Obesity, Diabetes, and Heart Disease: What Could Happen If You Eat Junk Food?

Fast food, or as we tend to call it, "fast food," provides us with a variety of quick-to-prepare food products, mostly involving frying, sandwich preparation, processed and fat-laden foods. Although any food prepared quickly can be considered fast food, this term usually refers to low-quality foods with cheap ingredients and low nutritional value, served to the buyer in packaging, enabling them to take the meal "Take-away" (Take-away)

Nutritionally, this food is considered poor, loaded with sodium, sugars, and a substantial amount of trans fats. Constant consumption can heighten the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, various cancers, mood swings, and even addiction, offering only momentary satisfaction and happiness. But the harsh implications have redefined "fast food" as "junk food" because it lacks nourishing ingredients that contribute positively to our health and bring nutritional value to our bodies.

Consumption of fast food has developed to the extent that there is a need to define a new epidemic – the obesity epidemic, prevalent among lower socio-economic populations due to a lack of awareness for healthy eating, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, exercise and fitness, and excessive consumption of harmful foods, resulting in severe health impacts both short-term and long-term.

Short-term Effects

Fast food is generally rich in sugar, salt, and saturated trans fats. The body's reaction to these nutrients leads to various short-term effects when consuming fast food.

1. Increase in Blood Sugar Levels

Fast food breaks down quickly, causing a rapid increase in sugar levels due to the consumption of refined carbohydrates and added sugars. This results in an abnormal insulin spike, followed by a drop in sugar levels. Ever felt tired and in need of something sweet? That's exactly what it is. Insulin promotes hunger, making you eat food that spikes your sugar levels again. Persistent sugar level rises can be life-threatening.

2. Blood Pressure

A 2016 study found that high salt consumption could immediately impact proper vascular function. Excessive sodium intake is also linked to fluid retention.

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3. Increased Inflammation

Just one meal of fast food can increase inflammation throughout the body. A 2015 study found that a fast food meal rich in saturated fat increased respiratory inflammation in people with asthma. This inflammation acts as a trigger for asthma attacks.

4. Impact on Nutrient Intake

Fast food usually does not contain fresh fruits and vegetables. If a person frequently eats fast food, they may find it challenging to meet their daily recommended intake of at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. They may also struggle to reach the ideal fiber intake, which according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is 28 grams per day.

5. Overeating

Fast food is generally tasty, breaks down quickly in the mouth, and requires little chewing. Thus, it activates reward centers in the brain quickly. This combination trains the palate to prefer these highly processed and stimulating foods and reduces one's desire for whole and fresh foods. Many studies have linked fast food consumption to the prevalence of food addiction for these low-nutrient-dense items. Additionally, it was found that a single day of high-fat overeating impaired insulin sensitivity. This can trigger a cycle of excessive eating or disordered eating.

Long-term Effects

There is a wealth of proven evidence showing that regular consumption of fast food can harm health and cause irreversible effects. Such risks include obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and various cardiovascular conditions. The reason is that most fast food is rich in sugar, salt, saturated fats, trans fats, processed ingredients, and calories. It is also generally low in antioxidants, dietary fibers, and many other nutrients.

6. Digestive System

Many fast food meals are very low in dietary fibers. Physicians associate fiber-deficient diets with a higher risk of digestive conditions such as constipation and diseases of the joints, as well as reduced healthy gut bacteria.

7. Immune System Impairment

Many studies have found that a diet filled with high amounts of sugar, salt, and saturated fats from only a few sources is harmful and can lead to inflammation, disruption of infection control in the body, and higher cancer rates.

8. Heart Disease

An FDA study explains that a salt-rich diet often increases a person's blood pressure, making them more prone to heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, or other heart diseases.

Additionally, the study notes that a trans fat-rich diet increases low-density lipoproteins, known as "bad" cholesterol, and reduces high-density lipoproteins, or "good" cholesterol. This means an increased risk of stroke and heart disease.

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9. Diabetes

One of the world's most common diseases with annually increasing patient rates. In Israel alone, there are over half a million diabetic people and an additional half a million pre-diabetics at risk of being classified as diabetics. One of the reasons for the outbreak of diabetes is due to an unhealthy lifestyle, excess weight, and obesity. Part of preventing diabetes is, of course, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, a balanced and proper diet, physical activity, and stress avoidance. Diabetics are advised to use a continuous glucose monitor, allowing them to check their sugar levels at any given moment and create a balanced menu that aids in shaping a healthy lifestyle recommended by a dietitian.

10. Obesity

Junk food can contain a high number of calories, and consuming this food without control leads to ingesting more calories than the body burns, causing weight gain and leading to dangerous obesity with severe consequences.

What Can Be Done?

First of all, promote a healthy lifestyle from birth. Eating fruits, vegetables, almonds, and nuts and adhering to healthy and sporty lifestyle norms that combine sport, physical and mental fitness, walking, and awareness of the various harms that unhealthy foods can cause. Only by eliminating one's dependency on junk food and fast food can one win and bring about a perceptual change in the planning of food preparation, cooking healthy food at home that is rich in nutritional values without sugars, fats, and large amounts of sodium and processed materials with negative health impacts.

It is important to note that not all fast food has a negative impact. Some menus may contain high nutritional values and integrate everything the body needs. It is important to carefully select a healthy meal that is rich in everything the body requires: protein, vitamins, healthy fats, as little sugar and salt as possible, and to calculate the total carbohydrates you intake.

Prof. Julio Weinstein is the head of the Diabetes Research Unit at the Wolfson Medical Center and a senior diabetes doctor at the DMC Diabetes Care Center.