Junk food literally means food that is not required, useless for your body. That’s why it’s called “junk”, the food that has only negative and no positive impact on your body. Junk food has no amount of nutrients present in it and it is full of calories.
When junk food replaces the nutritional food in our daily life, it gradually detoriates our health and makes us put on weight. Junk food has a lot of harmful effects on our body. Few are stated below.
1. Digestive Tract Problems
Source: Wikipedia
When junk food is eaten in abundance it might causes digestive tract related problems like GERD (Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disease) or Irritable bowel Syndrome or Constipation. This is due to the junk food is usually fried and this oil is soaked into the food.
So when this food is eaten it increases the production of acid because oily food irritated the stomach lining. This acid production may cause Acid reflux or chronic diarrhea. Junk food also lacks in fiber content.
Due to the absence of dietary fibers, the junk food doesn’t pass out easily and may cause constipation which could lead to hemorrhoids also.
2. Causes Depression
When junk foods are taken in all the meals of a day, the body doesn’t feel fresh and gets stressed. This metabolic stress in the body may lead to depression sometimes.
Depression due to junk food is usually found in teenagers. Junk food also hampers hormonal imbalance of our body, because it doesn’t supply enough ingredients, this also leads to depression in young adults.
3. Risk of Liver Damage
Source: Wikipedia
When junk has been taken for a very long period it causes some changes in the liver. These changes in the liver are due the changes in the liver enzymes. Junk food causes same kinds of changes in liver enzymes as does the alcohol abuse.
Junk food also being high in fat causes deposition of fat in liver cells; this may lead to diseases like fatty liver etc.
4. Risk of Diabetes Type-2
Junk food consists of lots of carbohydrates. When junk food is taken more often there is a spike in blood sugar level, this change makes our body undergo metabolic stress.
This stress affects the sensitivity of Insulin, which helps regulate the blood sugar level. This disturbance may lead to lifelong inability of Insulin to function properly, thus resulting in Diabetes Type 2.
5. Causes Fatigue
Source: Wikipedia
As junk food has no trace of nutrients and it only contains fat and carbohydrates, so when it is took for a longer period of time for all meals of the day, it causes fatigue and weakness. This is due to no necessary nutrients like vitamins and proteins are reaching to your body.
Junk food only gives a feeling of fullness. It has zero nutritional value.
6. Affects Brain Function
According to new researches, junk food has severe effects on brain function. The fat present in junk foods replaces the good cholesterol in our brain.
This faulty fat present in our brain hamper chemical signaling of the brain and brain cannot carry out its functions that effectively. In rats, it has shown to cause memory impairment.
7. Risk of Heart Disease
Source: Wikipedia
Junk food has a hefty amount of trnas fat and saturated fat in it. These increase the amount of bad cholesterol circulating in our blood. When the amount of bad cholesterol increases it tends to get stuck to the wall of the arteries.
These stuck cholesterol damages our blood vessels and cause chronic inflammation, which can further result in diseases like atherosclerosis, thrombus or emboli formation, congestive cardiac failure, hypertension, etc.
8. Risk of Kidney Disease
Source: Wikipedia
Other than being full of fat and zero nutrients, junk food also has a good amount of salt in it. It is the sodium content of this type of food that makes us craves for it more. Junk food being high in sodium content disrupts the sodium-potassium balance of our body.
Since kidneys are responsible for keeping this balance, they are damaged in this process. Also, increase in sodium content in our blood also elevates our blood pressure leading us to hypertension.
9. Affects Sugar Levels
Source: Wikipedia
When we eat junk food there is sudden change in our blood glucose level, which tends to increase suddenly. When we are done with our food it drops back, this sudden rise and fall disrupts our metabolism and makes us want to eat more. This not only effects metabolism but also makes us obese.
10. Can Cause Cancer
Consumption of higher amounts of junk is associated with colorectal cancer. This is because junk food has a high amount of sugar and fats in it.
Few researches show that because junk food has no dietary fibers in it, it tends to cause the cancers of the digestive tract, most likely being the colorectal cancer.
