In today’s lifestyle fast-food has become a routine meal for the day. It comes not only in the form of solid food but also in form of liquid with sugar and carbon dioxide in it. And if we talk about the solid food it is mostly loaded with carbohydrates with no fiber content when our digestive system breaks down these carbs are released as glucose in bloodstream.
As a result blood sugar increases. Our pancreas responds to surge in glucose by releasing insulin. Insulin transports sugar within every body cell and those cells need it for energy. As our body uses sugar, our blood sugar returns to normal.
This blood sugar process is highly controlled by our body, as long as we are healthy and our body can handle these sugar levels. But frequent intake of the fast food increases the carbs resulting in high sugar levels which our body can’t handle. This increases risk of weight gain and type 2 diabetes.
Many fast food meals contain added sugar. Trans fat is fat created during food processing, commonly found in fried pies, pastries and cookies. No amount of Tran’s fat is good for health. Eating food that contains it can increase the cholesterol level in body and can also lead to heart diseases.
Researches showed that frequent eating of junk food increase the chances of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Some research even indicated that junk food can actually cause serious brain damage. The problem is not the years of poor eating but regular intake of junk food, even for few days can lead to mental stress and digestive problems.
Here we will look black side of junk food and it is as follows
Memory and learning problems
A study showed that people who were healthy ate junk food for a week and performed poorly that measured attention, speed and mood. It concluded that eating fast food cans significantly our memory over time. It is probably due to that a poor or toxic diet can cause certain chemical reactions that affect the specific areas of brain related to memory.
Diets that are high in sugar and fat can overpower the activity of a brain peptide called brain-derived neurotrophic factor that helps with learning and memory creation.
Brain contains synapses which are liable for learning and memory formation. Eating too much calories can interfere with the functionality of synapses.
Risk of dementia
This has been one of the terrifying study associated with intake of junk food. As we discussed earlier about the increase in insulin levels due to fast food, just like in case of diabetes type 2, in this case brains stops responding to hormones and becomes impervious to it.
This can affect our ability to recall things, to think, to memorize. Thus resulting in dementia.
Excess consumption of Trans fat which we get from fries and processed food mostly, can send mixed signal to mind and thus brain confuses what we have eaten and how much hungry we are. And due to we end up with overeating.
Healthy functioning of brain requires daily dose of a fatty acid like omega 6 & omega 3. Deficiency of these acids results in dementia, bipolar disorder and many other brain disorders. Excess consumption of fast food may replace these by Tran’s fats which are very difficult to digest.
In worst cases overeating can be said similar to drug addictions to an extent relaying on junk food may activate those brain parts or functions which feel more pleasure in overeating than drugs.
Chemical changes leading to depression
A study has shown that eating such type of food having high sugar levels and fat change the chemical actions of brain and makes it more dependent on this food. Also by consuming too much fast food we may lack some most required nutrients
Like amino acids, lack of which can make you feel depressed.
Makes impatient and cause unwanted cravings
Eating a sugar rich cupcake can temporary make high blood sugar levels makes you feel happy and satisfied but after short while of time it gives irritable feeling.
Fast food is packed with refined carbohydrates which causes our blood sugar fluctuate rapidly. Low sugar levels can cause anxiety, confusion and fatigue. The food which has high content of sugar, we tend to eat fast and we eat too much to satisfy our appetite. This can lead to an unstable impatience while dealing with other daily things.
Fast foods and processed foods may be loaded with artificial spices and additives like sodium benzoate that tends to increase hyperactivity.
Fast foods are specially designed to be additive in nature with high salt levels, sugars and fats that makes crave for them. The addictive nature of junk food makes our brain crave even when we are not hungry.
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