The dietitian measured salt and fat in foods, and one takeaway classic stands out. Imagine being restricted to pizza, burgers, and barbecue for three weeks. Some may be dreaming of carrots, while others may be craving them. But can it be done without affecting your health? It commissioned ‘The Junkfood Experiment’ to investigate. For three weeks, four famous British had to eat junk food.
Most people eat junk food regularly. Adults consume junk food at least once a week, while young adults consume twice as much. Bente Klarlund Pedersen, a Rigshospitalet researcher in active health, says junk food isn’t always unhealthy.
We all enjoy a burger or grilled sausage now and then. The body is at risk if you eat junk food in large quantities and make it a habit. So the researchers focused on a longer time frame. So we had pizza, burgers, and barbecue. But what do these junk foods actually contain?
Dietitian Anna Thaarup investigated. And came up with a surprising result.
Anna Thaarup, a clinical dietitian, examined four of the most popular junk foods in the United Kingdom. Pizza, burgers, chicken, and hot dogs. Notably, the junk food being tested and consumed by the participants is the low-cost, high-fat variety. They all have high salt and fat content. Something harmful to one’s health. The Junkfood Experiment – Too much fat and salt can cause heart disease and blood clots. Anna Thaarup says junk food is high in fat and salt.
So she looked at the four types of junk food to see which had the most salt and fat.
The dishes were laden with fat and salt:
Pizza
- 75 g fat
- 10.2 g salt
Pizza is a popular takeaway dish in Denmark. But the takeaway classic turned out to be the dish with the most salt and fat.
Burgers
- 61 g fat
- 5.3 g salt
The burger with french fries was similar to the pizza in terms of salt and fat.
Hotdog
- 60 g fat
- 6.4 g salt
The classic barbecue dish exceeded the daily salt recommendation.
Chicken Grilled
- 53 g fat
- 4.3 g salt
The grilled chicken had the least fat and salt, but most people still got their daily fat intake covered.
In conclusion, it is of the utmost importance that we exercise caution with regard to the food that we put into our bodies. We ought to study food labels in order to familiarize ourselves with the components of the food and the risks that might result from failing to exercise such caution. It is necessary for us to be confident in the quality of the food that we consume on a daily basis in order to ensure a long and healthy life as well as a high level of life satisfaction.
