and these baked goods are also high in acrylamides and advanced glycation end-products, further increasing the glycoproteins in our tissues. The resulting spike in glucose leads to abnormally high amounts of insulin, which will also promote angiogenesis, which fuels the growth of fat cells, increases cellular replication and tumor growth. The liberal amount of animal protein (including chicken which many incorrectly believe is the more healthy meat) consumed by most Americans promotes excessive insulin-like growth factor–1 (IGF-1), making a synergistic “sandwich” of insulin and IGF-1, which may accelerate aging of the brain, interfere with cellular detoxification and repair, and promote cancer. 26 The SAD has created a nutritional disaster and a significant health crisis that will not be solved by governmental “health care reform.”

Now when we think about “fast food” we’re not just referring to the food in fast food restaurants. Fast foods include chips, soda, cookies, candy, breakfast cereals, bars, French fries, burgers, pizza, white flour baked goods, and all other high-calorie, low-nutrient foods that people often eat multiple times per day. These are processed foods and for many, are the primary source of calories. These fast foods have certain characteristics: They can be accessed easily and quickly; they don’t need to be prepared; they come out of a bag or box ready to go right into your mouth. You can eat them rapidly and they’re absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream. These fast foods typically contain multiple chemicals and synthetic ingredients. They are calorically dense, highly flavored, and nutritionally barren. Fast foods typically contain extra corn syrup, sugar, artificial sweeteners, salt, coloring agents, and other potentially disease promoting chemicals.

When calories flood the bloodstream rapidly they have dramatic biological effects. Let’s compare 200 calories of white bread to 200 calories of beans. The white bread would be metabolized into simple sugars (glucose) which enters the bloodstream in 5 to 10 minutes. This requires a rapid increase in insulin; and the rapid insulin response will remain for hours. On the other hand, the carbohydrates from beans will take much more time to be digested and, as a result these calories enter the bloodstream slowly. Essentially, the calories will trickle in over hours. When eating beans, a small amount of glucose enters the blood each minute and therefore you won’t need much of an insulin response to deal with this amount of sugar. As mentioned above, the buildup of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) accelerates aging and chronic disease. 27 , 28 When a diabetic suffers from kidney failure, blindness, or a leg amputation, a major causative factor is the buildup of AGEs in the tissues. Interestingly, these same glycated end-products and glycoproteins build up in the tissues of people who are not diabetic but who continually expose themselves to excess sugar and white flour products.

Next, it is important to understand that oils are also processed foods. When consumed, oil enters the bloodstream rapidly similar to high glycemic carbohydrates. Anything cooked in oil should be considered a fast food. Beans, nuts, and seeds are whole foods whose calories are absorbed gradually over hours. In contrast, the calories from oil are absorbed rapidly, and are largely empty calories (with insignificant micronutrients and no fiber)—a combination that leads to obesity, disease, and premature aging.

If I set up a buffet dinner and I asked all the guests to form 2 lines and then gave everyone on the right side a tablespoon of olive oil, and each of those on the left side an apple to consume while they were waiting in line, those who ate the 65-calorie apple will generally eat 65 less calories from the buffet. But those who had the 120-calorie tablespoon of oil will not usually consume 120 calories less. The oil contains neither fiber, nor micronutrients and contains nothing to decrease the appestat. A matter of fact, if you put oil on food, it may actually increase one’s appetite. Not only will these individuals not eat fewer calories—they will eat even more than the 120 calories from the oil. 29 When added or mixed into food, oil drives overeating behavior.

Nutrients and fiber are needed to control the appestat, so you consume a healthy amount of calories. My experience has demonstrated with thousands of patients, the more nutrient and fiber dense your diet becomes the lower your drive to overeat. 30 This is extremely important, because even a moderate amount of extra fat on the body induces more rapid aging and increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. A mild degree of caloric restriction becomes comfortable and achievable when the diet is high in micronutrients and fiber. When you have enough micronutrients and fiber in your diet, you don’t feel driven to overeat. But when you don’t have enough micronutrients and fiber in your diet, you become a food-craving, overeating machine.

Even worse is what happens when you eat food fried in oil because fried food may create carcinogenic and mutagenic aldehydes. 31 Food that is fried such as in a fast food restaurant is usually cooked in oil that has been heated and used multiple times. One serving of French fries or fried chicken that is cooked in a fast food restaurant has 100 times the level of aldehydes designated as safe by the World Health Organization. Even the fumes are so toxic they increase the risk of cancer. People working in restaurants that fry the food, or those working in a movie theater making popcorn, have a heighted risk of lung and other cancers, even if they don’t eat any of the fried foods. 32

The explosion of fast food restaurants has significantly increased the intake of fried foods, and people are now eating 1000 times the amount of soybean oil compared with the early 1900s. 33 Humans never ate 400 calories of oil a day the way people do in America, especially in the Southern states—which are known for the highest stroke and heart attack rates in the world. 34 When you use nuts and seeds as your source of fat as opposed to oil, we see the opposite effect.

The Physician’s Health Study, the Nurses’ Health Study, Iowa Women’s Health Study, the Adventist Health Study—any study with large numbers of people followed for decades—demonstrates the relationship between nut and seed consumption and longer life span. We always have to give more credence to clinical research studies that involve large numbers of people followed over decades using objective endpoints such as mortality. When you do that, you find that people who consume nuts and seeds regularly have lower cancer rates, lower cardiovascular death rates, lower sudden cardiac death, less irregular heartbeats, and an increase in life span.

A 2015 meta-analysis that included over 44 000 deaths demonstrated an almost 40% decrease in cardiovascular mortality for people eating nuts and seeds regularly (one serving a day). The European PreviMed study, which randomized 7216 individuals to nuts or olive oil as part of a Mediterranean diet showed a 39% decrease in all-cause mortality in the nut eaters. 35

When we look at the health implications of animal protein we should compare this type of nutrition with plant-based proteins, especially when an individual has cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, or even cancer. When your protein comes from beans, nuts, seeds, and greens, the body more gradually assimilates a complete array of amino acids to make functional proteins and hormones, keeping IGF-1 production much lower. Adequate amounts of plant protein keep IGF-1 in that moderate range, between 100 and 175, which is where it should be. The average American’s IGF-1 level is around 225, which is a level which has been linked to cancer promotion. When we eat a variety of plants, we get a full balance of amino acids, which slowly enter the blood—and we also digest some of the bacteria in the digestive track and some of the cells that slough off of the villi endothelium, enabling the utilization of partially incomplete plant proteins, now made complete. Conversely, when you eat large portions of meat, eggs, or cheese, the amino acid mix enters the bloodstream faster and because it is already biologically complete, it stimulates excessive amounts of IGF-1, again increasing the risk of cancer. 36 - 43

The average American consumes 10 to 20 ounces a day of animal products, whereas the safe level of consumption is likely less than 10 ounces per week . My estimate of 10% of calories as an upper limit of safe consumption is for a person with favorable genetics and is still likely more animal products than ideal for the nonelderly adults. It may be the case that under 5% of calories from animal products would be more ideal for life span and for facilitating disease reversal. Of course, any diet designed to optimize health should include a broad array of colorful plants with phytochemicals and antioxidants, which have been shown to increase life span and prevent cancer.

The animal products served at fast food restaurants are making the health of the population much worse, creating dangerous carcinogens from the food being grilled, barbecued, and fried at high temperatures. The World Health Organization has classified processed meats (hot dogs, sausage, bacon, and lunch meats) a class 1 carcinogen. AGEs are also highest in barbecued and fried animal products which also contain cancer-causing chemicals such as heterocyclic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and lipid peroxidases, which are mutagenic.

There are 2 phases of the digestive cycle: the anabolic phase, when you are eating and digesting, and the catabolic phase, when digestion has ceased. When you are eating and digesting food, the body turns those calories into stored glycogen, increasing fat storage and the storage of waste. During this phase of the digestive cycle, growth hormones and fat storage hormones are activated.

When your body is finished digesting, you enter the catabolic phase, where the stored glycogen and fat are utilized for energy. This is the phase when your body can most effectively detoxify and enhance cellular repair. It is the time when the liver and kidneys work together to remove aldehydes, AGEs, and other toxic metabolites. Repair and healing is enhanced during the catabolic phase when you are not eating food.

Most Americans have made their bodies so toxic, that when they enter the catabolic phase of the digestive cycle, they feel uncomfortable. That means they feel fatigue, headache, stomach cramping or fluttering, anxiety, or other uncomfortable symptoms when they stop digesting food and the body starts to mobilize waste and repair the damage. They typically interpret these symptoms as hunger or low blood sugar, because they feel better if they eat again—even though there is no biological need for calories at this time; and so they just get fatter and sicker. Every addiction has a “high” during the caloric rush and a “low” during withdrawal and repair from the disease-causing diet and resultant metabolic wastes and toxins that accrue from it. The American diet results in withdrawal symptoms and discomfort which promotes overeating and too-frequent eating. The lower the quality of the food consumed, the more discomfort felt when not eating and digesting, which makes it very difficult to maintain a healthy body weight.

If you’re healthy and eating nutritious food, you feel nothing when you enter the catabolic phase, with no desire to eat again until glycogen stores are nearly exhausted. True hunger is a mild sensation felt in the throat and base of the neck. True hunger heightens taste sensitivity too, making eating more pleasurable. True hunger directs when you should eat and therefore it’s more difficult to become overweight if you pay attention to the signs your body sends to your brain. Being overweight requires eating outside of the demands of true hunger, either recreationally or because of withdrawal symptoms from improper eating, stimulating the overconsumption of calories.

Enhanced detoxification—reduction of metabolic waste, aldehydes, and AGEs—occurs most effectively in the catabolic phase. That means the longer you live in the catabolic phase of the digestive cycle, the longer you live. If you finish dinner earlier or have a lighter dinner, and you have a 13-hour window between the end of dinner and the start of breakfast, you are going to live longer. A recent study had women with breast cancer followed for 10 years and found that those who finished dinner earlier and had a 13-hour window before the start of breakfast had a 26% reduction in the risk of death or recurrence from breast cancer. 44 , 45 The increased nighttime window was also linked to improved glycemic control and a lower HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin). They had no better diet, no different number of calories, no better food; they just finished dinner earlier.

The goal for excellent health is to eat as infrequently as possible. Many people believe just the opposite and eat frequent small meals that increase endothelial dysfunction leading to an increased risk for arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. In addition, all the fad diets encourage people to make the wrong choices about what and when to eat. Many suggest the use of frequent high-protein meals so as not to feel the effects of normal detoxification. When the digestive track is continually busy, it results in accelerated aging.

Processed and fast foods are also high in salt. The fast and processed food manufacturers don’t just put salt on the French fries and on the meat, they also put salt in the French fry batter and inside the chopped meat. They also include high fructose corn syrup in most foods. The added fat, sugar, and salt create a taste that makes people crave these foods, a sensation that many describe as an addiction. Both sugar and salt intake increase stroke risk, especially when consumed daily for years. Additionally, what is generally not appreciated is that the regular consumption of artificially sweetened soda creates more of a stroke risk. 46 High salt does not merely raise blood pressure; it also causes microvascular hemorrhaging, which damages the interior walls of the blood vessels in the brain and increases permeability and the propensity for hemorrhagic stroke. 47 , 48

Over the past 30 years, we’ve also seen an explosion of diabetes in Japan, Korea, and China, occurring at a lower body weight than we typically see in America, likely because the cumulative effects of eating more fast food, more oil and sugar, along with all of the white rice (a refined, high glycemic food), which they already had in their diet.

We know that people have the power to change when significant effort and attention is directed to the problems at hand. With good information, emotional support, increased food availability and food preparation instruction, we have found people enthused and willing to work together for change. They don’t have to be convinced of the tragic dangers of fast food; they see the obesity, diabetes, leg amputations, strokes, and blindness all around them. But if people don’t have good information, then they don’t have a choice. If they don’t have access to healthy, affordable food, and they don’t know how to make it taste good, then they are not given a chance to change.

The goal for physicians and other health care professionals is to work to transform America’s inner cities into zones of nutritional excellence. Our nation’s pride and heritage are based on the equal opportunity to achieve the American dream of prosperity and happiness. This critical information needs to be spread and put into action by community activists, teachers, educators, celebrities, health professionals, athletes, and politicians. The more people who know the critical importance of eating healthfully, and the more they take a stand, the greater the effect will be on transforming the health of all in America. By working together, we can save millions of lives.

Acknowledgments

This work was presented at Lifestyle Medicine 2017, October 22-25; Tucson, AZ.

Authors’ Note: The opinions presented in this article are those of the author and may not represent those of the Guest Editor, Editor, or the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding: The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical Approval: Not applicable, because this article does not contain anystudies with human or animal subjects.

Informed Consent: Not applicable, because this article does not contain anystudies with human or animal subjects.

Trial Registration: Not applicable, because this article does not contain anyclinical trials.

Essay on Junk Food

Junk food is a term used to describe highly processed and refined food. It is generally considered less nutritious than natural foods. Junk food has been associated with obesity and causing serious health issues in children, along with the development of diseases such as diabetes. Junk food is not suitable for anyone. It is filled with sugar and other unhealthy ingredients that can cause diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Junk foods are also loaded with sodium, which is dangerous for people suffering from hypertension. Sometimes the calories in a junk food item can be deceiving because they will seem to satisfy hunger; instead, it fills our stomach and makes it harder to stop eating. BYJU’S essay on junk food in schools is a great tool to help the little ones understand the disadvantages of junk food.

Junk food is famous for being inexpensive processed food. The term is often used to insult unhealthy, unbalanced foods that contain high amounts of sugar, fat, and calories. Junk food usually contains added chemicals that can cause an imbalance in our bodies. Junk food also tends to be full of empty calories. Eating junk food regularly leads to weight gain, putting people at a higher risk of developing severe diseases. Now, let us learn from BYJU’S short essay on avoid junk food by understanding the harms caused by eating junk food.

Why Should We Avoid Junk Food?

Now, let us understand the demerits of junk food by reading BYJU’S effects of junk food on health essay. Junk food is not suitable for our bodies as it contains a lot of processed sugars, leading to weight gain. It also affects brain function, causing slower reaction times and memory loss. Many people are trying to be more aware of junk food, so they choose healthy alternatives like fruits and vegetables instead of unhealthy treats.

Besides the health issues, junk food can also be addicting. It contains high sugar levels, which can cause diabetes, and it is often filled with preservatives, artificial colours, flavours and other unhealthy additives. Junk food also has a high-calorie content and is usually made with processed ingredients that don’t provide many nutrients.

Junk food is a term that comes to mind when thinking about food that is high in calories and low in nutrients. It is not a good choice as it is something you have to avoid because of its detrimental effects on health. Junk food has been linked to many health issues such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and others. What starts as an innocent distraction from stress could become daily chaos for many people. However, healthy food is rich in nutrients and wholesome, unlike junk food.

Having junk food occasionally is not bad, but consuming it every day is bad for health. Healthy food might taste bland, but it’s good for your health. For more essays, worksheets , and other kids learning activities, visit BYJU’S website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is junk food bad.

Junk food is bad for a number of reasons, such as high levels of salt, sugar and fat. These ingredients make junk food taste good, but they make us unhealthy. Overeating these foods can cause obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic health conditions.

How to avoid junk food?

There are many ways to avoid junk food, but the most critical step is knowing your portion sizes. When hungry, stick with whole grains like brown rice and quinoa and fill up on vegetables instead of chips or other high-carb snacks.

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IELTS UNLOCKED

Samples, tips, and tricks to beat the ielts test, ielts essays (basic to band 9): discuss – junk food.

Scientists agree that many people eat too much junk food and it is damaging their health. Some people think that this problem can be solved by educating people, while others believe that education will not work. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

(1) Make sure you discuss BOTH sides. Aim for TWO ideas for each side, but you must have at least ONE for each.

(2) You can give your opinion in the CONCLUSION. In the introduction, you can just say you’re going to look at both sides before making a decision.

(3) Try to add some synonyms for the words you will frequently use (e.g. “junk food”), but only use them if you are sure it is a good replacement. For example, “fast food” is not necessarily a replacement for “junk food”.

NOTE – The following contains two sample essays: a simple one and an advanced one. The simple one has some linking vocabulary and useful terms included in bold. The advanced one is written at a Band 9 level.

Sample answer one (simple).

It is certainly true that people nowadays eat a lot of junk food and eating too much of this can be harmful to our health. While some believe that education can solve this problem, a significant number of people believe that education will not be effective.

People who support educating people about the dangers of junk food think that if fast food eaters knew exactly what they were eating, they would stop or at least reduce how much they eat. Junk food is available everywhere and is often cheap and marketed in an attractive way, so it seems like a good choice for consumers. However , people often do not know about the high levels of sugar, fat, and other things that are added to junk food to make it last longer and taste better. If they were educated about this, like smokers are about smoking, then they would be likely to eat less junk food or stop completely.

On the other hand , those who believe education will not work argue that people already know that junk food is not good for them, but they still keep eating it. No one believes that a candy bar is healthier than a piece of fruit. Moreover , warning labels on other harmful products, like cigarettes, are usually ignored because the product is so addictive.

Overall, it seems that education is part of the answer but not the whole one . Most people know that junk food is not good for us, but they continue to eat it. Therefore, apart from educating people, other solutions are needed, like higher taxes on junk food. (267 words)

SAMPLE ANSWER TWO (Advanced)

There is currently a consensus among scientists that excessive consumption of junk food has disastrous consequences for our health. To overcome this, many believe that education is key, but others argue that attempting to educate people is futile. The following discussion will look at both sides of the issue before attempting to reach a conclusion on the effectiveness of education in relation to curbing the effects of junk food.

Advocates of education state that if people truly knew what substances they were putting into their bodies and the deleterious effects those substances have, they would immediately cut down on junk food, or even eliminate it from their diet. Because junk food is often presented in bright packaging and appealing names, it is necessary to address this imbalance by making people aware of what the ‘food’ they are eating consists of.

However, those who believe education is doomed to fail state that most consumers are already fully aware of the dangers of junk food, but continue to eat it because they are addicted or because they simply do not care about the risks. For example, cigarette smokers regularly ignore the warning labels on cigarette packs even though smoking is probably more dangerous than eating junk food.

To conclude, it seems that education alone is not enough to counter the harm caused by over-indulging in junk food because an individual’s awareness of the risks is not enough to stop them from purchasing junk food. While education can be helpful, it is necessary to also implement stronger measures, such as raising taxes on junk food or banning the sale to vulnerable groups, like children. (271 words)

YOU MAY FIND SOME OF THE FOLLOWING RELATED LINKS USEFUL

IELTS Real Test Essays: Discuss – History at School

IELTS Essays (Basic to Band 9): Discuss – Children’s Development

BAND 9.0 Essays – Discuss: Sharing of Knowledge

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Causes and Effects of Eating Junk Food

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