Microbiologist Michael Jacobson, Ph.D., introduced the term "junk food" in 1972. Junk food is the shorthand for foods with little or no nutritional value, especially foods that may be dangerous to your health. To some extent, junk food, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. However, most people would agree that fast food often qualifies as junk food, as do potato chips, sodas and candy. Junk food tastes good, but it contains copious amounts of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, the ingredients that often cause obesity, illness and disease.
Disease
Junk food increases your risk of heart disease. It leads to high cholesterol, which blocks your arteries with plaque and causes heart attacks and strokes. Eaten in excess junk food makes you fat. Obesity has increased at alarming rates in America in the early years of the 21st century, among children and teens as well as adults. Obesity is a leading cause of Type 2 diabetes. Junk food increases the risk of cancer, since it substitutes for nutritious foods that reduce your chances of developing the disease. Eating junk food instead of a healthy diet puts you at risk for Parkinson's disorder and Alzheimer's disease.
Lack of Energy
Junk food gives you a temporary rush -- a blood sugar high. Your blood sugar level spikes and plunges, leaving you lethargic and unable to function at your best. If you have a test coming up or a basketball game to play, eating junk food prior to the event compromises your ability to perform well.
Depression
MayoClinic.com nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky cites a study from Britain that focused on 3,000 middle-aged office workers over a five-year period. People who ate a junk food diet heavy on processed meats, sweets, chocolate, fried food, refined cereals and dairy products were more depressed than participants who ate healthy food.
Intelligence
If you feed your kids too much junk food when they are toddlers, they may grown up dumber. That's the stark conclusion of a British study of junk food's effect on children. Researchers at Bristol University found that kids who ate lots of chips, pizzas, biscuits and other junk food before they were 3 years old had damaged IQs. The study, published in the "Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health," found that the junk food babies were five IQ points behind other kids when they reached the age of 8. Researchers theorize that since your brain grows at its fastest rate in the first three years of life, stunting its growth during those years has a damaging effect.
