Fast food benefits and dangers

Fast food tends to be high in salt, sugar, saturated fats, trans fats, calories, and processed preservatives and ingredients.

Fast food effects on health

A wealth of well-conducted research has proven the negative health effects of consuming too much of these food components.

In the short term, fast food impacts blood sugar and blood pressure, increases inflammation, and may mean an individual does not eat enough necessary nutrients.

In the long term, a diet rich in fast food could lead to issues with digestion, immunity, inflammation, heart health, obesity, and more.

Not all fast food is bad, however. Certain menu items might be lower in these substances than others, while some fast food outlets might focus on providing more healthy options.

To preserve health, a person should try to identify fast food items that contain less salt, fat, sugar, and total carbohydrates, and generally try to limit the amount of fast food they consume.