THE idea of staying healthy by preparing a balanced meal and snacking on carrot sticks, isn’t always too appealing.
As today marks international Junk Food Day, it is all about satisfying your cravings for something naughtier, greasier and definitely more fattening than the nutritional but not very exciting meal you know that you really should be eating.
Check out these top 10 facts about junk food:
• Fats from junk food trigger the brain to want more food. This effect can last for several days.
• Young women who eat a junk food are at a higher risk of developing Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.
• The term ‘junk food’ was initially used in the 1960s, but was popularised during the following decade when the song Junk Food Junkie reached the top of the charts in 1976.
• Additives and preservatives such as common food dyes and sodium benzoate can cause children to become more hyperactive and easily distracted than usual.
• Marshmallows were originally made from the sap of the marshmallow plant.
• Most soft drinks contain a small amount of alcohol.
• Corn dextrin, a common thickener used in junk food, is also the glue on envelopes and postage stamps.
• For 3 000 years natural licorice was used as medicine to treat ulcers, sore throats, coughs and other diseases. The first licorice candy was an attempt to disguise the bitter flavour of the medicine, though now most licorice candy does not have its historic therapeutic qualities.
• A children’s food campaign survey found that some baby food has as much, if not more, saturated fats and sugar as junk food.
• The agent that gives Twinkies its smooth feel, cellulose gum, is also used in rocket fuel to give it a slightly gelatinous feel.
