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Zheyu Xu

Professor Tarle

English 101

27November 2016

The Negative Effects of Junk Food

The term junk food refers to low cost foods that contain too much calories mainly due to their high levels of fat or sugar and low levels of proteins, minerals vitamins. Currently, the country is experiencing an increased case of obesity and other illnesses as a result of excessive consumption of junk food that is rampant in the country. Obesity by definition is a medical condition where the patient has accumulated excess body fat to an extent that the fat is negatively affecting their health. The culture of over consumption of junk food is in addition responsible for a host of a number of dangerous diseases. Among the diseases which have been directly attributed to junk foods include diseases of the heart, diabetes, respiratory diseases, stroke, arthritis and liver problems. Also, the vice is to be blamed for poor nutrition that is currently the case especially for children in the country. For this reason, I say that the consumption of junk food should be restricted due to the negative effects that come with it. However, people with different views believe that junk foods cannot be held solely responsible for the bad health of people as well as poor nutrition. This paper will, therefore, seek to demonstrate how junk food has significantly contributed to the deteriorating health of the nation causing a rise in obesity, a host of dangerous diseases and poor nutrition .

Obesity remains an issue of great concern in most developed countries in the world including America and the United Kingdom. Junk food contains high calories which when taken in excess without subsequent exercise to burn the calories, the result will be obesity. Obesity, therefore, develops as a result of an imbalance between the energy produced from the consumption of junk food, and the amount of energy that is spent through physical activity, exercise and metabolism.The accumulation of excess body fat, obesity, is among the most common public health problems that most countries are currently having to deal with. The issue of can be directly linked to the increased consumption of junk food. Junk foods, as explained in its definition, contains high levels of fats. Therefore, when consumed in excess, the result will be the accumulation of fat in the body of the consumer hence obesity. According to Michael Moss (2013), more than half of the population of America is overweight with almost a quarter, an estimated 40 million people, of the adult population suffering from obesity. He further stated that the number of obese children has more than doubled since the 1980 and was at that time (1999) estimated to surpass the 12 million mark. The blame for the rise of obesity was entirely put on food manufacturers as they were accused of overly focusing on producing junk food at the expense of healthy food and ultimately the health of American citizens. Avoiding junk foods and adopting a much healthier diet is becoming increasingly hard as food producers are spending a significant amount of capital to ensure that American consumers are permanently hooked on junk foods.People holding the opposing view claim that one can still become obese without necessarily consuming junk food. They further state that lack of exercise, genetics and over eating of even healthy foods can as well lead to obesity. Psychological factors, such as stress, and medical factors, such as hypothyroidism and insulin resistance may also cause obesity.

Obesity as a health issue affects children and young adults more adversely than when compared to adults. This composition of the population is, in fact, the target population for fast food companies as they can be persuaded much easier than their adult counterparts. For a child to develop obesity, only an excess of 2% in their intake of energy is required. A 2% excess energy intake can result from the child consuming only an equivalent 30 kilocalories per day. That is, two thirds of a chocolate cookie, a quarter of canned soda or just two French fries.

In addition to obesity, the excess fats, sugar and salt in junk food also exposes the population to other dangerous diseases such as heart diseases, strokes, type two diabetes, and liver damage. When the decision of the amount of fat, salt or sugar on food is left to the producing companies, it is the population that will suffer as the companies will tend to put as much of it as they possibly can according to David H. Freedman (2013). The high rates of heart diseases that is being experienced in the country is a result of the excess consumption of junk foods by the members of the population. The accumulation of fat in the body from the consumption of junk foods, reduces the levels of good cholesterols in the body, especially around the heart, while increasing the levels of bad cholesterol, exposing consumers of the vice to an increased risks of heart diseases.Also, excess fats in the body may results in the blockage of arteries stopping blood from flowing to the brain thus strokes. Additionally, the pancreas of people who overly indulge in junk food may experience difficulties is supplying enough amounts of insulin for the conversion of sugars in the body to create energy. This will consequently lead to high levels of unconverted sugar in the body and ultimately a high risk of developing type two diabetes. Lastly, some of the fat that accumulates in the body as a result of consuming junk foods finds its way to the liver. Accumulation of fat in the liver may damage the organ, scar it or cause inflammation.Other diseases which have been indirectly linked to obesity include arthritis, which is medical condition brought about by the continued strain on a person’s joints. Obesity leads to added weight hence the strain on the joints. The Blount’s diseases on children is may also be caused by obesity as the disease entails the placing of excess weight on the growing bones of children. Dyslipidemia, a disease brought about by increased levels of triglyceride and cholesterol in the body, is another disease that comes with obesity. Finally, glucose intolerance, gout, angina and even some types of cancer have also been attributed to obesity and the extra weight that comes with the disease.

However, counter arguments disputing this point suggests that people who don’t indulge in junk foods and those without a prior history of obesity are still prone to the dangerous diseases mention above. According to them, junk food and obesity cannot thus be solely blamed for the diseases. On matters nutrition, junk food has been linked to poor nutrition in the country, especially in children and young adults. Poor nutrition has, in turn, been among the main cause of the ever growing problems of diseases in the country. Michael Pollan (2008) has attributed the poor nutritional value of the western diet to “a complex of chronic disease that seldom strikes people eating more traditional diets” (p. 421). His defines the western diet as one containing a lot of processed foods, added fat and sugar, meat and refined grain. Junk foods in this case falls under the foods with added fats and sugar. Most parents are struggling with the task of coming up with healthy diet plans for their children. For this reason, most of the children in the country are raised on junk foods leading to poor nutrition due to the lack of essential nutrients in their diets. Nutrition is often neglected in the west as parents are too busy with their work lives as both the mother and the father may be working a full time job. This subject’s the parents to becoming more tolerant to the poor eating habit which may be adopted by their children. Coming up with healthy and nutritional diets is also a very challenging task. This forces many parents to go with their children’s choices of foods. This is dangerous as children will more often than not select junk foods at the expense of healthy and nutritional food. Junk foods are an obvious choice to most children mostly due to the heavy promotion they receive on the media making them more attractive to the masses, children especially. Nutritionist Marion Nestle (2008) points out how difficult it can be for parents to make healthy food decisions and selecting nutritional food on a routine visit to the supermarket. According to her, supermarkets and food stores are designed such that the highest-selling foods are given preference to other foods (p.499).In most cases, the highest selling food products is not necessarily the most nutritional or healthy foods, but the most popular food. The popular foods in America are mostly junk food as they are the companies promoting them invest very heavily on their promotion. In order to cultivate a culture of good nutrition among children and young adults, parents must play an active role in the matter. Simple actions such as reading the nutritional value of a product regularly consumed by children may significantly assist in ensuring that children consume healthy and nutritional foods. Also, children should trained on how to make healthy choices when it comes to the food they eat. For example, taking a child grocery shopping and allowing them to select their preferred food items on each food category will lead to a healthy and nutritional diet endorsed by the child. Other measures such as incorporating nutrition education into the regular education can go a long way in developing good food habits and ultimately a healthier population. Here, the opposition claims that eating healthy is a personal choice. In addition, people who consider nutritional values of food and eat healthy also become victims of the many negative effects that have been attributed to junk foods.

In conclusion, the high calories present in junk foods as well as the excess fats, sugar and salt contribute greatly to the high prevalence of obesity. Obesity, in turn, contributes to a number of dangerous diseases which are mainly caused by the fat accumulated in the body in the name of obesity. Junk food also is among the chief reasons behind the poor nutrition of the population, especially children and young adults. The poor nutrition has consequently resulted in poor health living a large number of the population prone to various chronic diseases and medical conditions.

Works Cited.

Freedman, D (2013, July). They Say, I Say “What Should We Eat?”.New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Moss, M. (2013, Feb 20). They Say, I Say “What Should We Eat?”.New York, NY: Penguin Group 

Pollan, M. (2008) They Say, I Say “What Should We Eat?”.New York, NY: Penguin Group

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