write an essay on disadvantages of junk food

Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on harmful effects of junk food.

Junk Food is very harmful that is slowly eating away the health of the present generation. The term itself denotes how dangerous it is for our bodies. Most importantly, it tastes so good that people consume it on a daily basis. However, not much awareness is spread about the harmful effects of junk food.

The problem is more serious than you think. Various studies show that junk food impacts our health negatively. They contain higher levels of calories, fats, and sugar. On the contrary, they have very low amounts of healthy nutrients and lack dietary fibers. Parents must discourage their children from consuming junk food because of the ill effects it has on one’s health.

Impact of Junk Food

Junk food is the easiest way to gain unhealthy weight. The amount of fats and sugar in the food makes you gain weight rapidly. However, this is not a healthy weight. It is more of fats and cholesterol which will have a harmful impact on your health. Junk food is also one of the main reasons for the increase in obesity nowadays.

This food only looks and tastes good, other than that, it has no positive points. The amount of calorie your body requires to stay fit is not fulfilled by this food. For instance, foods like French fries, burgers, candy, and cookies, all have high amounts of sugar and fats. Therefore, this can result in long-term illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure . This may also result in kidney failure .

write an essay on disadvantages of junk food

Above all, you can get various nutritional deficiencies when you don’t consume the essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and more. You become prone to cardiovascular diseases due to the consumption of bad cholesterol and fat plus sodium. In other words, all this interferes with the functioning of your heart.

Furthermore, junk food contains a higher level of carbohydrates. It will instantly spike your blood sugar levels. This will result in lethargy, inactiveness, and sleepiness. A person reflex becomes dull overtime and they lead an inactive life. To make things worse, junk food also clogs your arteries and increases the risk of a heart attack. Therefore, it must be avoided at the first instance to save your life from becoming ruined.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Ways to Avoid Junk Food

The main problem with junk food is that people don’t realize its ill effects now. When the time comes, it is too late. Most importantly, the issue is that it does not impact you instantly. It works on your overtime; you will face the consequences sooner or later. Thus, it is better to stop now.

You can avoid junk food by encouraging your children from an early age to eat green vegetables. Their taste buds must be developed as such that they find healthy food tasty. Moreover, try to mix things up. Do not serve the same green vegetable daily in the same style. Incorporate different types of healthy food in their diet following different recipes. This will help them to try foods at home rather than being attracted to junk food.

In short, do not deprive them completely of it as that will not help. Children will find one way or the other to have it. Make sure you give them junk food in limited quantities and at healthy periods of time.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

Travelling Essay
Picnic Essay
Our Country Essay
My Parents Essay
Essay on Favourite Personality
Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
Essay on Knowledge is Power
Essay on Gurpurab
Essay on My Favourite Season
Essay on Types of Sports

Download the App

Frontiers for Young Minds

Download PDF

The Impacts of Junk Food on Health

Energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods, otherwise known as junk foods, have never been more accessible and available. Young people are bombarded with unhealthy junk-food choices daily, and this can lead to life-long dietary habits that are difficult to undo. In this article, we explore the scientific evidence behind both the short-term and long-term impacts of junk food consumption on our health.

Introduction

The world is currently facing an obesity epidemic, which puts people at risk for chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes. Junk food can contribute to obesity and yet it is becoming a part of our everyday lives because of our fast-paced lifestyles. Life can be jam-packed when you are juggling school, sport, and hanging with friends and family! Junk food companies make food convenient, tasty, and affordable, so it has largely replaced preparing and eating healthy homemade meals. Junk foods include foods like burgers, fried chicken, and pizza from fast-food restaurants, as well as packaged foods like chips, biscuits, and ice-cream, sugar-sweetened beverages like soda, fatty meats like bacon, sugary cereals, and frozen ready meals like lasagne. These are typically highly processed foods , meaning several steps were involved in making the food, with a focus on making them tasty and thus easy to overeat. Unfortunately, junk foods provide lots of calories and energy, but little of the vital nutrients our bodies need to grow and be healthy, like proteins, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Australian teenagers aged 14–18 years get more than 40% of their daily energy from these types of foods, which is concerning [ 1 ]. Junk foods are also known as discretionary foods , which means they are “not needed to meet nutrient requirements and do not belong to the five food groups” [ 2 ]. According to the dietary guidelines of Australian and many other countries, these five food groups are grains and cereals, vegetables and legumes, fruits, dairy and dairy alternatives, and meat and meat alternatives.

Young people are often the targets of sneaky advertising tactics by junk food companies, which show our heroes and icons promoting junk foods. In Australia, cricket, one of our favorite sports, is sponsored by a big fast-food brand. Elite athletes like cricket players are not fuelling their bodies with fried chicken, burgers, and fries! A study showed that adolescents aged 12–17 years view over 14.4 million food advertisements in a single year on popular websites, with cakes, cookies, and ice cream being the most frequently advertised products [ 3 ]. Another study examining YouTube videos popular amongst children reported that 38% of all ads involved a food or beverage and 56% of those food ads were for junk foods [ 4 ].

What Happens to Our Bodies Shortly After We Eat Junk Foods?

Food is made up of three major nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. There are also vitamins and minerals in food that support good health, growth, and development. Getting the proper nutrition is very important during our teenage years. However, when we eat junk foods, we are consuming high amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, which are quickly absorbed by the body.

Let us take the example of eating a hamburger. A burger typically contains carbohydrates from the bun, proteins and fats from the beef patty, and fats from the cheese and sauce. On average, a burger from a fast-food chain contains 36–40% of your daily energy needs and this does not account for any chips or drinks consumed with it ( Figure 1 ). This is a large amount of food for the body to digest—not good if you are about to hit the cricket pitch!

Figure 1 - The nutritional composition of a popular burger from a famous fast-food restaurant, detailing the average quantity per serving and per 100 g.

Figure 1 - The nutritional composition of a popular burger from a famous fast-food restaurant, detailing the average quantity per serving and per 100 g.
The carbohydrates of a burger are mainly from the bun, while the protein comes from the beef patty. Large amounts of fat come from the cheese and sauce. Based on the Australian dietary guidelines, just one burger can be 36% of the recommended daily energy intake for teenage boys aged 12–15 years and 40% of the recommendations for teenage girls 12–15 years.

A few hours to a few days after eating rich, heavy foods such as a burger, unpleasant symptoms like tiredness, poor sleep, and even hunger can result ( Figure 2 ). Rather than providing an energy boost, junk foods can lead to a lack of energy. For a short time, sugar (a type of carbohydrate) makes people feel energized, happy, and upbeat as it is used by the body for energy. However, refined sugar , which is the type of sugar commonly found in junk foods, leads to a quick drop in blood sugar levels because it is digested quickly by the body. This can lead tiredness and cravings [ 5 ].

Figure 2 - The short- and long-term impacts of junk food consumption.

Figure 2 - The short- and long-term impacts of junk food consumption.
In the short-term, junk foods can make you feel tired, bloated, and unable to concentrate. Long-term, junk foods can lead to tooth decay and poor bowel habits. Junk foods can also lead to obesity and associated diseases such as heart disease. When junk foods are regularly consumed over long periods of time, the damages and complications to health are increasingly costly.

Fiber is a good carbohydrate commonly found in vegetables, fruits, barley, legumes, nuts, and seeds—foods from the five food groups. Fiber not only keeps the digestive system healthy, but also slows the stomach’s emptying process, keeping us feeling full for longer. Junk foods tend to lack fiber, so when we eat them, we notice decreasing energy and increasing hunger sooner.

Foods such as walnuts, berries, tuna, and green veggies can boost concentration levels. This is particularly important for young minds who are doing lots of schoolwork. These foods are what most elite athletes are eating! On the other hand, eating junk foods can lead to poor concentration. Eating junk foods can lead to swelling in the part of the brain that has a major role in memory. A study performed in humans showed that eating an unhealthy breakfast high in fat and sugar for 4 days in a row caused disruptions to the learning and memory parts of the brain [ 6 ].

Long-Term Impacts of Junk Foods

If we eat mostly junk foods over many weeks, months, or years, there can be several long-term impacts on health ( Figure 2 ). For example, high saturated fat intake is strongly linked with high levels of bad cholesterol in the blood, which can be a sign of heart disease. Respected research studies found that young people who eat only small amounts of saturated fat have lower total cholesterol levels [ 7 ].

Frequent consumption of junk foods can also increase the risk of diseases such as hypertension and stroke. Hypertension is also known as high blood pressure and a stroke is damage to the brain from reduced blood supply, which prevents the brain from receiving the oxygen and nutrients it needs to survive. Hypertension and stroke can occur because of the high amounts of cholesterol and salt in junk foods.

Furthermore, junk foods can trigger the “happy hormone,” dopamine , to be released in the brain, making us feel good when we eat these foods. This can lead us to wanting more junk food to get that same happy feeling again [ 8 ]. Other long-term effects of eating too much junk food include tooth decay and constipation. Soft drinks, for instance, can cause tooth decay due to high amounts of sugar and acid that can wear down the protective tooth enamel. Junk foods are typically low in fiber too, which has negative consequences for gut health in the long term. Fiber forms the bulk of our poop and without it, it can be hard to poop!

Tips for Being Healthy

One way to figure out whether a food is a junk food is to think about how processed it is. When we think of foods in their whole and original forms, like a fresh tomato, a grain of rice, or milk squeezed from a cow, we can then start to imagine how many steps are involved to transform that whole food into something that is ready-to-eat, tasty, convenient, and has a long shelf life.

For teenagers 13–14 years old, the recommended daily energy intake is 8,200–9,900 kJ/day or 1,960 kcal-2,370 kcal/day for boys and 7,400–8,200 kJ/day or 1,770–1,960 kcal for girls, according to the Australian dietary guidelines. Of course, the more physically active you are, the higher your energy needs. Remember that junk foods are okay to eat occasionally, but they should not make up more than 10% of your daily energy intake. In a day, this may be a simple treat such as a small muffin or a few squares of chocolate. On a weekly basis, this might mean no more than two fast-food meals per week. The remaining 90% of food eaten should be from the five food groups.

In conclusion, we know that junk foods are tasty, affordable, and convenient. This makes it hard to limit the amount of junk food we eat. However, if junk foods become a staple of our diets, there can be negative impacts on our health. We should aim for high-fiber foods such as whole grains, vegetables, and fruits; meals that have moderate amounts of sugar and salt; and calcium-rich and iron-rich foods. Healthy foods help to build strong bodies and brains. Limiting junk food intake can happen on an individual level, based on our food choices, or through government policies and health-promotion strategies. We need governments to stop junk food companies from advertising to young people, and we need their help to replace junk food restaurants with more healthy options. Researchers can focus on education and health promotion around healthy food options and can work with young people to develop solutions. If we all work together, we can help young people across the world to make food choices that will improve their short and long-term health.

Obesity : ↑ A disorder where too much body fat increases the risk of health problems.

Processed Food : ↑ A raw agricultural food that has undergone processes to be washed, ground, cleaned and/or cooked further.

Discretionary Food : ↑ Foods and drinks not necessary to provide the nutrients the body needs but that may add variety to a person’s diet (according to the Australian dietary guidelines).

Refined Sugar : ↑ Sugar that has been processed from raw sources such as sugar cane, sugar beets or corn.

Saturated Fat : ↑ A type of fat commonly eaten from animal sources such as beef, chicken and pork, which typically promotes the production of “bad” cholesterol in the body.

Dopamine : ↑ A hormone that is released when the brain is expecting a reward and is associated with activities that generate pleasure, such as eating or shopping.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

[1] ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2013. 4324.0.55.002 - Microdata: Australian Health Survey: Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2011-12 . Australian Bureau of Statistics. Available online at: http://bit.ly/2jkRRZO (accessed December 13, 2019).

[2] ↑ National Health and Medical Research Council. 2013. Australian Dietary Guidelines Summary . Canberra, ACT: National Health and Medical Research Council.

[3] ↑ Potvin Kent, M., and Pauzé, E. 2018. The frequency and healthfulness of food and beverages advertised on adolescents’ preferred web sites in Canada. J. Adolesc. Health. 63:102–7. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.01.007

[4] ↑ Tan, L., Ng, S. H., Omar, A., and Karupaiah, T. 2018. What’s on YouTube? A case study on food and beverage advertising in videos targeted at children on social media. Child Obes. 14:280–90. doi: 10.1089/chi.2018.0037

[5] ↑ Gómez-Pinilla, F. 2008. Brain foods: the effects of nutrients on brain function. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 9, 568–78. doi: 10.1038/nrn2421

[6] ↑ Attuquayefio, T., Stevenson, R. J., Oaten, M. J., and Francis, H. M. 2017. A four-day western-style dietary intervention causes reductions in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory and interoceptive sensitivity. PLoS ONE . 12:e0172645. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172645

[7] ↑ Te Morenga, L., and Montez, J. 2017. Health effects of saturated and trans-fatty acid intake in children and adolescents: systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE. 12:e0186672. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186672

[8] ↑ Reichelt, A. C. 2016. Adolescent maturational transitions in the prefrontal cortex and dopamine signaling as a risk factor for the development of obesity and high fat/high sugar diet induced cognitive deficits. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 10. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00189

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Meet top uk universities from the comfort of your home, here’s your new year gift, one app for all your, study abroad needs, start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more.

Verification Code

An OTP has been sent to your registered mobile no. Please verify

Thanks for your comment !

Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers.

School Education /

Essay on Junk Food: Samples in 150, 250 Words

Updated on
Oct 5, 2023

Food is the main source of energy. It is important to consume healthy food. Any food product that contains a high percentage of saturated fats or trans fats is referred to as Junk food. The term junk itself indicates that it is harmful to our health. To lead a healthy lifestyle it is important to avoid the overconsumption of junk food. However, junk food has gained popularity because we consume it on a regular basis. Here we have provided an essay on junk food for children and school-going students. It will provide a general overview of how to draft an essay on junk food. Continue reading!

Essay on Junk Food in 150 Words

Junk food has become a prevalent component of the modern diet. It is not only attracting the young generation but is also getting induced in their daily diet. Habitual consumption of junk food causes serious health issues because it is high in calorie content. Processed food with high content of saturated and trans fats, or high sugar content comes under this category.

Street food places and the majority of food chains and restaurants are serving food in high quantities, thereby reducing the consumption of healthier options. People are now prioritizing taste and neglecting the culinary diversity of traditional food.

Another aspect of the over-consumption of junk food is ordering food on a daily basis due to a busy schedule. Besides that, munching on snacks to satisfy hunger is another bad habit that leads to health issues. Such food products lack nutritional components such as dietary fibres, protein, vitamins, iron, etc.

To conclude, health is an important part of life so, it is important to take care of healthy food habits and avoid the excess consumption of unhealthy or junk food.

Also Read: Tips for cooking while studying abroad

Essay on Junk Food in 250 Words

Junk food refers to the unhealthy food. Consumption of junk food such as pizzas, burgers, fried items, pastries, etc. has alarming consequences. Its effect is witnessed as the global obesity epidemic because the masses are more inclined towards eating junk food.

Impact of Consuming Junk Food

Food high in salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats contributes to weight gain. It will ultimately cause obesity. Obesity is the key source of other diseases that are difficult to cure. Some of the chronic diseases that occur due to the consumption of junk food are high risk of heart failure, GIT disorders, hypertension, diabetes, etc. So, it is crucial to eliminate or reduce the consumption of unhealthy food and replace it with nutritional food.

Affordability

Another factor that contributes a lot in favour of a high intake of junk food is its affordability. Junk food is more accessible as it is available on the streets at a cheaper price. The price factor affects people who cannot afford healthier options. Thus, people tend to consume junk food that is comparatively more affordable and accessible.

Taste over Nutritional Value

Nowadays, people are more inclined towards enjoying the taste of food. It’s obvious that crispy and spicy food will attract you more as compared to salads and pulses i.e. much healthier options with high nutritional values. Consuming junk food on a regular basis has become common for many, and this has led to homogeneity in their diets. So, it’s important to choose the healthy option over a tastier option to minimize the negative health impact due to junk food.

In conclusion, having junk food occasionally is acceptable when you visit any party or celebrate any occasion. However, its regular consumption will disturb your dietary habits and also hamper your health for the long term.

Also Read: Taking Care of Mental Health while Studying Abroad

Kajal Thareja

Hi, I am Kajal, a pharmacy graduate, currently pursuing management and is an experienced content writer. I have 2-years of writing experience in Ed-tech (digital marketing) company. I am passionate towards writing blogs and am on the path of discovering true potential professionally in the field of content marketing. I am engaged in writing creative content for students which is simple yet creative and engaging and leaves an impact on the reader's mind.

Connect With Us

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today.

Resend OTP in

Need help with?

Study abroad.

UK, Canada, US & More

IELTS, GRE, GMAT & More

Scholarship, Loans & Forex

Country Preference

New Zealand

Which English test are you planning to take?

Which academic test are you planning to take.

Not Sure yet

When are you planning to take the exam?

Already booked my exam slot

Within 2 Months

Want to learn about the test

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

When do you want to start studying abroad.

January 2024

September 2024

What is your budget to study abroad?

How would you describe this article ?

Please rate this article

We would like to hear more.

Have something on your mind?

Make your study abroad dream a reality in January 2022 with

India's Biggest Virtual University Fair

Essex Direct Admission Day

Why attend .

Don't Miss Out

Talk to our experts

1800-120-456-456

Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay

Essay on Harmful Effects of Junk Food

Junk food is easily accessible, convenient and affordable to everyone. These properties of junk foods entice many people around the world to consume them in excess. Junk food may be defined as nutrient-poor food items which are usually high in fat, sugar or salt. They lack essential elements like proteins, fibers, vitamins or minerals (Buzby et al., 2013). The excessive consumption of junk foods is associated with a wide range of health problems like obesity, diabetes, heart diseases and cancer.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that overweight and obesity are now epidemics in both developed and developing countries. They have further warned that the epidemic is spreading to the young generation at an alarming rate (WHO, 2012). According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one-third of U.S. children and adolescents are obese or overweight (Ogden et al., 2014). The main reason for this is the excessive consumption of junk foods.

Junk food items are generally high in calories which lead to weight gain. Obesity is a serious health problem that increases the risk of many chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. A study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) showed that obese people are at increased risk for heart attacks, strokes and death from any cause (Flegal et al., 2013). Another study published in the journal The Lancet revealed that obese people are at risk of developing 13 different types of cancer (Flegal et al., 2013).

The high amount of sugar present in junk foods is also a major cause of concern. Excessive consumption of sugar can lead to obesity, diabetes and heart diseases. A study published in the journal Diabetes Care showed that people who consume excessive amounts of sugar are at risk of developing diabetes (Yoon et al., 2014). Another study published in the journal Circulation revealed that people who consume sugary drinks are at risk of heart diseases (Hu et al., 2012).

Junk foods are also high in saturated and trans fats. Saturated fats increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes (Smith et al., 2006). Trans fats can also increase the risk of coronary heart disease (Mozaffarian et al., 2006). Junk food items made from hydrogenated oils contain dangerous trans fats.

Long and Short Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay in English

Short harmful effects of junk food essay.

In this short essay on the harmful effects of junk food, a brief account of the impact of junk food on our health and how important it is to avoid junk food are discussed.

We are all aware that the way we treat our bodies reflects the state of our mind and lifestyle that we are all leading. The food we consume directly affects our state of mind, and so when we eat healthy and nutritious food, we are happier, content and positive in life. Even though we know that we do not take care of our bodies and eat junk food that harms our bodies. Sadly, nowadays, kids want everything to be served quickly, and fast food serves this purpose rightly.

The production of junk and fast food is at an all-time high. The supply is more because of the increasing demand. It has a negligible amount of nutrients and nutritional value. It is oily, greasy, full of fats and sugars. The high levels of calories have resulted in an increase in obesity and high blood pressure. It has also worsened the digestive system and appetite. When this is combined with the comfy and lethargic lifestyle in today's times, it also results in inadequate growth and development of children. And from a very young age, they are more susceptible to mental health diseases like depression. The effects of such consumption are only negative when the world is trying to normalize conversations about such problems; we should also be doing our bit in taking care of our health and life.

Long Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay

In this long 600+ words harmful effects of junk food essay, the effects of junk food on body and life are discussed in detail.

It is very vital to take care of one's body because our body is our vehicle, the most important tool that helps us get through life and perform our daily activities. When we treat our body right, it reciprocates the same zeal and willpower required for us.

The first important way to treat our body right is via exercise or working out in any form, be it through yoga, pilates, functional training, or weight training. All of this will help keep us fit. Even with working out daily, we will not get our desired results of fitness if we do not eat well. A proper diet is the most important catalyst to lead a healthy life.

A proper diet includes a good amount of balance between calories, fats, proteins, fibers, and nutrition-rich food. We can find all these nutritional values in foods like green leafy vegetables, fruits, and rice for carbohydrates. It is good for the body and the mind.

Junk foods include fast foods like french fries, fried foods like churros, pastries, pizzas, cookies, candies, burgers, and chips. All of this has a very high sodium content, cheese, sugar, and oils that have no nutritional value. It is not a good source of nutrition, nor is it helping our body in any way.

It only satisfies our taste buds because all junk foods taste good. But we must realize, in order to satisfy the cravings of our tongue, we are ruining our body and depriving it of a healthy lifestyle. This short-term fulfillment of mere cravings can have long-term impacts on our health, with life-threatening diseases that will leave a lasting negative impact on our bodies. It results in the following:-

On the Brain and Mental Health - the sodium content in junk food leads to headaches which will help lose focus and motivation even for mundane tasks. The risk of depression and other mental illnesses increases with the increased consumption of processed foods.

On the Respiratory System - due to heavy and oily foods the children are consuming these days and leading a lazy lifestyle, they are at high risks of shortness of breath, and according to the studies it is also found that such children also suffer from asthma even to their adult and old age.

On the Cardiovascular System - Cholesterol consumption blocks the blood flow to and from the heart because of the deposition of fats and leads to blood pressure-related issues. There is also the risk of premature heart diseases like heart failure, arrhythmia, etc. A weak heart results in many other bodily diseases due to improper and inadequate supply of blood to others.

On the Digestive Tract - When such processed food is consumed, it is very difficult to digest because our bodies are not designed to do so. When digestion is slowed, the metabolism also becomes slower, and it results in weight gain and obesity. Other such problems are food poisoning, acid reflux, constipation, and indigestion, and in severe cases may also lead to kidney failure.

On the Skin - Processed food contains very high levels of sugar, eventually leading to obesity. In such conditions, the blood sugar level also sees a spike, and this causes the outbreak of acne in the skin and face.

Curbing the intake of Junk food: - It is important to have healthy food due to the aforementioned reasons but surely one is attracted to junk food regardless. In such a case, we must reduce the intake of junk and processed foods and have it less often rather than making it a habit. Incorporating healthy food will allow you to have an active lifestyle and lead a fulfilling life. It will keep the heart in check, and energy levels will always soar high, which is the optimal way of living.

Being aware of your own health and knowing the possibilities of the very harmful effects junk foods have on our body can be very helpful. This awareness will help one make healthier choices. A proper workout is incomplete without a balanced diet, so it is important to cater to the body's needs without indulging in your cravings and taste requirements. Long-term effects last a lifetime and rob you of your childhood and youth, so starting a healthier diet for a better lifestyle is never too late.

FAQs on Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay

1. What are the health effects of junk food?

Junk foods are also very much high in saturated and trans fats. Saturated fats increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes (Smith et al., 2006). Trans fats can also increase the risk of coronary heart disease (Mozaffarian et al., 2006). Junk food items made from hydrogenated oils contain dangerous trans fats. Junk and processed foods have a high sodium content, cheese, sugar, and oils that have no nutritional value. They only satisfy our taste buds because all junk foods taste good. But we must consider that in order to satisfy the cravings of our tongue, we are ruining our body and shearing it off a healthy lifestyle. This short-term fulfillment of mere cravings can have long-term impacts on our health, with life-threatening diseases that will leave a lasting negative impact on our bodies.

On Brain and Mental Health - The sodium content in junk food leads to headaches which will help lose focus and motivation even for mundane tasks which are very dangerous. The risk of depression and other mental illnesses increases with the increased consumption of processed foods.

On the Respiratory System - Due to heavy and oily foods the children are consuming these days and leading a lazy lifestyle, they are at high risks of the absence of breath, and according to the studies it is also found that such children also suffer from asthma even to their adult and old age.

On the Cardiovascular System - Cholesterol consumption interrupts the blood flow to and from the heart because of the deposition of fats and leads to blood pressure-related issues. There is also the risk of early heart diseases like heart failure, arrhythmia, etc. A weak heart results in many other bodily diseases due to improper and Insufficient supply of blood to others.

2. What are the foods that can be classified as junk food?

Any food that is manufactured with the addition of artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives qualifies to be junk food. The foods that are high in calories but offer no nutritional value like soda, candy bars, chips, and other fried snacks fall under this category. These foods are usually easy and cheap to find. It's best to avoid these foods as much as possible. These foods are very harmful and have the potential to cause great damage to our body and possibly increase the risk of some life-threatening diseases.

3. What exactly causes obesity?

There are some pathophysiological causes for obesity, namely, genetic disorders such as Prader-Willi syndrome and leptin receptor mutations, developmental causes like brain tumors or injury, some autoimmune conditions like Cushing's syndrome, and medications like antipsychotics and steroids. However, the majority of obese people have no identifiable cause for their weight gain. Many experts believe that excessive consumption of junk food is a major contributing factor to obesity. When people eat foods that are high in calories but offer no nutritional value, their bodies don't get the nutrients they need. Over time, this can lead to weight gain.

4. What are the long term effects of junk food?

Some experts say that since junk food is readily available, it becomes easy to eat more than one should usually be allowed to consume. Eating junk food can lead to obesity and other health conditions like glucose intolerance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension etc. A study found that children who consumed fast foods three times a week were more likely to develop asthma. Junk food can also lead to tooth decay and other oral health problems. Long term effects of junk food are obesity, weight gain, heart diseases, diabetes etc.

5. How can we prevent our children from eating junk food?

It is important for parents to set a good example for their children and teach them about the importance of healthy eating. Parents can try to make healthy meals at home that their children will enjoy, and they can also pack healthy snacks for their children to take to school or on trips. It is important to be aware of the foods that are being sold at schools and in other places where children might be tempted to eat unhealthy foods. Parents can also talk to their children about the dangers of eating junk food and make sure they understand the benefits of eating whole foods.

6. What are the Junk Foods to Avoid at any Cost?

Any junk food that has high levels of damaging chemicals and sugars to add taste and flavour to the food must be kept at bay at any cost. And such junk foods and processed food often have harmful preservatives that will cause many diseases. Such foods can be pizzas, burgers, chips, cakes, cookies, cookies, fried and grilled food is extremely oily with unuseful fats. Broiled food must be avoided. Drinks containing high amounts of sugar are also unhealthy and harmful.

7. Is any Junk Food Healthy?

Chips are considered to be a portion of junk food but now there are many vegan chips available that can be extremely healthy and will aid in fulfilling your cravings and not harm your body and lifestyle. A few of those are Kale chips, sweet potato chips, and spinach chips. They are healthy with no trans-fat or saturated fats. And these are easily available now. All these can be an alternative to potato chips.

Junk Food in Schools: Good or Bad for Children? Essay

Introduction, the arguments for junk food at schools, the arguments against junk food at schools, the rebuttal of the advantages of junk food, the rebuttal of disadvantages of junk food.

Junk food has become very popular nowadays especially among children. Children really like junk food and as a result junk food are provided at school. Is it good or bad for children? There are advantages as well as disadvantages of junk food in schools.

There are three main advantages of junk food in schools namely quick preparation, change in routine and benefits for children’s health (Borkar, 2011). One of the main advantages of junk food is that it is simple to cook and it satiates hunger. If any child forgets his/her lunch bag at home it is very convenient to have junk food for lunch at school (Maire, n.d.). More than that, it is delicious and liked by children. It is the food that is easy to eat even on the go. As a result, junk food saves a lot of time and it is very convenient at schools where the breaks are not so long to have a rigorous lunch (Jenkins, 2005).

The second advantage is the change in routine. Children are accustomed to the food prepared at home and junk food at school may add the variety to their routine menu (Antwerp, n.d.). It does not have serious effects on the health if it is varied with the food prepared at home.

The third advantage is that it is healthy. Of course, there are cases when junk food is prepared with unhealthy ingredients and oil but there is also healthy junk food that may be eaten by children. If such junk food as potato chips or juice are available at school’s children will be protected from unhealthy food proposed outside the boundaries of the school ( Pros & Cons of Fast Foods in School, n.d.).

As for the disadvantages of junk food at schools, they are obesity, the influence over the students’ performance and other health issues (Richards, n.d.). It is a well-known fact that junk food contains a lot of salt, pepper and other unhealthy ingredients. All these ingredients are harmful as far as it is complicated for a young organism to break down them and these ingredients accumulate in the body (Rosenthal, n.d.). More than that, they prevent the absorption of other valuable nutrients and as a result affect the immune system. These harmful ingredients lead to obesity among children that is the burning issue nowadays (Ankerberg-Nobis, n.d.). This kind of food does not contain all the nutrients necessary for children and as a result it causes a lot of problems with their health (A Comparison of Nutritious Food and Junk Food , 2009). These health issues include heart problems such as hormonal imbalance, high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, and problems with liver, kidneys and stomach.

The content of junk food including carbs, sodium and sugar is very unhealthy for children and it affects their performance at school (Bodeeb, 2011). It takes a lot of energy to digest junk food. As a result, after such snack the child begins to fade and become sluggish. The person feels weakness and the necessity to have a snack again. It is not an addiction, but it is the dependence on the boosts of energy that fade so quickly. There is no wonder that students are not ready to study after such a full snack that influences their attention and concentration.

If we consider the advantages of junk food that have been described before we may conclude that they seem to be doubtful. As for the main advantage of availability of junk food and its simplicity to be cooked it is not an advantage if we speak about the health of our children. Time does not play any role if junk food influences children’s health (Bose, 2012). As for hunger satisfaction with junk food it is a poor semblance as far as it is a sort of energy boost as it has been described in the list of disadvantages. As for the variety of the children’s menu it is possible to add this diversity with the help of healthy domestic food. These arguments supporting junk food are so weak comparing to its disadvantages.

Nevertheless, the disadvantages that have been presented above also may be doubted. Of course, children’s health depends on the food they eat but the main reason of heart problems and obesity is the lack of activities. It will be more reasonable to take care of this problem rather that to criticize junk food. Children should go in for sport as far as they have a lot of energy that is necessary to be burnt out. As for the content of junk food, there is no wonder that any kind of food contains salt, sugar and carbs and it does not depend whether it is junk food or not. Any kind of food may contain ingredients that influence human body in a negative way (Chen, 2009). First of all, its influence depends on the state of health, the way of life and susceptibilities to different diseases. The third disadvantage also sounds weakly as far as it is a well-known fact that after eating a human body needs a rest and there is no wonder that children are not ready to study after having had a snack.

From the above said we may conclude that there are advantages and disadvantages and it is up to everybody to decide whether their children eat junk food or not. Junk food has become a debatable question nowadays and the list of its advantages and disadvantages is endless.

A Comparison of Nutritious Food and Junk Food (2009). Web.

Ankerberg-Nobis, T. (n.d.). Fast Food in Schools Fuels the Obesity Epidemic . Web.

Antwerp, V. (n.d.). The Pros of Junk Food Sales in Schools . Web.

Bodeeb, J. (2011). The Growing Problem of Junk Food in Schools . Web.

Borkar, R. (2011). Junk Food in Schools – Pros and Cons . Web.

Bose, D. (2012). Advantages and Disadvantages of Fast Food.

Chen, G. (2009). Why Fast Food is “Healthier” Than School Lunches: The Shocking USDA Truth . Web.

Jenkins, R. (2005). Junk Food Ban . Web.

Maire, L. (n.d.). Pros & Cons of Fast Foods . Web.

Pros & Cons of Fast Foods in School . (n.d.). Web.

Richards, R. (n.d.). Fast Food in Schools . Web.

Rosenthal, J. (n.d.) Back to School, Back to Junk Food? Web.

Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, October 29). Junk Food in Schools: Good or Bad for Children? https://ivypanda.com/essays/junk-food-in-schools-good-or-bad-for-children/

"Junk Food in Schools: Good or Bad for Children?" IvyPanda , 29 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/junk-food-in-schools-good-or-bad-for-children/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Junk Food in Schools: Good or Bad for Children'. 29 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Junk Food in Schools: Good or Bad for Children?" October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/junk-food-in-schools-good-or-bad-for-children/.

1. IvyPanda . "Junk Food in Schools: Good or Bad for Children?" October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/junk-food-in-schools-good-or-bad-for-children/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Junk Food in Schools: Good or Bad for Children?" October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/junk-food-in-schools-good-or-bad-for-children/.

The Junk Food Issue in Australia
The Junk Food's Risks
Junk Food and Drinks: Ban on Advertising
Health Effects of Junk Food Intake
Debunk the Junk: Flavored Yogurt
Television Plus Junk Foods Equal Childhood Obesity
The "Waist Banned" Article - Taxes on Junk Food
Chocolate's Positive and Negative Effects
Snack Tax as an Effective Food Policy
Obesity: An American Epidemy
The Effects of the McDonaldization of Society
Survey to Study the Relationship Between Fast Food Consumption and Obesity
McDonald’s in the Context of Obesity Problem
The Use of Fast Food Meals in the United State
Meat and Fast-Food Industry: What Are We Eating?

The Disadvantages of Junk Food

The disadvantages of junk food may include that processed foods can be very high in calories while also being low in nutritional value. The cons of junk foods are that excessive consumption may lead to overeating or consuming excessive amounts of calories, sodium and saturated fat.

Fast food or highly processed junk foods are typically high in calories, sodium and fat while being low in nutritional value.

Video of the Day

The American Heart Association states that some of the most common unhealthy foods are highly processed, such as fast foods. These are typically low in nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, while also being rife with empty calories and refined flours, sodium and sugar . To combat the potential risk, try to keep your intake of saturated fat low and avoid sodium and added sugars.

For better health, the American Heart Association recommended in their 2013 heart disease prevention guidelines consuming no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day, carefully choosing processed foods, along with avoiding sodium from the most common salty foods. These foods include bread/rolls, cold cuts/cured meats, pizza, burritos/tacos, soup and sandwiches.

For those without heart conditions , the American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day and moving toward an ideal limit of no more than 1,500 milligrams per day for most adults.

Be sure to carefully read food nutrition labels and steer clear of items with sugar added, excess sodium and fat. Or, there are ways to make fast food healthier , as well as healthier fast food breakfast options , such as opting for lean meats with less percentages of fat.

Read more: The 14 Healthiest Foods at Fast Food Restaurants

Why to Ditch Fast Food

According to the Mayo Clinic , calories that come from sugar are more dangerous than calories from other carbs. Added sugars were linked to poor insulin levels, blood sugar and fat storage around the belly, which can lead to inflammation and high blood pressure.

In a January 2016 study published in Health Promotion Perspectives , fast food consumption may be a main risk factor in lower diet quality, higher calorie and fat intake and lower nutrient density in diets. Frequent consumption of fast foods was thought to be linked with being overweight, abdominal fat gain, impaired insulin and glucose homeostasis, lipid and lipoprotein disorders, induction of systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. Higher fast food consumption may also increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Read more: Why You Should Opt for Home Cooked Meals Over Fast Food

Healthier Alternatives to Junk Food

Harvard Health says that eating a diet high in fried food may lead to a higher risk of serious medical issues, such as heart disease and diabetes. Oil-laden junk foods can be high in fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates, which can be mainly empty calories. This may have negative effects when exercising by draining energy and slowing metabolism levels, increasing belly fat, which can lead to inflammation and high blood pressure.

Fast food often has an unbalanced ratio of fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates compared to its nutrient count. While it may be filling, fast or junk foods are mainly empty calories that hold no real nutritional value, according to a study published in June 2014 Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics . Instead, opt to consume alternatives that are less processed and have enough protein or healthy complex carbohydrates.

American Heart Association: "Unhealthy Foods"
Mayo Clinic: "How Junk Food Wrecks Your Body"
NCBI: "Fast Food Pattern and Cardiometabolic Disorders: A Review of Current Studies"
Harvard Health: "Eating Fried Foods Tied to Increased Risk of Diabetes, Heart Disease"
American Heart Association: "Sugar"
American Heart Association: "Sodium"
NCBI: "Where are Kids Getting Their Empty Calories?"
American Heart Association: "How Much Salt Should I eat"

Report an Issue

Screenshot loading...

Essay on Healthy Food vs Junk Food

Students are often asked to write an essay on Healthy Food vs Junk Food in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Healthy Food vs Junk Food

Introduction.

Healthy food and junk food are two types of food often discussed. Healthy food is nutritious, while junk food lacks essential nutrients but is high in harmful substances.

Healthy Food

Healthy food includes fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. They provide the body with necessary vitamins, minerals, and fiber to maintain good health.

Junk food includes fast food, sweets, and soda. They contain high amounts of sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, which can lead to health problems like obesity and heart disease.

In conclusion, healthy food is the best choice for maintaining good health, while junk food can harm our health.

250 Words Essay on Healthy Food vs Junk Food

The escalating health crisis worldwide has brought into the spotlight the critical role diet plays in overall health. The debate between healthy food and junk food is more relevant than ever, with the former being associated with wellness and the latter with numerous health problems.

The Allure of Junk Food

Junk food, characterized by high levels of sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, is often preferred for its convenience and addictive taste. However, the immediate gratification it offers comes with long-term health consequences. Overconsumption of junk food is linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. It also negatively impacts cognitive functions, affecting academic performance and productivity.

The Power of Healthy Food

On the other hand, healthy food, rich in nutrients like vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber, provides the body with the necessary components for optimal functioning. These foods boost the immune system, enhance cognitive abilities, and lower the risk of chronic diseases. They also contribute to maintaining a healthy weight and promote overall well-being.

Changing the Narrative

Despite the clear benefits of healthy food, the pervasive culture of fast food has normalized junk food consumption. However, changing this narrative is possible through education and awareness. Understanding the detrimental effects of junk food and the benefits of a balanced diet can help steer societal preferences towards healthier options.

In conclusion, while junk food may appeal to our taste buds and offer convenience, its long-term effects on health are detrimental. In contrast, healthy food, despite being less convenient, provides numerous health benefits, making it the superior choice. It is essential for individuals, especially college students, to make informed dietary choices for a healthier future.

500 Words Essay on Healthy Food vs Junk Food

The debate between healthy food and junk food has been a topic of interest for many years. As society becomes more health-conscious, the importance of dietary choices is increasingly recognized. This essay aims to explore the differences between healthy and junk food, their impact on our health, and the societal implications of these choices.

Understanding Healthy Food and Junk Food

Healthy food refers to foods that are rich in essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fats. These foods include fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, and dairy products. They provide the body with the necessary nutrients for growth, development, and maintenance of overall health.

On the other hand, junk food is typically high in unhealthy fats, sugars, and salt, while being low in nutritional value. Common examples include fast food, candy, soda, and chips. These foods may be appealing due to their taste and convenience, but their regular consumption can lead to various health issues.

The Health Implications

The consumption of healthy food has numerous health benefits. It provides the necessary nutrients that the body needs to function optimally. A balanced diet can help maintain a healthy weight, boost the immune system, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

Conversely, the excessive consumption of junk food can lead to obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems. High levels of sugars and fats can lead to weight gain and elevated cholesterol levels. Moreover, the lack of essential nutrients can result in deficiencies that affect the body’s normal functioning.

Societal Implications

The choices between healthy food and junk food also have broader societal implications. The rising consumption of junk food is often linked to the global obesity epidemic. The ease of access and low cost of junk food, combined with aggressive marketing strategies, contribute to its popularity, particularly among younger generations.

Meanwhile, healthy food is often perceived as more expensive and less accessible, especially in low-income communities. This creates a socio-economic divide in dietary choices and health outcomes. Promoting the consumption of healthy food and making it more accessible and affordable can help address these disparities.

In conclusion, the choice between healthy food and junk food has significant impacts on individual health and society as a whole. While junk food may offer convenience and taste, its long-term health implications cannot be ignored. On the other hand, healthy food, despite its perceived cost and accessibility barriers, provides essential nutrients for our bodies and contributes to long-term health. As we become more health-conscious, it’s crucial to make informed dietary choices for our well-being and for a healthier society.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Essay on Disadvantages of Junk Food
Essay on Harmful Effects of Junk Food
Essay on Harmful Effects of Video Games

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

10 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Junk Food

Junk food’s confusing.

The clue’s in the name right?! It’s junk!

You’d think anything synonymous with trash, rubbish, or garbage wouldn’t be particularly appetising. But we love it.

Indeed, it accounts for almost 30% of the average American’s caloric intake.

To put it another way, 30% of the American diet is junk!

Clearly, there are both advantages and disadvantages of junk food to know about. If there weren’t any positives, then nobody would eat it.

But we do, so there are.

Looking for insight into the pros and cons of junk food? I’ve laid out what seems to be the primary ones in the coming post.

Check them out!

Here are the primary advantages of junk food!

5 Key Advantages of Junk Food

Let’s start with the good stuff. What is it that compels so many of us to eat junk food?

1. It’s Tasty

First off, it tastes good.

Pizzas, burgers, fried chicken, fries, hot dogs, Chinese…you name it, and it tastes bloody good.

It’s all sweet, salty, full of flavour and coated in delicious sauces. As the good old Colonel puts it, junk food’s finger lickin’ good.

Placed alongside a bland green salad and there’s no competition. Most people would go for the junk food every time. You only have to smell the bacon frying, the burgers grilling, and the pizzas cooking for the saliva to start flowing.

It tastes too good to resist.

2. It’s Quick and Easy

Junk food is also incredibly convenient.

People are busy.

They’ve got responsibilities and commitments that take up time. We’re in a hurry, and need to get things done.

Consider lunch breaks.

With 30 minutes away from the job to relax and reboot, nobody wants to spend time preparing a meal. The speed with which junk food comes out makes it appealing.

There’s no effort involved. You get the food in minutes, eat it, and then get back to socialising and enjoying your break.

3. It’s Available 24/7

Likewise, junk food’s always available.

Junk food restaurants are everywhere, around every corner, and are open at all times.

Many of them literally never shut.

That’s good news when you get a bad case of late-night munchies. Or if you’ve stayed late at the office and need a last minute meal to take home. Or if you’re on a tight schedule and can’t go far to find food.

People naturally seek convenient solutions. The path of least resistance is built into our systems. The fact that junk food is as tasty as it is convenient makes it hard to resist.

4. It’s Cheap

Don’t forget how inexpensive it is either.

This is a big deal.

We live in incredibly difficult financial times. Consumer debt hovers at around $14 trillion . People are operating under masses of financial pressure. Every cent counts.

Making ends meet is a very real issue for many.

And healthy food is more expensive. Buying organic produce and preparing well-rounded nutritious meals sounds ideal. But as long as it costs more money than junk food, which it usually does, there’s less (financial) incentive to eat a healthier diet.

It’s the perfect triad: tasty, convenient, and cheap. For many, that makes junk food the go-to for their meals.

5. It’s a Kids’ Favourite

And kids love it too.

The importance of that shouldn’t be understated!

It’s a big deal for busy parents with fussy children. Nobody wants to spend time, effort and money on meals their kids refuse to eat.

Sometimes you just want the easy route, and junk food is definitely that.

For one thing, you don’t have to cook or do the dishes. Secondly, the kids will eat it without complaining or causing a fuss.

Want to read a similar post? Here are the advantages and disadvantages of fast food .

On to the disadvantages of junk food to think about!

5 Key Disadvantages of Junk Food

Onto the downsides. Here are the cons of junk food that more of us should probably keep in mind.

1. It’s Unhealthy

This is the biggie.

Junk food tends to be far worse for our health than more nutritional options.

A greasy burger covered in cheese and bacon might seem far more appetising than the loose-leaf salad on the menu. But it’s not as good for you.

Junk food has masses of fat, salt, and sugar- not to mention preservatives, additives, and a host of other questionable ingredients. Your physical health suffers when junk food is eaten in excess.

Eat it every once in awhile and you’ve got less to worry about (as long as the rest of your diet is well-balanced and nutritious). Eat it all the time, though, and you can do lasting damage.

Your heart suffers, your cholesterol suffers, your skin suffers, your energy-levels suffer, and so on. You’re more susceptible to serious health issues, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. And more.

Junk food might not be entirely to blame for such challenges. Levels of exercise, underlying health conditions, and so on make a big difference too. It does, however, have a significant role to play.

2. It Contributes to Weight Gain

Obesity is rampant in the US.

Almost 45% of the country is obese. That’s not far off 1 in every 2 people who have it.

It’s scary, and junk food plays its part in that.

Junk food is intensely calorific. It’s also got all the sugar, bad fat and salt I mentioned above. Eat enough of the stuff and you’ll gain weight with greater ease than consuming healthier foodstuffs.

That’s bad news for kids who love junk food, but it ain’t exactly good for adults either.

Obesity is no joke, but being overweight in general isn’t great. Aside from the impact on self-esteem, it also has damaging effects on all aspects of health. Heck, the likelihood of dying shoots up enormously.

Almost 3 million adults die annually from being overweight or obese.

Going easy on the junk food is, arguably, a matter of life and death!

3. It Makes You Feel Sick (In Large Quantities)

Junk food isn’t as filling as more nutritional alternatives.

You have to eat more to feel full. Likewise, the sheer tastiness of it means people often gorge themselves on junk food anyway.

The trouble is that doing so, aside from being very unhealthy, makes you feel sick!

How often have you dug your way to the bottom of the ice-cream tub only to feel awful afterward? It’s hard to stop when something tastes so good! Alas, nothing good comes from it.

Junk food earns its name for a reason. Put rubbish into your body and it’s natural to feel ill as a result.

We’re nearly at the end of these junk food disadvantages. Here are two more:

4. It Impacts Mental Health Too

Physical health is only one part of the problem.

Junk food impacts the mental side of things too.

It does so in a number of ways. First off, there’s a direct link to physical and mental health. If your body feels good, then so does the mind; and vice versa.

Being overweight or obese, or simply feeling sick after overeating, is a recipe for trouble. Your body doesn’t have what it needs; your mind and mood suffer.

Throw in the negative self-image that comes with it and you’re in for a rocky time.

Eat a junk food meal and the sugar, saturated fats, and carbs spike your blood sugar levels. You get a rush of energy that crashes soon after. Your mood drops in the process.

Depression, low mood, anxiety, irritability, and other negative states may occur with increasing frequency.

5. It’s Addictive

Finally, junk food is highly addictive.

All the fat, sugar, salt, and energy-dense ingredients in it are what our brain and body think they want. It’s built into our systems!

Our primal circuitry was built upon uncertainty of resources.

Back in the day, we didn’t know when the next meal would come. You’d have to hunt and gather your food; naturally, there would be times of abundance and times of scarcity.

High-energy, fat-dense foods became valuable. If you got your hands on some, then you’d gorge on them to stock up for rainier, colder, bleaker time with fewer resources.

We still operate under that system, even though we no longer face the same trials.

Most of us have access to sufficient food at all times. But we’ll still get happily knock-back a burger, fries, and thick-shake, because that’s what our brains say we need!

Junk food triggers the pleasure center of the brain. We get a kick when we consume it, which makes us think it’s good. We eat more and more and more and become hooked on the stuff.

It becomes hard to say no to. We begin associating hunger with eating it. Just the thought of junk food gets our mouths watering.

We get addicted.

But we suffer, physically and mentally, in the process.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Junk Food

Millions of people eat junk food every single day.

It’s the go-to meal choice for many.

And the advantages of junk food make it easy to understand why! It solves a host of ‘problems’ that many of us face.

However, as we’ve seen, there are both advantages and disadvantages of junk food worth knowing about. With the cons in mind, the pros might be harder to justify.

Hopefully, this post will help you make your mind up about whether junk food is the best option (literally) on the table.

10 Primary Advantages and Disadvantages of Fast Food

10 Challenging Disadvantages of the Internet to Overcome

9 thoughts on “10 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Junk Food”

there should be more disadvantages

It is good for healthy life and saving money. Nowadays, everyone spend his whole life in busy schedule. Your website’s all content helpful and meaningful. Thanks for sharing. I have similar website kindly check it……. https://www.merakhazana.in

Thanx this will help me with the school debate exam I have on this 😊

thanks for info

I’m Bholu (3) Dhanbad. I take outh to not have any type of junk food from today onwards. Will only have on my birthday.

I’m Komal, from Dhanbad, Class V. I take outh to not have any type of junk food from today onwards.

thanks very handy I used this as I have to write and argumentative tom in school so its a big help (btw im 10)

Good 👍 I don’t forget it It is best lines to complete my chart 👍Thanks for helping me

Excellent 👍

Essay on Junk Food

Junk food is a term used to describe highly processed and refined food. It is generally considered less nutritious than natural foods. Junk food has been associated with obesity and causing serious health issues in children, along with the development of diseases such as diabetes. Junk food is not suitable for anyone. It is filled with sugar and other unhealthy ingredients that can cause diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Junk foods are also loaded with sodium, which is dangerous for people suffering from hypertension. Sometimes the calories in a junk food item can be deceiving because they will seem to satisfy hunger; instead, it fills our stomach and makes it harder to stop eating. BYJU’S essay on junk food in schools is a great tool to help the little ones understand the disadvantages of junk food.

Junk food is famous for being inexpensive processed food. The term is often used to insult unhealthy, unbalanced foods that contain high amounts of sugar, fat, and calories. Junk food usually contains added chemicals that can cause an imbalance in our bodies. Junk food also tends to be full of empty calories. Eating junk food regularly leads to weight gain, putting people at a higher risk of developing severe diseases. Now, let us learn from BYJU’S short essay on avoid junk food by understanding the harms caused by eating junk food.

Why Should We Avoid Junk Food?

Now, let us understand the demerits of junk food by reading BYJU’S effects of junk food on health essay. Junk food is not suitable for our bodies as it contains a lot of processed sugars, leading to weight gain. It also affects brain function, causing slower reaction times and memory loss. Many people are trying to be more aware of junk food, so they choose healthy alternatives like fruits and vegetables instead of unhealthy treats.

Besides the health issues, junk food can also be addicting. It contains high sugar levels, which can cause diabetes, and it is often filled with preservatives, artificial colours, flavours and other unhealthy additives. Junk food also has a high-calorie content and is usually made with processed ingredients that don’t provide many nutrients.

Junk food is a term that comes to mind when thinking about food that is high in calories and low in nutrients. It is not a good choice as it is something you have to avoid because of its detrimental effects on health. Junk food has been linked to many health issues such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and others. What starts as an innocent distraction from stress could become daily chaos for many people. However, healthy food is rich in nutrients and wholesome, unlike junk food.

Having junk food occasionally is not bad, but consuming it every day is bad for health. Healthy food might taste bland, but it’s good for your health. For more essays, worksheets , and other kids learning activities, visit BYJU’S website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is junk food bad.

Junk food is bad for a number of reasons, such as high levels of salt, sugar and fat. These ingredients make junk food taste good, but they make us unhealthy. Overeating these foods can cause obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic health conditions.

How to avoid junk food?

There are many ways to avoid junk food, but the most critical step is knowing your portion sizes. When hungry, stick with whole grains like brown rice and quinoa and fill up on vegetables instead of chips or other high-carb snacks.

Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs

Play & Activities
Life Skills
Learning & Education
Play & Learning

Growth & Development
Rhymes & Songs
Preschool Locator

Harmful Effects Of Junk Food – 10 Lines, Short & Long Essay For Kids

Key Points To Note: Essay On Harmful Effects Of Junk Food For Lower Primary Classes

10 lines on harmful effects of junk food for kids, a paragraph on ‘harmful effects of junk food’ for kids, short essay on ‘harmful effects of junk food’ for children, long essay on ‘harmful effects of junk food’ for kids, what will your child learn from this essay.

There is a reason they have named it ‘junk’ food. It usually tastes really good, but is it healthy? Not really! It, therefore, becomes important that children learn all they can about fast food. Writing an essay on the topic will make your child aware of the adverse effects of junk food. When your child writes an essay on junk food in English, it also lays the foundation of English grammar and improves their thought process. Let us help your little kid write an essay on the harmful effects of junk food for classes 1, 2 and 3.

Your child needs to remember a few important points while writing an essay on the harmful effects of junk food:

First, let your child structure the ideas they want to write about junk food.
Second, ask them to note the ideas to form an outline to cover all the points while writing the essay.
In the third step, ask them to make short and simple sentences from the pointers.
Motivate your little one not to write about any idea too deeply.
Ask your child to write with the flow, making them enjoy every bit of writing the essay.
Your little one can write about junk food, why people like it, how it harms our health, and what we should eat instead of junk.

Let us help your child write ten lines and form an essay for classes 1 and 2 on the harmful effects of junk food:

Junk food harms our health.
Junk food is convenient but not good for us.
It is tasty but unhealthy.
People love to gorge on junk food.
It is poor in nutrition.
It is very poor in dietary fibre.
A lot of junk food has high sugar.
It has high salt content.
It has many calories.
It can make us obese.

Junk food is becoming a silent threat to the whole world. Help your child write an essay on this topic.

Junk food is convenient and tasty; people love eating it or even having it as a substitute for their main courses. But, it is extremely poor in nutrition, harms us, and contains no dietary fibre. Junk food has high sugar and salt content. It has many calories, makes us obese and unhealthy, and is responsible for many diseases.

‘Ditch the junk’ is a popular saying about junk food. Guide your little one to write a short paragraph on this topic.

Fast food has become extremely popular throughout the world, and along with its popularity, it has caused a lot of harm. It has zero nutritional value, but people get so tempted by the taste that they get attracted to it. People often get addicted to fast food, take a bite on the go and even include junk food in their main meals. It has no nutritional value and only harms us. Junk food is high in salt and sugar content, which is bad for our health. Junk food also lacks dietary fibre, essential for a healthy body. Fast food has many calories and is a major cause of obesity.

Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay - 10 Lines, Short and Long Essay For Kids

Junk food, as the name suggests, is not healthy. On the contrary, it has become a favourite of a major section of the population in the world. Let us help your little one write a knowledgeable essay for class 3 on this topic:

Junk food has become so popular due to its convenience and taste. All those tempting food items like rolls, burgers, pizzas, french fries, hot dogs, sandwiches, fried snacks, rolls, noodles, ice cream, sweets, soda pop, colas, chips, cakes and many other yummy and quick treats popping out of a package, fall under junk food. Even the juices we unbottle and drink or those fizzy drinks that quench our thirst and make us feel great on a hot afternoon are damaging our health. They have high sugar and artificial flavours and colourings. It becomes extremely important that we understand the harm these food items do to our health. They are very poor in nutrition. They satisfy our hunger but don’t add anything to our health. Instead, they only damage us. They contain unhealthy fats that make us obese and are responsible for many diseases and illnesses. Junk food gives rise to cardiac conditions, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and more. It, therefore, becomes extremely important that we choose our food consciously. We should eat green vegetables and fruits. We can opt to drink fruit juices freshly squeezed at home or coconut water.

Along with eating the right food, it is important that we also exercise daily. Exercise and the right food are the basic principles of a healthy and fit body. Besides the body, it also has a positive effect on our minds.

What Is Junk Food?

Food that is packaged or pre-prepared and has low nutritional value is known as junk food.

Why Is Junk Food Gaining Popularity And Why Do People Prefer It?

Junk food is gaining popularity because of its taste. It is also very convenient. We can get it ready instantly. Online ordering and quick delivery options also make it a popular choice among people.

Harmful Effects Of Eating Junk Food On Health

Junk food may be extremely popular, but it is toxic for our health. Let us discuss below the adverse impacts of junk food.

1. Cardiac Issues

Junk food is loaded with harmful fats, leading to obesity and heart problems.

2. High Blood Pressure

Excess sodium in junk food causes high blood pressure.

3. Diabetes

Excessive sugar content in junk food can lead to diabetes.

Ways To Avoid Junk Food

Here are a few ways to avoid junk food.

1. See Junk Food In A Negative Light

It is important to understand the harm processed food does to us and look at it negatively.

2. Plan A Perfect Diet

It’s always good to prepare your snacks and meals in advance, and there will be a lesser chance of grabbing some junk food when you have wholesome food ready already.

3. Shop Healthy Fruits And Vegetables

Consider shopping for organic fruits and vegetables.

4. Eat Healthy Fats

It is a complete misconception that fat makes us obese. Our body needs fats, but trans fats are unhealthy and harm our bodies, so we should avoid them. We should consume saturated fats in a limited amount.

When your child writes an essay on the harmful effects of junk food, they become aware of how dangerous fast food is. It helps them stay away from all types of packaged and processed food. Writing about it gives structure to children’s thoughts.

1. Can Consumption Of Junk Food Be Addictive?

Yes, one can become addicted to fast food when consumed continuously. Certain additives in junk food can make children and adults crave these foods.

2. How To Control The Craving To Have Junk Food?

We can check the craving for junk food by choosing natural homecooked foods that taste very similar to junk food.

We hope the above blog on the harmful effects of junk food will help your child write an interesting essay on the topic and, at the same time, check their consumption of the same.

Essay on Healthy Food for Class 1, 2 & 3 Children Essay On ‘My Favourite Food for Grade 1,2 and 3 Kids How to Write An Essay on Mango for Lower Primary Classes

Essays for Class 1
Essays for Class 2
Essays for Class 3

5 Recommended Books To Add To Your Child’s Reading List and Why

5 absolute must-watch movies and shows for kids, 15 indoor toys that have multiple uses and benefits, leave a reply cancel reply.

Most Popular

The best toys for newborns according to developmental paediatricians, the best toys for three-month-old baby brain development, recent comments.

FirstCry Intelli Education is an Early Learning brand, with products and services designed by educators with decades of experience, to equip children with skills that will help them succeed in the world of tomorrow.

Story Related Activities Designed to Bring the Story to Life and Create Fun Memories.

Online Preschool is the Only Way Your Child's Learning Can Continue This Year, Don't Wait Any Longer - Get Started!

Welcome to the world of Intelli!

We have some FREE Activity E-books waiting for you. Fill in your details below so we can send you tailor- made activities for you and your little one.

Welcome to the world of intelli!

FREE guides and worksheets coming your way on whatsapp. Subscribe Below !!

THANK YOU!!!

Here are your free guides and worksheets.

Essay on Junk Food for Children and Students – Infinity Learn

Table of Contents

Essay on Junk Food: Junk food is an informal term for food that is of little nutritional value and is often high in calories, fat, sugar, and salt. It can include fast food, processed snacks, and sugary drinks. Junk food is often convenient and easy to eat, but it is not always healthy. It is generally considered to be unhealthy food that is high in calories but low in nutrients.

Fill Out the Form for Expert Academic Guidance!

Please indicate your interest Live Classes Books Test Series Self Learning

Verify OTP Code (required)

I agree to the terms and conditions and privacy policy .

Fill complete details

Target Exam ---

Junk food has been linked to a number of health problems, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Some experts believe that the high levels of sugar, fat, and salt in junk food can lead to cravings and overeating.

Essay on junk food is a common topic given to the school students during essay writing competition in order to make them aware about junk food. Here we have given some easy and simple junk food essay which you can chose according to your need of words limit.

Long and Short Essay on Junk Food in English

Junk food essay 100 words.

Good health is the necessity of living a healthy life for every one of us which needs to maintain a healthy diet and healthy habits throughout the life. However, the custom of eating junk food in many is increasing day by day and making our future sad and diseased especially our future generations. Parents should be very conscious towards the eating habits of their kids and children because in the childhood they never know and decide their good or bad so it is parents who are fully responsible for the good or bad eating habits among their kids. They should train their kids about eating habits from childhood and make them clear about the differences between healthy and junk foods.

Junk Food Essay 150 words

Generally, junk foods look so attractive and yummy for the people of every age group. However, it is very true that they are so coarse from inside. What they look from outside never become from inside. Junk foods are never considered healthy to the health, they have been proved unhealthy in all ways. Junk foods are unfit to the health and one who practice to eat junk foods calls so many disorders to his/her health. It may cause heart diseases, cancer, early ageing, high blood pressure, bone problems, diabetes, mental disorders, liver disorders, digestive system problems, constipation, diarrhoea, heart attack, prostate and breast cancer, osteoporosis, and so many health disorders.

According to the research, it is found that puberty is the most sensitive age during which one should practice healthy eating habits because during this age there are many changes occur in the body to prepare one to enter to the adult age group.

Junk Food Essay 200 words

The term junk food means a food do not good to the body health in anyway. It is less nutritional and harmful to the body systems. Most of junk foods contain high level of saturated fats, sugar, salt and bad cholesterol which are toxin to the health. They become lack of dietary fibers so easily get involve in causing constipation and other digestive disorders.

Essay on Unhealthy Food. Unhealthy food refers to heavily processed and refined food products. It’s typically less nutritious than natural, whole foods. Unhealthy food is often linked to weight gain and can lead to significant health problems, especially in kids, including the risk of developing conditions like diabetes.

Junk foods have gained so much popularity because of the nice taste and easy to cook. There are many readymade junk foods available in the market packed in the polybags. Most of the people are depend on such readymade foods because of their busy schedule or they do not know to cook food at home.

The consumption of junk food all over the world is increasing day by day which is not good for the future. People of all age groups like to eat junk food and they generally chose to eat whenever they enjoy special time with family like birthday party, marriage anniversary, etc. They easily become used to of taking soft drinks, wafers, chips, noodles, burgers, pizza, french fries, Chinese dishes, and other varieties of fast food available in the market.

Junk Food Essay 250 words

As we all know the truth about junk foods and it needs no introduction. However, it is a most interesting question that why everyone likes to eat junk foods even after knowing its truth. Nowadays every one of us is enjoying well the taste of junk food because it is delicious, affordable and readily available. Junk foods have no nutritional value and essential ingredients required for the health. I t is very harmful to the health if consumed on regular basis. It causes a spike in body energy level and creates sleeping disorders. It reduces level of concentration and calls to chronic diseases such as obesity, hormonal imbalances, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.

Junk foods become very oily and lack of dietary fibers thus they are hard to digest and require more energy to perform the process from body and make a person lack of oxygen level in the body which lead towards improper brain functioning. Junk foods are high in bad cholesterol and cause heart and liver damage. Because of lack of dietary fibers they cause strain to the stomach and other digestive organs and result in constipation.

Junk foods are always harmful to the heath and deteriorate the health condition if taken on regular basis without providing any health benefits. We should avoid eating junk foods in order to enjoy the good health and happy life all through the life.

Junk Food Essay 300 words

The word junk food speaks itself a lot and indicates its harmful nature to the health. Junk foods are trash food to the health because they are high in calorie, fat, cholesterol, sugar and salt components. Nowadays kids and teenagers are more prone to eat junk foods daily in bulk amount. They are leading their lives towards danger through their unhealthy lifestyle. They generally eat chips, french fries, cracks, snack, chawmin, burger, pizza, pasta, and other junk foods whenever they feel hungry. No junk foods are beneficial and provide no nutritional value.

It affects the health in all ways of the people of any age group, weight and health condition. Junk foods are considered as high in calories however one who eat end up easily getting exhausted and need more food frequently. Junk food does not provide appropriate level of energy thus the eater develop tendencies of craving more food frequently.

What we generally acquire from the junk foods are unhealthy fats and not healthy ingredients thus we feel lack of oxygen which causes poor brain functioning. We absorb much cholesterol from such type of foods which causes plaque formation in the arteries and creates problems for the heart to pump normal amount of blood. That’s why we feel high level fatigue. High level of bad cholesterol destroys our liver and put more weight at the same time.

According to the research, kids and children eating more junk food on daily basis are overweight and obese and highly prone to the heart and liver disorders. Such kids are more prone to become diabetic and lethargic because of high sugar collection in their body in the early ages. They get high blood pressure because of high amount of sodium mineral in the junk foods. Kids and children should be trained by their parents to follow healthy eating habits from the childhood.

Junk Food Essay 400 words

Junk foods taste good that’s why it is mostly liked by everyone of any age group especially kids and school going children. They generally ask for the junk food daily because they have been trend so by their parents from the childhood. They never have been discussed by their parents about the harmful effects of junk foods over health.

According to the research by scientists, it has been found that junk foods have negative effects on the health in many ways. They are generally fried food found in the market in the packets. They become high in calories, high in cholesterol, low in healthy nutrients, high in sodium mineral, high in sugar, starch, unhealthy fat, lack of protein and lack of dietary fibers.

Processed and junk foods are the means of rapid and unhealthy weight gain and negatively impact the whole body throughout the life. It makes able a person to gain excessive weight which is called as obesity. Junk foods tastes good and looks good however do not fulfil the healthy calorie requirement of the body. Some of the foods like french fries, fried foods, pizza, burgers, candy, soft drinks, baked goods, ice cream, cookies, etc are the example of high-sugar and high-fat containing foods.

It is found according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention that Kids and children eating junk food are more prone to the type-2 diabetes. In type-2 diabetes our body become unable to regulate blood sugar level. Risk of getting this disease is increasing as one become more obese or overweight. It increases the risk of kidney failure.

Eating junk food daily lead us to the nutritional deficiencies in the body because it is lack of essential nutrients, vitamins, iron, minerals and dietary fibers. It increases risk of cardiovascular diseases because it is rich in saturated fat, sodium and bad cholesterol. High sodium and bad cholesterol diet increases blood pressure and overloads the heart functioning.

One who like junk food develop more risk to put on extra weight and become fatter and unhealthier. Junk foods contain high level carbohydrate which spike blood sugar level and make person more lethargic, sleepy and less active and alert. Reflexes and senses of the people eating this food become dull day by day thus they live more sedentary life. Junk foods are the source of constipation and other disease like diabetes, heart ailments, clogged arteries, heart attack, strokes, etc because of being poor in nutrition.

Essay on Junk Food FAQs

What is junk food in 10 lines.

Junk food is processed, high-calorie food with little nutrition. It includes items like fast food, sugary snacks, and soft drinks. These foods are often convenient but lack essential nutrients like vitamins and fiber. Overeating junk food can lead to health issues like obesity and heart problems.

What are the 10 harmful effects of junk food?

Eating too much junk food can cause health problems, including obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. It can also harm your dental health, lead to digestive issues, and affect your energy levels negatively.

What is healthy food and junk food?

Healthy food is fresh and packed with essential nutrients, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Junk food, on the other hand, is highly processed and offers little nutritional value. It's often high in sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats.

How do you write a junk food essay?

To write a junk food essay, start with an introduction explaining what junk food is. Then discuss its impact on health, including obesity and related diseases. Conclude with suggestions for a balanced diet.

What are the harmful effects of junk food?

Harmful effects of junk food include weight gain, high cholesterol, and an increased risk of chronic diseases. It can also lead to poor digestion, low energy, and dental problems.

How is junk food harmful for our health?

Junk food can harm our health by causing obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. It lacks essential nutrients, and overconsumption can lead to various health issues.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Junk Food Argumentative Essay

Updated July 25, 2023
Pages 5 (1 221 words)
Views 1,218
Eating Habits
Bad Eating Habits
Any subject
Within the deadline
Without paying in advance

Fast food or Junk food refers to food that is easily and quickly prepared however, it refers mainly to food that is prepared from precooked or preheated ingredients, which are then packed and sold in stores or restaurants. In 1951, the word “Fast food” was first added in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Fast food is mostly available in hotels, cafes, school canteens and restaurants. They are easily available in market or bakeries. Junk food are sugary drinks, pizzas, white bread, most fruit juices, sweetened breakfast cereals, fried, grilled, boiled food, pastries, cookies and cakes. We can carry fast food anywhere with us, easily.

There are different kinds of junk food. Junk food or fast food are good in taste and rich in calories but they are of a very low nutritional value, Fast food are usually rich in sugar, rich in fats or rich in salt. Good health is the necessity of living a healthy life for every one of us, which needs to maintain a healthy diet and healthy habits all over the life. The term junk food means food that harms the body’s health in anyway. It has less nutrients and is harmful to the body’s digestive system. Generally, junk foods look so attractive and delicious to every age group.

However, it is a most interesting question that why everyone likes to eat junk food even after knowing it is bad for health. Nowadays every one of us is enjoying well the taste of junk food because it is delicious, affordable, readily and easily available. Junk food is not consider healthy to the health. They have been proven unhealthy in some ways but not in all ways. However, the consumption of junk food is increasing day by day. The younger generation is being attracted to junk food. Junk Food is very injurious that is slowly eating away the health of the present generation. To live a healthy life, you need to eat a balance diet. The term itself denotes how dangerous it is for our body.

Bad things can sometime be beneficial and good things can sometime be bad, it all depends on how they are used. The most important about fast food has been proven by one of the scholarly journal article named “Tufts University Health; Nutrition Letter” .It declare that such food can help people lose weight and become healthier. Because of high energy that junk food contains it can easily fill a person up, and the sugar that is in the junk foods helps maintain a person’s blood sugar level (Robinson, 2006). Besides having high calories that make junk foods a good diet meal item and the sugar that can maintain blood sugar level, they also contain many nutrients.

On the other hand, the amount of calorie your body requires to stay fit is not fulfilled by this food. For instance, foods like French fries, burgers, candy, sandwiches and cookies, all have high amounts of sugar and fats. These foods can badly effect the body. Therefore, this can result in long-term illnesses like diabetes high blood pressure stomach problem. This may also result in kidney failure. Junk foods are high in trans-unsaturated fatty acids and saturated fats, which can raise levels of triglycerides. High levels of triglycerides increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Junk food actually contains different kinds of nutrients that the body require. According to the scholar of Tufts University Health & Nutrition stated, that every bit of junk food we consume there is a small amount of nutrients that we consume along with the junk food. For example, vitamins A, B6, Bi2, C, folate, calcium, protein, and iron. These important nutrition elements are actually in the junk food, a source of food that people believe to be harmful. Junk food provides some dietary fibers, which are very essential for metabolism. It contains a high amount of protein, which helps in the muscle building.

On the contrary, Junk food that contains meat carries bad cholesterol that has dangerous effects on the human body. Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in many of the junk food Therefore, the accumulation of cholesterol molecules in arteries will result in their thickening and clogging that will in return result in congestion of blood vessels and will obstruct the normal blood flow, which will lead to disorders in the blood pressure. Moreover, if the artery affected was one of those that carry blood to the heart, it will may lead to a heart attack. After that, it may cause heart failure.

The best thing about junk food or fast food is that it can be prepared in less time and easily. It just saves time. Fast food usually takes 15 to 20 minutes to prepare. The biggest advantage of junk food or fast food is that they are cheap as compared to other foods. That is the reason why young people like college or school students love fast food as they are looking for cheaper option. Moreover, they are available anywhere which makes it easy for the people eating such foods as they do not have to go too far to eat their favorite food. Another advantage of fast food is that they are very easy to carry and one can carry it anywhere without any problem, so one-carry foods like pizza, burger, French fries to any place they want because junk food requires small space as compared other food items. They are very good in taste that is the reason why they are addictive. They are available in so many varieties so in case of pizza you have the option to eat different types of pizza like cheese pizza, thin crust pizza, tomato pie pizza and so on. Hence, individual can eat the variety of junk food every time he or she goes to eat outside.

On the other hand, many studies have shown that eating foods high in sugar and fat actually alters the chemical activity of the brain making it more dependent on such foods. Student of the University of Montreal on mice showed that they suffered with withdrawal symptoms after their regular junk food diet was discontinued. In humans, these withdrawal symptoms can lead to the inability to deal with stress, make you feel depressed and after that, you would turn back to those foods to comfort yourself and handle these feelings. In addition, by consuming too much fast food you may miss essential nutrients like amino acid tryptophan, the lack of which can increase feelings of depression. An imbalance of fatty acids is another cause why people who consume more junk food are at a higher risk of depression.

In conclusion, as one can see from the above that junk food has advantages as well as disadvantages but its disadvantages are far more serious than its advantages and that is the reason why these foods should be avoided and should be eaten occasionally and not regularly by an individual. We just need to follow the instructions of nutritionist. In addition, we have prefer homemade foods because they have more nutrition than junk food.

Merriam-Webster – Fast food definition
Medical News Today – What is junk food?
National Center for Biotechnology Information – Junk Food and Obesity
Fast Food Nutrition – Nutritional Information for Fast Food Restaurants
Cooking Light – Is Junk Food Worse Than Injunctions?

Cite this paper

Advantages and Disadvantages of Junk Food Argumentative Essay. (2020, Sep 04). Retrieved from https://samploon.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-junk-food/

Select a writer from a large pool of experts
Share your assignment's requirements
Get a 100% unique and top-quality paper

Check related topics

Hi! Peter is on the line!

Don't settle for a cookie-cutter essay. Receive a tailored piece that meets your specific needs and requirements.

Share full article

Subscriber-only Newsletter

Jessica Grose

Get tech out of the classroom before it’s too late.

By Jessica Grose

Opinion Writer

Jaime Lewis noticed that her eighth-grade son’s grades were slipping several months ago. She suspected it was because he was watching YouTube during class on his school-issued laptop, and her suspicions were validated. “I heard this from two of his teachers and confirmed with my son: Yes, he watches YouTube during class, and no, he doesn’t think he can stop. In fact, he opted out of retaking a math test he’d failed, just so he could watch YouTube,” she said.

She decided to do something about it. Lewis told me that she got together with other parents who were concerned about the unfettered use of school-sanctioned technology in San Luis Coastal Unified School District, their district in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Because they knew that it wasn’t realistic to ask for the removal of the laptops entirely, they went for what they saw as an achievable win: blocking YouTube from students’ devices. A few weeks ago, they had a meeting with the district superintendent and several other administrators, including the tech director.

To bolster their case, Lewis and her allies put together a video compilation of clips that elementary and middle school children had gotten past the district’s content filters.

Their video opens on images of nooses being fitted around the necks of the terrified women in the TV adaptation of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” It ends with the notoriously violent “Singin’ in the Rain” sequence from “A Clockwork Orange.” (Several versions of this scene are available on YouTube. The one she pointed me to included “rape scene” in the title.) Their video was part of a PowerPoint presentation filled with statements from other parents and school staff members, including one from a middle school assistant principal, who said, “I don’t know how often teachers are using YouTube in their curriculum.”

That acknowledgment gets to the heart of the problem with screens in schools. I heard from many parents who said that even when they asked district leaders how much time kids were spending on their screens, they couldn’t get straight answers; no one seemed to know, and no one seemed to be keeping track.

Eric Prater, the superintendent of the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, told me that he didn’t realize how much was getting through the schools’ content filters until Lewis and her fellow parents raised concerns. “Our tech department, as I found out from the meeting, spends quite a lot of time blocking certain websites,” he said. “It’s a quite time-consuming situation that I personally was not aware of.” He added that he’s grateful this was brought to his attention.

I don’t think educators are the bad guys here. Neither does Lewis. In general, educators want the best for students. The bad guys, as I see it, are tech companies.

One way or another, we’ve allowed Big Tech’s tentacles into absolutely every aspect of our children’s education, with very little oversight and no real proof that their devices or programs improve educational outcomes. Last year Collin Binkley at The Associated Press analyzed public records and found that “many of the largest school systems spent tens of millions of dollars in pandemic money on software and services from tech companies, including licenses for apps, games and tutoring websites.” However, he continued, schools “have little or no evidence the programs helped students.”

It’s not just waste, very likely, of taxpayer money that’s at issue. After reading many of the over 900 responses from parents and educators to my questionnaire about tech in schools and from the many conversations I had over the past few weeks with readers, I’m convinced that the downsides of tech in schools far outweigh the benefits.

Though tech’s incursion into America’s public schools — particularly our overreliance on devices — hyperaccelerated in 2020, it started well before the Covid-19 pandemic. Google, which provides the operating system for lower-cost Chromebooks and is owned by the same parent company as YouTube, is a big player in the school laptop space, though I also heard from many parents and teachers whose schools supply students with other types and brands of devices.

As my newsroom colleague Natasha Singer reported in 2017 (by which point “half the nation’s primary- and secondary-school students” were, according to Google, using its education apps), “Google makes $30 per device by selling management services for the millions of Chromebooks that ship to schools. But by habituating students to its offerings at a young age, Google obtains something much more valuable”: potential lifetime customers.

The issue goes beyond access to age-inappropriate clips or general distraction during school hours. Several parents related stories of even kindergartners reading almost exclusively on iPads because their school districts had phased out hard-copy books and writing materials after shifting to digital-only curriculums. There’s evidence that this is harmful: A 2019 analysis of the literature concluded that “readers may be more efficient and aware of their performance when reading from paper compared to screens.”

“It seems to be a constant battle between fighting for the students’ active attention (because their brains are now hard-wired for the instant gratification of TikTok and YouTube videos) and making sure they aren’t going to sites outside of the dozens they should be,” Nicole Post, who teaches at a public elementary school in Missouri, wrote to me. “It took months for students to listen to me tell a story or engage in a read-aloud. I’m distressed at the level of technology we’ve socialized them to believe is normal. I would give anything for a math or social studies textbook.”

I’ve heard about kids disregarding teachers who tried to limit tech use, fine motor skills atrophying because students rarely used pencils and children whose learning was ultimately stymied by the tech that initially helped them — for example, students learning English as a second language becoming too reliant on translation apps rather than becoming fluent.

Some teachers said they have programs that block certain sites and games, but those programs can be cumbersome. Some said they have software, like GoGuardian, that allows them to see the screens of all the students in their classes at once. But classroom time is zero sum: Teachers are either teaching or acting like prison wardens; they can’t do both at the same time.

Resources are finite. Software costs money . Replacing defunct or outdated laptops costs money . When it comes to I.T., many schools are understaffed . More of the money being spent on tech and the maintenance and training around the use of that tech could be spent on other things, like actual books. And badly monitored and used tech has the most potential for harm.

I’ve considered the counterarguments: Kids who’d be distracted by tech would find something else to distract them; K-12 students need to gain familiarity with tech to instill some vague work force readiness.

But on the first point, I think other forms of distraction — like talking to friends, doodling and daydreaming — are better than playing video games or watching YouTube because they at least involve children engaging with other children or their own minds. And there’s research that suggests laptops are uniquely distracting . One 2013 study found that even being next to a student who is multitasking on a computer can hurt a student’s test scores.

On the second point, you can have designated classes to teach children how to keyboard, code or use software that don’t require them to have laptops in their hands throughout the school day. And considering that various tech companies are developing artificial intelligence that, we’re meant to understand, will upend work as we know it , whatever tech skills we’re currently teaching will probably be obsolete by the time students enter the work force anyway. By then, it’ll be too late to claw back the brain space of our nation’s children that we’ve already ceded. And for what? So today’s grade schoolers can be really, really good at making PowerPoint presentations like the ones they might one day make as white-collar adults?

That’s the part that I can’t shake: We’ve let tech companies and their products set the terms of the argument about what education should be, and too many people, myself included, didn’t initially realize it. Companies never had to prove that devices or software, broadly speaking, helped students learn before those devices had wormed their way into America’s public schools. And now the onus is on parents to marshal arguments about the detriments of tech in schools.

Holly Coleman, a parent of two who lives in Kansas and is a substitute teacher in her district, describes what students are losing:

They can type quickly but struggle to write legibly. They can find info about any topic on the internet but can’t discuss that topic using recall, creativity or critical thinking. They can make a beautiful PowerPoint or Keynote in 20 minutes but can’t write a three-page paper or hand-make a poster board. Their textbooks are all online, which is great for the seams on their backpack, but tangible pages under your fingers literally connect you to the material you’re reading and learning. These kids do not know how to move through their day without a device in their hand and under their fingertips. They never even get the chance to disconnect from their tech and reconnect with one another through eye contact and conversation.

Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” prescribes phone-free schools as a way to remedy some of the challenges facing America’s children. I agree that there’s no place for smartphones on a K-12 campus. But if you take away the phones and the kids still have near-constant internet connectivity on devices they have with them in every class, the problem won’t go away.

When Covid hit and screens became the only way for millions of kids to “attend” school, not having a personal device became an equity issue. But we’re getting to a point where the opposite may be true. According to the responses to my questionnaire, during the remote-school era, private schools seemed to rely far less on screens than public schools, and many educators said that they deliberately chose lower-tech school environments for their own children — much the same way that some tech workers intentionally send their kids to screen-free schools.

We need to reframe the entire conversation around tech in schools because it’s far from clear that we’re getting the results we want as a society and because parents are in a defensive crouch, afraid to appear anti-progress or unwilling to prepare the next generation for the future. “I feel like a baby boomer attacking like this,” said Lewis.

But the drawbacks of constant screen time in schools go beyond data privacy, job security and whether a specific app increases math performance by a standard deviation. As Lewis put it, using tech in the classroom makes students “so passive, and it requires so little agency and initiative.” She added, “I’m very concerned about the species’ ability to survive and the ability to think critically and the importance of critical thinking outside of getting a job.”

If we don’t hit pause now and try to roll back some of the excesses, we’ll be doing our children — and society — a profound disservice.

The good news is that sometimes when the stakes become clear, educators respond: In May, Dr. Prater said, “we’re going to remove access to YouTube from our district devices for students.” He added that teachers will still be able to get access to YouTube if they want to show instructional videos. The district is also rethinking its phone policy to cut down on personal device use in the classroom. “For me,” he said, “it’s all about how do you find the common-sense approach, going forward, and match that up with good old-fashioned hands-on learning?” He knows technology can cause “a great deal of harm if we’re not careful.”

Jessica Grose is an Opinion writer for The Times, covering family, religion, education, culture and the way we live now.

IMAGES

Harmful effects of junk food Essay in English
Essay on Addiction of Junk Food
Disadvantages of Junk Food Essay
Junk food essay in english || Essay on junk food for students
🎉 Effects of junk food essay. Effects Of Junk Food Essay. 2022-10-14
Write an essay on Junk Food

VIDEO

IELTS COURSES 2024: Useful Starting Phrases for Introduction of A.Writing Task 2
10 lines on Junk Food in English
Disadvantages of junk food by Grade
Top 10 Junk Food Culprits!#junkfood #food#motivationalvideos #dr
Introducing... Junk Drawer Video Essays!
10 Lines On Junk Food

COMMENTS

Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay for Students
500+ Words Essay on Harmful Effects of Junk Food. Junk Food is very harmful that is slowly eating away the health of the present generation. The term itself denotes how dangerous it is for our bodies. Most importantly, it tastes so good that people consume it on a daily basis. However, not much awareness is spread about the harmful effects of ...
Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay for Students in English
By eating junk food, fat accumulates in the body, and we become lazy. It gives rise to various health problems like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, blood pressure, etc. Mental disorders, loss of balance and lack of concentration can also occur due to excessive eating of junk food. Consumption of junk in early childhood can result in behaviour ...
Essay on Disadvantages of Junk Food
The most glaring disadvantage of junk food is its impact on health. High in sugar, fat, and salt, junk food leads to obesity, a known risk factor for diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer. The World Health Organization identifies unhealthy diets as one of the leading causes of non-communicable diseases globally.
The Impacts of Junk Food on Health · Frontiers for Young Minds
Figure 2 - The short- and long-term impacts of junk food consumption. In the short-term, junk foods can make you feel tired, bloated, and unable to concentrate. Long-term, junk foods can lead to tooth decay and poor bowel habits. Junk foods can also lead to obesity and associated diseases such as heart disease.
Essay on Junk Food: Samples in 150, 250 Words
Essay on Junk Food: Samples in 150, 250 Words. Food is the main source of energy. It is important to consume healthy food. Any food product that contains a high percentage of saturated fats or trans fats is referred to as Junk food. The term junk itself indicates that it is harmful to our health. To lead a healthy lifestyle it is important to ...
The Junk Food's Risks
People who take junk food risk getting heart diseases. Junk food has high content of fat and cholesterol that leads to clogging of the heart arteries. Once the arteries are blocked a person can suffer from heart attacks that could lead to death or cause strokes. Therefore, overindulgence fast foods such as chips may pose death risks and ...
Harmful Effects of Junk Food for Health and Well-being
2. Impact on Mental Well-being. The effects of junk food extend beyond physical health to mental well-being. Research indicates a link between unhealthy diets and poor mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and reduced cognitive function. Consumption of highly processed foods and sugary snacks can lead to rapid spikes and crashes ...
Harmful Effects of Junk Food Essay
Eating junk food can lead to obesity and other health conditions like glucose intolerance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension etc. A study found that children who consumed fast foods three times a week were more likely to develop asthma. Junk food can also lead to tooth decay and other oral health problems.
Junk Food in Schools: Good or Bad for Children? Essay
Junk food has become a debatable question nowadays and the list of its advantages and disadvantages is endless. Reference. A Comparison of Nutritious Food and Junk Food (2009). Web. Ankerberg-Nobis, T. (n.d.). Fast Food in Schools Fuels the Obesity Epidemic. Web. Antwerp, V. (n.d.). The Pros of Junk Food Sales in Schools. Web. Bodeeb, J. (2011).
The Disadvantages of Junk Food
Image Credit: Rouzes/E+/GettyImages. The disadvantages of junk food may include that processed foods can be very high in calories while also being low in nutritional value. The cons of junk foods are that excessive consumption may lead to overeating or consuming excessive amounts of calories, sodium and saturated fat.
Essay on Junk Food
Introduction. Junk food, a term popularized in the latter half of the 20th century, refers to food items that are high in calories, sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, but lack essential nutrients. These foods, while alluring due to their taste and convenience, can have detrimental effects on health when consumed excessively.
Negative Effects Of Junk Food On Health Essay
A negative effect of junk food on children is rapid weight gain, often leading to excessive weight and sometimes obesity. This is because it often tastes good, is not very filling and is high calorie. Candy, soft drinks, French fries and other fried foods, pizza, burgers, baked goods and ice cream are examples of high-sugar or high-fat foods ...
Essay on Healthy Food vs Junk Food
Conclusion. In conclusion, the choice between healthy food and junk food has significant impacts on individual health and society as a whole. While junk food may offer convenience and taste, its long-term health implications cannot be ignored. On the other hand, healthy food, despite its perceived cost and accessibility barriers, provides ...
Junk Food Vs Healthy Food: Advantages, Disadvantages And Healthier Food
Difference Between Healthy Food vs Junk Food. Energy Density. Junk food tends to be high on fat, unrefined carbohydrates and added sugars, all of which up their energy density or caloric values. Consuming plenty of energy-dense foods increases your risk of obesity and other metabolic disorders. On the other hand, healthy foods are low in energy ...
Ban Junk Food in Schools: [Essay Example], 666 words
The presence of junk food in schools has become a pressing concern for educators, parents, and health advocates. The consumption of high-sugar, high-fat, and low-nutrient foods not only affects students' health but also hinders their ability to learn and thrive in the academic environment. In this essay, we will explore the reasons why banning ...
10 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Junk Food
Depression, low mood, anxiety, irritability, and other negative states may occur with increasing frequency. 5. It's Addictive. Finally, junk food is highly addictive. All the fat, sugar, salt, and energy-dense ingredients in it are what our brain and body think they want.
Essay on Junk Food in Schools
GK Questions for Class 2. GK Questions for Class 3. Worksheets For Kids. Essay on Junk Food in Schools: Junk food is bad for health, and let us understand why to avoid junk food by reading BYJU'S short essay on avoid junk food.
Essay on Harmful Effects of Junk Food in English for Classes 1,2,3
Help your child write an essay on this topic. Junk food is convenient and tasty; people love eating it or even having it as a substitute for their main courses. But, it is extremely poor in nutrition, harms us, and contains no dietary fibre. Junk food has high sugar and salt content. It has many calories, makes us obese and unhealthy, and is ...
9 key Advantages and Disadvantages of Junk food
1. Impacts health and makes sick: People may eat junk food for the quality of the product, but it may cause several diseases if one consumes it regularly, making it unhealthy for the body. 2. Not suitable for daily use: Junk food is processed food that harms health if one makes it part of the daily meal. One may not feel its effect immediately ...
Essay on Junk Food for Children and Students
Essay on Junk Food: Junk food is an informal term for food that is of little nutritional value and is often high in calories, fat, sugar, and salt. It can include fast food, processed snacks, and sugary drinks. Junk food is often convenient and easy to eat, but it is not always healthy. It is generally considered to be unhealthy food that is ...
Advantages and Disadvantages of Junk Food Argumentative Essay
Junk foods are high in trans-unsaturated fatty acids and saturated fats, which can raise levels of triglycerides. High levels of triglycerides increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Junk food actually contains different kinds of nutrients that the body require.
Essay About Fast Food
Causes of Fast Food or Junk Food Essay. The term 'Fast food' itself says a great deal regarding this food. It shows how it is unsafe for our well-being. Besides, Fast foods are essentially junk which hurts our bodies in various ways. They have undeniable degrees of cholesterol, sugar, calories and the sky is the limit from there.
Opinion
Opinion Writer. Jaime Lewis noticed that her eighth-grade son's grades were slipping several months ago. She suspected it was because he was watching YouTube during class on his school-issued ...