Harmful effects of junk foods – But what about canteen and restaurant food?
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2011
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 178 KB
- Volume
- 55
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1613-4125
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✦ Synopsis
Junk foods are popular as they are easy to produce and taste good: burgers, pizzas, potato wafers and fries attract a lot of people, as a brief glance at the every-day 'food to go' or behaviour in front of the TV or computer reveals. Because of their critical nutritional value, junk foods are being observed with suspicion by nutritionists. These products usually contain high amounts of fat and/or sugar and/or sodium salts. Recently, this type of food has come under attack for potentially altering the consumer's brain chemistry, in the same way as highly addictive drugs do. Studies on the biological mechanisms that lead to 'junk food addiction' have been initiated. In fact, most of the products are designed for 'high hedonic value', in order to induce people to eat more. Hence, with the excess of calories, obesity, diabetes and other diseases arise that are considered to lead to a reduced life expectancy for the next generation. It would be premature to prejudge 'junk food addiction' at this point, but the danger to human health posed by this type of food remains undisputed, even by the producers. They point out that it is entirely up to the consumer to decide whether she/he wants to eat junk foods, i.e. it is simply a question of personal liability.
The fact that there is a potentially low nutritional value in 'traditional' junk foods is the subject of discussions in both scientific circles and the media. But for everybody who over the years has had the pleasure of enjoying food in a student and later on in an office/business canteen, the question arises why the food offered by these institutions is not regarded under the same point of view. You will certainly agree that