How Junk Food Consumption Can Affect Kids

Junk food is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide variety of foods that are high in energy but low in nutrients. Your typical junk food is rich in fats, sugars, and sodium, but has little to no important nutrients, such as fiber, protein, minerals, and vitamins. Children typically prefer fast food, because it is designed to taste great, and parents tend to prefer it because fast food is typically cheaper and more convenient, since you rarely have to cook fast food yourself.

But fast food is rarely healthy, especially for children, who are constantly in a state of physical and mental development. Eating junk food regularly can result in major long-term health conditions and bad eating habits. The biggest negative aspect of diabetes is that it can lead to childhood obesity; a single meal of fast food can easily add an extra 160-310 extra kilocalories to your child’s daily caloric intake.

The lack of vitamins such as vitamin A and vitamin C, as well as minerals like, calcium and magnesium contained in fast food can also cause some major health problems. Specifically, they can lead to the development of some major diseases, like osteoporosis, dental problems, and a low functioning immune system.

Fast food also has unnecessary and hazardous additives, like food coloring agents and unhealthy trans fats that complicate the health issues caused by eating fast foods. And eating fast food consistently can result in atopic disorders, such as, asthma, rhinitis, or eczema. This can be a major setback for the health of a developing child, although the development of asthma is 40% higher in teenager vs. 25% higher in younger children.

The biggest problem with exposing your child to fast food is that it is easily addictive. Children can easily develop bad eating habits that they keep for the rest of their lives if they are exposed to the wrong foods too early in life.