The Harmful Effects of Fast Food

Many students like fast food because these products are very tasty. However, they contain many harmful substances. Explore which components of hamburgers and hot dogs can negatively affect your health.

Salt

Sodium chloride (NaCl) is vital for people. It participates in the production of hydrochloric acid, an important component of gastric juice. Its deficiency, as well as excess, adversely affects the body functions. Nevertheless, fast food contains too much salt. For a person, the physiological norm of consumption is considered to be five grams of salt per day. Therefore, if you will take one “Big Mac” and a medium portion of french fries, then you will eat more than half of your daily norm of salt.

Sugar

Salt is known to people from ancient times, and sugar is a relatively new product. Sugar (or sucrose) is an artificial product. In our organism, it is disintegrated into glucose and fructose, which immediately enter the blood. However, if glucose is a vital substance for a person, then fructose, according to scientists, does not carry any nutritional value. Fructose creates a serious danger to the body. A study revealed that fructose could be the cause of diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and various cardiovascular diseases.

High-Calorie Food

Another major drawback of fast food is high calorific and low nutritional values. Calorific value, or energy value, is one of the most significant characteristics of food. Excess calorie intake is the main cause of obesity. If you consume more calories than your body can digest, it leads to the formation of adipose tissue. However, the danger is not only in high-calorie content. Fast food contains a large number of light carbohydrates; they are also called fast carbohydrates. They are quickly absorbed by the body, but they are not spent on the maintenance of life.

Fat

Fat is an integral component of our diet and an indispensable ingredient in cooking. However, trans fat intake leads to obesity. At the same time, trans fats are hardly excreted from the body, according to some data, it takes at least two years on the condition of healthy nutrition during this period. Do not think that saturated animal fats are safe. In the preparation of fast food, they also are applied with an excess. Their excessive use creates a huge burden on the liver, negatively affects the heart, and leads to obesity.

Taste and Aroma

In the process of passing the entire technological chain (long storage, freezing, and thawing, heat treatment) the products lose their natural taste. Do you want to buy tasteless "Big Maс"? Any dish can become much tastier thanks to flavoring and aromatic additives. Food flavors can be both natural and synthetic. Nevertheless, artificial ones are cheaper.

In general, the small amount of these substances cannot cause a big threat to your health. However, high concentrations of such food additives can lead to liver disease. Now you know why the frequent consumption of fast food is bad for your health.