Effects of Fast Food

What are the effects of fast food on your health? You may be vaguely aware that they aren't good for you, but if you regularly eat at fast food restaurants, it's important that you understand the consequences of what you’re putting in your body.

Fast food might look good, but is it good for you?

The Effects of Fast Food on Your Body

While a quick, cheap meal might seem like a great idea when you’re starving and on the run, the long-term consequences of consuming fast food can negatively affect your health. The amount of sugar, fat, sodium, and empty calories in fast foods can cause serious health problems in both adults and children.

The Fat of the Matter

It’s no secret that fried foods such as those you get in fast food restaurants are high in fat. Of particular concern are trans-fats, or partially hydrogenated oils. Companies like to use trans-fats in their food because they are cheap and have a longer shelf life than traditional fats; unfortunately, trans-fats are very, very bad for you.

The Effects on Your Heart

The effects of trans-fat on the body are not good: they raise bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower good cholesterol (HDL). According to the American Heart Association, people that eat high concentrations of trans-fats increase their risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

As of now, trans-fats are considered among the worst fats you can consume. The American Heart Association recommends that you eat as little as possible - and ideally none at all. If you currently eat a lot of fast food, then it will be difficult for you to cut trans-fats out of your diet – though you can make smarter choices when selecting from a fast food menu.

The Effects on Your Waistline

Recent studies have shown that monkeys fed foods rich in trans-fats experienced an increase in size around their bellies when compared to monkeys who consumed the same amount of calories from other fat sources. (Kavanagh, et al) After six years, the monkeys on the trans-fat diet were tested and found to have 30 percent more abdominal fat than their counterparts. They also developed signs of insulin resistance, which markedly increased their risk of developing diabetes.

Eating Fast Food Can Lead to Diabetes

Those fries might cause more damage than they’re worth.

Sure, it’s common knowledge that eating too much sugar can lead to diabetes, but did you know that eating too much fast food can lead to diabetes too? Studies have shown that people who eat fast food only two or more times a week are much more likely to develop insulin resistance, a precursor to adult-onset diabetes. (Pereira, et al) Researchers who conducted the study believe this is due to the high fat content in such foods. Combine this with the large amounts of high fructose corn syrup contained in the soft drinks people usually drink with their quickie meal, and you’ve got a massive sugar-fat combination that greatly increases the risk of developing diabetes.

What About Fast Food Salads?

If you’re standing at the counter of your local burger place, clearly the most healthy thing you can order is a salad or other seemingly nutritious item. While these are definitely better than a bacon double cheeseburger with fries and a coke, keep in mind that the “healthy” food that you get at fast food restaurants aren’t exactly the best thing you could be eating, either.

The vegetables included in fast food salads are generally GMO products grown under less than ideal conditions for producing optimal nutritional content. Pushed to produce at the maximum level, these crops are usually sprayed with chemical pesticides and herbicides. Often prefab salads have been on the shelf for quite a while, and as any learned veggie person can tell you, vegetables begin to lose their nutrients not long after they’ve been harvested.

Besides the low quality of the produce, there’s the added bonus of everything else they throw in the salad. Even those tasty looking grilled chicken salads can contain 22 percent of your daily fat intake, 43 percent of your daily cholesterol allotment, and 40 percent of your sodium allowance. You get all that and a solid dose of trans-fat!

And what about those healthy looking yogurt parfaits with fruit? They contain 19 grams of sugar, which is almost as much sugar as you would find in a 12oz can of Coke.

Long Story Short

People who consume a great deal of fast food run an increased risk of developing conditions such as:

• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• High cholesterol
• Digestive problems
• Liver problems
• Heart disease

If you eat a healthy diet high in nutrient-rich foods, you can decrease your chances of developing these health problems.

More Information

If you want to know more about the effects of fast food on your health, check out these links for more information:

• Nutrition Data will allow you to search for fast food (or others foods) to see their nutritional content.
• The NIH page on fast food information.
• Center for Young Women’s Health hosts a page with information about fast food.
• The Yale-New Haven Hospital’s page on the dangers of a fast food diet.
• Tips for eating at fast food restaurants – complete with meal comparisons.
• A BBC article on why fast food makes you fat..

• Fruits and Vegetables that Lower Blood Pressure
• Diet for a Pear Shape
• Summer Snacks
• Fast Food Statistics
• Healthy Food Myths Quiz

• The Lemonade Diet
• Weight Watchers Points Calculators
• 1200 Calorie Menus
• Weight Watchers Points
• Weight Watchers Restaurant Points

• Bad Side of Fast Food
• Fast Food Nutrition Facts
• Fast Food Good or Bad
• Fast Food Risks
• Fast Food Danger