Negative Effects Of Fast Food On Health

COMM1085 College Reading and Writing Skills

Audience

Diet forms an essential part of the overall health of individuals. A balanced diet would be helpful for individuals to maintain their conditions of health. Fast food would be packed with refined carbohydrates that would cause the levels of blood sugar to fluctuate on a rapid basis (Verrill, Zhang & Kane, 2013). These kinds of foods are primarily zero in terms of nutritional value. They are also often high in terms of salt, sugar, fat and calories.

The primary audience within the research would be for the children who are at a higher risk of negative effects from the intake of fast foods.

The purpose of the research is to focus on such negative effects and thus be able to prevent such consumption of foods.

The primary aim of the research is based on discussing about the negative effects of fast food within the individuals.

The objectives of the research is:

• To discuss about the effects of fast food on the health of individuals.
• To assess the information based on the eating behaviour of individuals under various age groups.
• To assess the awareness based on the consumption of fast food on the health of children.  

Consumption of fast food has different types of negative effects on the health of individuals. These include the lack of energy, rise of cholesterol levels, lack of oxygen supply, low nutritional value and many others, which lead to different health issues in the lives of individuals.

Types of Fast Food

There are different types of fast food that is available in the market. Soft of the different forms of junk food include pizza, soft drinks, potato chips, hamburgers and many others (Chao et al., 2014). With the wide form of rise in the needs of consumers, there has also been a rise in the number of food companies such as KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonald and many others.

With the rise in the consumption of fast foods, it has been seen that there has been different kinds of harmful effects on the health of individuals (Verrill, Zhang & Kane, 2013). Some of the vital forms of health conditions might be short term or long term effects. The fat contents within the fast foods have high level of cholesterol within them. Some of the examples of high calorie content with sugar within the food with lead to obesity (Sahoo et al., 2015). Salt and cholesterol within fast foods would lead to increase in the blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. These different kinds of negative effects on the lives of individuals would be able to put major future form of risks, which would eventually lead to severe medical complications.

Some of the other negative effects of fast food are:

• Lack of Energy– The lack of energy within individuals would highly result from the consumption of junk foods (Chaix et al., 2013). These types of foods do not provide the essential form of nutrients such as protein, vitamins and fibres although these kinds of foods mighty suffice to the present needs of the people.
• Poor Concentration – This is considered as one another results of fast food habits. These are primarily traced to put an effect within medium and immediate periods. Over a sustainable period of eating of junk food would lead to a drop in the level of blood circulation (Sadler, Gilliland & Arku, 2013). This would mainly result due to the accumulation of fat, lack of essential nutrients, vital oxygen and particularly protein.
• High Cholesterol Levels – Apart from constricting the arteries and forming of plaques, the cholesterol would also be able to put a major effect within the liver where it would be metabolized (Downs, Thow & Leeder, 2013). High levels of cholesterol due to severe effects from fast food diets would be able to put strain on the liver and might also damage their functioning in the future.
• Heart Diseases – The diet based on fast foods are one of the major causes of heart diseases within individuals. Various forms of diseases within the heart might be a result due to the formation of plaque within the arteries. This would lead to a high form of demand on the heart to put extra effort for pumping blood (Dowray et al., 2013). This might result in fatigue to the heart based on the continuous putting of extra effort.
• Low Nutritional Value – The nutritional value of junk food is the least. The value of nutrients within these fast foods mainly get reduced or lost during the process of preparation of food (Freeland-Graves & Nitzke, 2013). Synthetic form of minerals and vitamins are added to these foods in order to compensate the value of fast foods but these would not be adequate enough (Powell & Nguyen, 2013). This is due to the reason that these supplementary nutrients are not so good as compared to the originals value of the nutrients.  
• High form of Chemical Additives – Junk food have a high form of chemical additives, which is not of much use to the human body. Different items such as artificial colouring and preservatives are not a good alternative to these foods. Each of the technique used for the processing of foods such as dehydrating, canning and freezing wold eventually result in destroying the flavour of food (Lerner & Matthias, 2015). These additions primarily reduce the original flavour and nutritional value of the foods. These types of additives might bring a good look to the food but would eventually lead to bringing major harm to the bodies of individuals.
• Lack of Supply of Oxygen – Fast food has a higher form of fat content. The accumulation of fat within the human body would mostly take place in bronchioles. With the accumulation of high amount of fat within the bronchioles, the supply of oxygen would tend to get reduced within the body. This would hence lead to respiratory problems within the human body.

Conclusion

Based on the considerations from the above area of research, it could be considered that the consumption of fast food would mainly invite different forms of health individuals. Based on recent reports, it could be considered that the consumption of fast food has been increasing at a rapid pace. The research focus on the main problems that are in relation to the consumption of such foods as increase in obesity levels that might further result in tremendous complications. Such kinds of effects lead to future health problems. Hence, proper form of education should be provided to individuals in order to lessen the consumption of such kinds of foods so as to ensure a healthy habit of eating.

References

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Chao, A., Grilo, C. M., White, M. A., & Sinha, R. (2014). Food cravings, food intake, and weight status in a community-based sample. Eating behaviors, 15(3), 478-482.

Downs, S. M., Thow, A. M., & Leeder, S. R. (2013). The effectiveness of policies for reducing dietary trans fat: a systematic review of the evidence. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 91, 262-269h.

Dowray, S., Swartz, J. J., Braxton, D., & Viera, A. J. (2013). Potential effect of physical activity based menu labels on the calorie content of selected fast food meals. Appetite, 62, 173-181.

Freeland-Graves, J. H., & Nitzke, S. (2013). Position of the academy of nutrition and dietetics: total diet approach to healthy eating. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113(2), 307-317.

Lerner, A., & Matthias, T. (2015). Changes in intestinal tight junction permeability associated with industrial food additives explain the rising incidence of autoimmune disease. Autoimmunity reviews, 14(6), 479-489.

Powell, L. M., & Nguyen, B. T. (2013). Fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption among children and adolescents: effect on energy, beverage, and nutrient intake. JAMA pediatrics, 167(1), 14-20.

Sadler, R. C., Gilliland, J. A., & Arku, G. (2013). A food retail-based intervention on food security and consumption. International journal of environmental research and public health, 10(8), 3325-3346.

Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A. K., Sofi, N. Y., Kumar, R., & Bhadoria, A. S. (2015). Childhood obesity: causes and consequences. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 4(2), 187.

Verrill, L., Zhang, Y., & Kane, R. (2013). Food label usage and reported difficulty with following a gluten?free diet among individuals in the USA with coeliac disease and those with noncoeliac gluten sensitivity. Journal of human nutrition and dietetics, 26(5), 479-487.