Causes and Effects of Eating Junk Food
Junk food is any food substance that has undergone extensive preparation and packaging in industrial environments to enable easier consumption, leaving it with less nutritional value. Globally, consumption of junk food is associated with a wide variety of diseases and health conditions. The ailments include cardiovascular, digestive, and cancer-related diseases that are yet to prevent the junk food industry from changing its products and consumers from abandoning the items. Scholars have explored various research seeking to understand the causes and effects of eating such dangerous food products. It is noticeable that lifestyle choices and tactical advertising influence more people to consume junk food, resulting in obesity and a myriad of dangerous diseases to consumers.
The leading cause of eating junk food is lifestyle choices. Some individuals are too busy to cook healthy meals with fresh vegetables and consume fruits. Instead of such healthy feeding habits, these individuals consume snacks and junk food comprised of industrial sugar, preservatives, overly processed starch, and artificial flavors (Al-Saad, 2016). Youth and adolescents are commonly associated with lifestyle choices that include the consumption of junk food because healthy food options are undesired. Students and adults in specific professions such as software development also consume junk food because searching for and preparing healthy food seems to waste their time.
Modern advertising strategies used by junk food manufacturers have been taking advantage of consumerism and customer psychology. Junk food producers often mislead consumers using brightly colored advertisements on television and billboards, alongside hyperbolic statements of the taste and effects of consuming their products. Boyland, Kavanagh-Safran & Halford (2015) attest that many roads in urban areas contain several brightly colored advertisements focusing on junk food such as cookies and crisps. Similarly, television advertisement misleads many adolescents and youthful members of the community into buying and consuming junk food based on great taste, additional energy, and popularity.
Unfortunately, consuming junk food causes a disproportionate rise in body weight relative to height, leading to obesity. Many food products characterized as junk food contain too much fat, sugar, and calories. Combined with the increasing practice among adults and adolescents leading a sedentary lifestyle, these excess calories convert into body fat, resulting in a gradual increase in body weight and obesity (Schrempf, 2014). Health professionals and scholars always link obesity to musculoskeletal problems like arthritis and a variety of lifestyle diseases such as stroke, heart attack, diabetes, and cancer.
Additionally, eating junk food over an extended period exposes the consumer to the risk of developing several severe diseases and health conditions. While unhealthy fats predispose consumers to heart problems and strokes, excessive sugar in junk food might cause early-onset diabetes. Sharma (2015) opines that the most severe concern among health practitioners and researchers is the link between cancer and sweeteners, artificial flavors, artificial coloring, and preservatives used in preparing junk food. Some of the food products are made using GMO raw materials, worsening their health risk factors. Although research on the risks of genetically engineered organisms is still underway, empirical studies associate such food products with various health hazards, such as cancer pandemic.
In conclusion, junk food consumption is a global problem, especially in developed and developing countries. These food products attract consumers based on strategic advertising by their manufacturers. Besides, some consumers make conscious lifestyle choices to adopt such an unhealthy eating habit. Despite its prominence, consuming junk food leads to the ingestion of excessive sugars, fats, and calories, exposing the consumer to obesity. Furthermore, junk food contains multiple additives, including artificial flavors, sweeteners, and preservatives that have a direct link to cancer and other serious diseases. Consumers should necessarily opt for healthy eating habits, such as vegetarianism that bolsters the immune system.