Twelve Facts About Junk Food You Didn’t Know

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  • In 1976 the song “Junk Food Junkie” reached the top of the charts which in fact popularized the term “junk food.”  But the name was actually first created back in the 1960s.
  • Certain diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, some types of cancer, tooth decay, heart disease and others are directly associated with the increase of junk food intake in one’s diet.
  • Ingesting fats from junk food creates an interesting effect on the brain : it somehow makes it want more food and the effect can last for a few days.
  • Junk food commercials target especially young children and teenagers. 80 % of junk food commercials air during Saturday morning children television shows.
  • Korn Kurls, an early ancestor of Cheetos, was created in the 1930s along with other types of supplement snacks by Edward Wilson, an animal food technician. These snacks became quite popular after WWII.
  • The glue used on envelopes and postage stamps is actually corn dextrin which is commonly used as a thickener in junk food.
  • The children born of mothers who eat junk food during pregnancy or while breast-feeding are more likely to suffer from obesity, diabetes, high levels of cholesterol and high blood fat throughout life.
  • A research study based on female cockroaches’ eating habits has shown that the ones that ate junk food became fatter and took longer to reproduce compared to others who ate healthier food.
  • Hyperactivity and easy distraction in children might be caused by common food dyes and sodium benzoate used as additives and preservatives in junk food.
  • Violent behaviour is often associated with daily candy and junk food intake during childhood although experts argue whether it is the sugar in the food or the way it is given to the children that causes the connection.
  • Vending machines were first created in the UK in the 1880s and later used to sell chewing gum at train stations in New York. By 1926, there was a vending machine per 100 people living in America.
  • The film Napoleon Dynamite (2004) increased popularity of “tater tots” and nowadays Americans consume about 70 millions of them per year.

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