6 Ways Processed Foods Affects Physical and Mental Health
Unwrapping processed food is now the standard, whether at a baseball game, office lunch or a house party. Despite the fact that consumers are aware of the numerous risks that processed meals represent, the demand for pre-cooked or preserved meal boxes has resulted in an excess of them flooding the market.
In fact, according to a recent study conducted by experts at the University of North Carolina, more than 60% of the food consumed in America each year is highly processed. Highly processed foods are becoming a disturbing trend as evidence grows linking their overconsumption to serious health implications.
To maintain the safety of perishable foods such as fresh meat or dairy, some basic food processing is certainly required. The issue is with items that are heavily processed. But for being a convenience item they dominate the grocery store’s centre rows. Some examples of processed foods are:
- Ready-made meals
- Tinned food items
- Biscuits and sugar-coated cookies
- Packed chips
- Carbonated drinks or soda
- Candy and chocolates items
- Bacon
- Hot dogs
- Sausages
- Pre-cooked meat
- Mayonnaise, cheese slices or spreads
These processed foods are commonly treated with chemicals or preservatives to improve flavour, texture, or shelf-life. Also these items often include higher levels of salt, sugar, or fat, all of which are detrimental to health when taken in excess. Take a glance at the label to identify any processed food; if there is a long list of components with unintelligible, convoluted titles, it is reasonable to assume it is processed food.
These items account for most of the calories ate daily by people globally. It may be hard to avoid all processed foods but knowing why eating too many might be harmful is a crucial first step toward better health.
Here are 6 ways that eating too much processed food might harm your health.
1. Indigestion and Gastric issues
It is said that the nutrition of any food taken in is determined by the quality of bowel it forms. Intake of processed food leads to frequent indigestion and gastric problems. Constipation, smelly farts, and loss of appetite are usual aftereffects. The preservatives and chemicals, used to prepare the processed foods makes it difficult for our body to digest them.
2. Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome
Inflammatory bowel illness, often known as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, can be exacerbated by processed meals. The chemical ingredient known as emulsifiers, which are used to lengthen the shelf life of foods and help them retain their form or texture is a major element to affect the large intestine. Breads, cake mixes, peanut butter, salad dressings, sauces, pudding, yoghurt, processed cheese, ice cream, and desserts all include them.
It may surprise you to learn that the emulsifiers present in processed foods are identical to those found in home soaps and detergents. This is because the major role of an emulsifier is to keep water and oil combined, whether to remove filth and stains or to keep food ingredients that would ordinarily separate together.
In a recent research, few rats were fed a diet mimicking the kind and quantity of commonly consumed emulsifiers present in processed foods. The study revealed that there were alterations in their gut bacteria that caused many health disorders including obesity, metabolic syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease. The bacteria involved undermine the mucus protective layer that normally separates germs from the intestinal wall, similar to how a detergent works to remove dirt, causing an inflammatory reaction and increasing the prevalence of many disorders.
3. Obesity
Sugar is widely recognised to contribute to obesity, which may lead to a slew of other chronic problems. Highly processed goods are frequently high in added sugar, so don’t be deceived if the term “sugar” does not appear on the label. There are up to 50 distinct terms used to describe the different forms of sugar added to processed meals. Corn syrup, sucrose, fructose, glucose, malt or maltose, honey, molasses, or nectar are the most popular names. Sugar, particularly hidden or camouflaged types, contributes no nutritional benefit other than carbs and calories and, in fact, may stimulate your body to ingest even more calories.
Sugar consumption causes a sensation of pleasure and longing in the brain that is similar to drug addiction. This explains why it is so difficult to resist a sweet pleasure seconds later—and why we may develop subconscious desires for other highly processed meals and snacks.
So, what is the sugar consumption limit? The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans endorses – added sugars should be limited to only 10% of daily calories. This equates to around 12 teaspoons of sugar per day, which seems rather generous until you consider that the average can of soft drink has about 10 teaspoons on its own.
4. Metabolic Syndrome
As if obesity wasn’t terrible enough, processed food intake has been related to metabolic syndrome, which is described as a collection of risk factors that can contribute to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. When three or more of the following five risk factors are present, metabolic syndrome is diagnosed:
• Increased waistline due to abdominal obesity
• Elevated triglycerides or the need for triglyceride-lowering medicine
• Low HDL (good) cholesterol levels, or the need for medicine as a result of low HDL levels
• High blood pressure, or the need for medication to treat high blood pressure
• High fasting blood glucose, or the need for medication because of high fasting blood glucose
When refined carbohydrates are ingested in excess, the sugars must be stored in the body, often as fat, which can have a number of metabolic repercussions. Frequent increases in blood glucose levels, which require insulin to normalise, are one example of these sorts of metabolic events. This can lead to insulin resistance and an increase in triglyceride levels in the blood over time. These metabolic abnormalities, when combined, can increase the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.
5. Autoimmune Diseases
Autoimmune diseases occur when the body’s immune system malfunctions and assaults its own cells. Over 100 autoimmune disorders exist, but the most prevalent include type 1 diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. In these disorders, the immune system misidentifies healthy cells as harmful and launches an attack on the body that it is supposed to defend.
It is believed that your gut contains 70% of your immune system. Not unexpected given the number of environmental poisons that pass through your digestive tract from beginning to end. Your digestive system is coated with a layer of cells called epithelial cells, which operate as a protective wall. Tight connections connect intestinal epithelial cells, which helps to keep them connected together and increases the defensive barrier against bacteria, toxins, and other hazardous antigens. When these tight connections are damaged, the body’s defences are weakened, and dangerous antigens can enter the body through increased intestinal permeability. This is known as “leaky gut,” and it is a hot issue in medical study right now.
According to research, seven common chemicals included in processed meals can disrupt tight junctions, weakening them and increasing intestinal permeability. This, in turn, allows pollutants to injure the body, increasing the probability of developing an autoimmune illness. Glucose, salt, emulsifiers, organic solvents, gluten, microbial transglutaminase, and nanoparticles were identified as the seven additions. Cancer of the Colon Processed meals might also raise your chances of getting colon cancer. Processed meats, such as lunch meat, sausage, hot dogs, bacon, beef jerky, are the problem this time. Consumption of red meat is also a concern.
Eating as little as 50 grammes of processed or red meat per day, the equivalent of a small hot dog or two slices of bacon, has been proven to increase the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. It is thought that the danger stems from either the preservatives used to preserve these meats or the cooking method, both of which have been linked to carcinogenic ingredient exposure.
6. Depression and Anxiety
If you haven’t been convinced to reconsider your processed food consumption, here’s another health concern to consider. High-processed-food diets have also been related to higher incidence of anxiety and sadness. According to one idea, additional sugars might cause chaos in your stomach, where the majority of serotonin manufacturing happens. Serotonin is a vital mood stabiliser, and consuming chemical additives found in processed meals might impair the body’s capacity to maintain appropriate levels of serotonin.
Frequent constipation, bloating in stomach, gas (which occurs due to processed food intake) can make life miserable pushing one to limit of depression sometime.
Furthermore, keep in mind that all those extra carbohydrates induce a jump in blood glucose and increased insulin production, setting in motion a roller coaster metabolic process that might result in hyperactivity followed by fatigue. Furthermore, because extra sugars can become highly addictive, your body will continuously seek more, repeating the process.
A word of advice…. Make your diet work for you not against you.
High-processed-food diets result in less actual food consumption, which causes the body to become deficient in various vitamins and minerals essential to maintain your mood, emotional health, and overall wellbeing.
Although it is nearly impossible to totally eliminate processed foods from our daily diets, it is important to be aware of how much you consume. Few easy steps can help in reducing processed food in your daily diet. This awareness can aid in the development of a healthy lifestyle and the treatment of a variety of medical conditions.
