Harmful Effects of Junk Food

By Dewi Ayu Pratiwi, 1506758355

As Ann Wigmore stated “The food you eat can be either the safest and the most
powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” Everyone needs nutrients
from food to be able to do thier activities as a source of energy . Food also can be the best
medicine to our body because healty food can make a positive impact to our health. But
today we live our live in a hurry and we dont have time to prepare a healty and prepared
food so that most of us choose to consume a junkfood because its easy to serve, cheap,
and delicious. However junk food is all good tasting, the fact that it is not contains
balanced nutrients and brings a lot of disadventages. There are some bad effects of junk
food .
Many examples of junk food like french fries, pizza, burger, and potato chips
contains very high of sodium. Current recommendations for adults to consume less than
2,300 milligrams of sodium a day, or equivalent to about a teaspoon of table salt.
Actually, sodium is material that is needed to maintain liquid balanced of body system.
But too much sodium causes your body to retain water, making you feel bloated and
puffy. Consuming high amount of sodium will plug up our blood vessel then disrupt the
sodium-potassium balance of the body so that causes high blood pressure. Junk food
items also loaded with saturated fats and trans fats that directly increase triglyceride and
bad cholesterol (LDL) levels in the blood, contributing to plaque formation and heart
disease. High cholesterol and high blood pressure are among the top risk factors for heart
disease and stroke.
Consuming junk food too much also can lead us to weight gain. Especially when
we eat the food that contains oil and grease such as donuts, chips, and other deep fried
food. The fats from junk food can accumulate over a period of time in your body to make
you obese. It become worse when we combine these food with drinks like soda and
alcohol which are either contain sugar that will increase a person’s tendency to put on
weight . The more weight you put on, the higher your risk of suffering from heart attack
and other cardiovascular disease.
Another way is other kind of junk food like soft drink or the imitation juice that
you find nowadays in most of the markets, you may think its healty but the truth it has
loads of artificial sweeteners, sugar, and artificial flavor. Artificial sweeteners such as
Aspartames, and sucralose are synthetic sugar substiues that may be even harder on our
metabolic systems than white common sugar and it causes fluctuations in blood sugar
levels. When the blood sugar levels up, the pancreas will secrete more amount of insulin
in order to prevent a drastic spike in your blood sugar levels. Because junk food lacks
sufficient levels of good carbohydrates and proteins, the levels of blood sugar drop
suddenly after you eat. Frequent spikes in blood sugar may be a contributing factor in
insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
All the point we have discussed about junk food above lead us to conclude that
junk food does all harm to your health without providing any health and causes some
health problems like hypertension, obesity, and diabetic type 2. In order to enjoy good
health and a happy life, it is important to you to cut down your consuming of junk food
and consume more of healthy food like fruits and vegetables.