Unhealthy food habits: Your favourite snack may kill you

There is a reason why unhealthy food is commonly called junk food. Because just like junk, it should be thrown out of your house and system. If you wish to live a healthy and a long life, read further.

According to a research by The Lancet, unhealthy food habits was responsible for more than 10.9 million adult deaths in 2017 globally. Consumption of unhealthy food items is the primary cause of depression, digestive issues, obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and cancer.

The science behind food is that every food has a certain amount of nutritional value. This provides you with the required energy to do your daily work. The body breaks down the food that you consume and converts it to energy.

Junk foods are harder to break down as they are filled with sugar, salt and chemical flavourings. It remains for a longer time in our system as compared to healthy food. These foods emit harmful gases and compounds while it is in out body. As a result of this, your body reacts and metabolism slows down. In fact, the term junk food is used to describe those foods that are high in calories, have too much sugar and salt and have very little fibre, protein, vitamins or minerals.

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Now you must be thinking why, with so many issues, the sale of these junk products is not stopped. Many food regulatory organisations have tried to regulate the snack food industry. But they have always met with failure. According to Statista, a German online portal for statistics, the demand of snack food is so high that controlling the supply is near impossible. Currently, the snack food segment amounts to 5,254 million US dollars in 2019, with an expected growth rate of 15.6 per cent in both Western and Indian snack segments each year.

Junk food is bad for you. But what constitutes junk food? Let us look at some common snacks that may be harmful for you.

Chips

[caption id="attachment_683456" align="alignnone" width="655"] Chips are harder to break down as they are filled with sugar, salt and chemical flavorings. It remains for a longer time in our system as compared to healthy food. Gettyimages[/caption]

Packaged food like chips, are filled with nitrogen to prevent it from oxidising. This same nitrogen is consumed by us when we open the packet. Similarly, this unhealthy food contain high amount of fats and salt, which causes blood pressure issues.

According to a recent study by The British Hospitality Association, burnt chips contain a chemical known as acrylamide that could increase the risk of cancer. Initial study has shown that acrylamide interacts with DNA and this could go on to cause cancer.

Pizza

[caption id="attachment_683488" align="alignnone" width="675"] Pizza crust plus the cheese and toppings makes it a big pile of fats and sodium. Gettyimage[/caption]

This is an unhealthy food. It has recently been rated by Cision PR Newswire as America's favourite snack/comfort food. This is the same country where more than 65 per cent of adults are overweight and 35 per cent are obese.

Pizza is, no doubt, very tasty. But it is still the root cause of many heart diseases especially in children and teens. According to the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, saturated fats in pizza crust give out more calories than any other food product. Add the crust calories to the amount of cheese and toppings used and this very delicious pizza becomes a big pile of fats and sodium. This can very easily block any of your artery and send you into a myocardial infarction or cardiac arrest.

Gol gappe

[caption id="attachment_683458" align="alignnone" width="675"] It is often seen that vendors do not follow mandatory regulations and serve this snack under unhygienic situation condition. Gettyimages[/caption]

Gol gappe or pani puri is the most common Indian street snack. It is also the most common source of fat and is an unhealthy food. Made with fried puff- pastry balls and fried bondi, pani puri is right at the top of all Indian snacks in unsaturated fats. You should not consume high amounts of pani puri water as it contains sodium, which could have negative health implications. Jaggery and tamarind are very commonly used in making this snack. They too contain high amounts of sugar and should be avoided if you have diabetes.

More than the snack it is the distribution process, which is unhealthy. The shops do not follow the mandatory regulations and serve this snack under unhygienic situation conditions.

Burger

[caption id="attachment_683455" align="alignnone" width="655"] Burgers are filled with sodium which increases the risk for heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Gettyimages[/caption]

Burgers are available at a street vendor or it could be from a multi-national corporation. You must keep away from it. Have you ever ordered a chicken burger or meat burger? Chances are that there is not a shred of meat in it. Sellers often use pink slime apart from regular meat. Pink slime in meat mixed with ammonia so that it does not catch any bacterial infection.

A typical burger bun contains ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride and azodicarbonamide. These chemicals are so poisonous that they are often used in fertilisers and explosives. Each burger (bun plus topping) contains at least 50 grams of fat. According to the FDA, a person should consume between 18 to 31 grams a day.

Aerated drinks

[caption id="attachment_683460" align="alignnone" width="675"] Consumption of aerated drinks weaken our tooth enamel by chemically reacting with it. Gettyimages[/caption]

Diet or regular, aerated drinks contain artificial sweeteners, which leech calcium from the bones and replaces it with fructose. This can easily cause kidney stones or even kidney failure. They are called carbonated drinks because they contain acids like phosphoric acid and carbonic acid. These acids often start to play with our body's PH level and increases the acidity levels in our body. Aerated drinks including sparkling water weaken our tooth enamel by chemically reacting with it.

Packaged soups

[caption id="attachment_683462" align="alignnone" width="675"] Dried packaged soup is a fine snack when other options are limited but regular consumption will lead to indigestion. Gettyimages[/caption]

Dried packaged soup contains very high amount of calories. This makes it a fine snack when other options are limited. But never try to make it an everyday snack. They are made from chemically induced corn starch along with Monosodium Glutamate. This is an addictive flavour enhancer. It contains harmful properties that can cause indigestion, acidity ulcers, stomach cancer, obesity and nerve damage.

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