By Jade Kaiser
Junk foods popularity has been rising tremendously ever since the 1950s. Yes, junk food is an easier substitute than cooking a nutritious meal but have you ever thought how it might be affecting you, and even the planet? Junk food is made out of unhealthy ingredients that can actually damage your body and destroy the planet.
Some of the ingredients in junk food, such as saturated fat, processed meat/cheese, added sugar and salt, are extremely harmful for your body. For example, one of the most consumed junk foods is processed meat which can cause colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Added sugar can cause insulin resistance, obesity and diabetes. Added salt can cause water gain and high blood pressure, which can lead to heart failure, heart attack and stroke. Eating junk food on a regular basis is like eating trash everyday.
Some examples of junk food
Another problem fast food and unhealthy food can cause is pollution. It might not immediately come to mind but think about it, take chips for example, because of the rising popularity in junk food, factories have to manufacture more and more packaging and food. This makes more and more greenhouse gases which are terrible for the environment. Toxic fumes are being released into the air everyday.
Pollution caused by junk food factories
New research shows that junk food can also affect your memory. Bad diets have been linked to dementia due to high blood pressure and cholesterol disrupting the blood supply to the brain. Research now confirms that junk foods can prevent brain cells from responding properly to insulin. Junk food manufacturers develop a combination of sugar,salt, and fat to stimulate our brain and get us addicted to the junk food habit.
As you can see, junk food causes more problems than it does good. By eating junk food you can cause yourself so many health problems and ever be on the road to early death. So instead of choosing the unhealthy junk food it’s a better idea to pick the healthier option to save you (and the planet) the consequences.
Cites Used https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/J_M/Junkfood#:~:text=Junk%20food%20describes%20food%20and,necessary%20part%20of%20any%20diet
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/20-foods-to-avoid-like-the-plague#TOC_TITLE_HDR_16.
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/10-ways-fast-food-is-destroying-theworld/#:~:text=Thanks%20to%20all%20the%20pathogens,water%20quality%20has%20suffered%20dramatically.&te xt=Coli%2C%20marine%20life%20dead%20zones,be%20contributed%20to%20fast%20food.
https://www.envirotech-online.com/news/business-news/44/breaking-news/how-does-fast-food-impact-theenvironment/48286#:~:text=The%20report%20from%20FAIRR%20identified,of%20greenhouse%20gases%20(GHGs ).&text=Meanwhile%2C%20the%20industry%20is%20also,10%25%20of%20global%20water%20flows.