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Moderate Fast Food Intake Still Bad

  • Friday August 18, 2006 in: Diet and Exercise Tag(s):

    junk food

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    It has been said time and again that eating fast food day in and day out doesn't do us any good. Fast food is generally unhealthy, and could lead to obesity if we consume too much of it.

    However, we often justify our fast food diet by saying that we're leading much too busy lives, and therefore could barely find the time or the energy to prepare supposedly healthy, home-cooked meals. And many of us try to take comfort in the assumption that as long as we eat fast food in moderation, our health wouldn't be in much danger.

    A recent study, however, reveals that fast foods are bad, even in moderation.

    The study, which was conducted by Kylie Kavanagh of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, used monkeys as test subjects.

    In the course of her research, she discovered that one group of monkeys fed with food rich in trans fats grew bigger tummies than those of one group fed with a diet rich in unsaturated fat. Trans fats are commonly found in fast foods, as well as in processed snacks and baked goods.

    Even though both groups were given food containing the same overall number of calories, the monkeys who were consistently fed for six years with trans fat-rich food had gained 7.2% of their body weight, while the other group gained just 1.8%.

    What makes it worse is that the monkeys who were fed food rich in trans fats, or partially hydrogenated oils, developed signs of insulin resistance, which, along with the fact that they carried 30% more abdominal fat, puts them at greater risk of diabetes and heart disease.

    Maybe it's too much to ask of a person to entirely give up any and all forms of fast foods. After all, it's the easiest and fastest way to get fed after a hard day's work, when cooking healthy meals seems akin to doing hard labor. But always remember that no matter how some fast food chains market their products as healthy, they will always be anything but. Fast food is junk food, and any phrase with the word "junk" doesn't need much elaboration.