Junk food
[11][12][13] Current studies indicate that a diet high in junk food can increase the risk of depression, digestive issues, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and early death.
[14] The term junk food dates back at least to the early 1950s, although its coinage has been credited to Michael F. Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, in 1972.
For example, white bread, crackers, cake, candy, ice cream soda, chocolate malted, sundaes, sweetened carbonated beverages.
The United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority, the self-regulatory agency for the UK ad industry, takes this approach.
"[22] According to an article in the New York Times, "Let Us Now Praise the Great Men of Junk Food", "The history of junk food is a largely American tale: It has been around for hundreds of years, in many parts of the world, but no one has done a better job inventing so many varieties of it, branding it, mass-producing it, making people rich off it and, of course, eating it.
"[23] Cracker Jack, the candy-coated popcorn-and-peanuts confection, is credited as the first popular name-brand junk food; it was created in Chicago, registered in 1896, and became the best-selling candy in the world 20 years later.
[28] Thirty-six years later, Time placed the Twinkie at #1 in an article titled, "Top 10 Iconic Junk Foods": "Not only...a mainstay on our supermarket shelves and in our bellies, they've been a staple in our popular culture and, above all, in our hearts.
Food manufacturers spend billions of dollars on research and development to create flavor profiles that trigger the human affinity for sugar, salt, and fat.
At the same time, massive marketing efforts are deployed, creating powerful brand loyalties that studies have shown can trump taste.
The report asserts that obesity resulted in related complex health concerns such as an upsurge in the rate of heart attacks.
[42] Studies reveal that as early as the age of 30, arteries could begin clogging and lay the groundwork for future heart attacks.
A Scripps Research Institute study in 2008 suggested that junk food consumption alters brain activity in a manner similar to addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin.
[48] In a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the frequency of consumption of 57 foods/drinks of 4,000 children at the age of four and a half were collected by maternal report.
The findings were heavily criticized and rebutted from many directions, including the food industry, the American Medical Association, and the committee itself.
[53][54] In 2016, Chile became the first country to implement comprehensive nutritional quality measures aimed at consumers, with the Law of Food Labeling and Advertising.
The statute mandated front-of-package warning labels, restricted marketing to children, and banned in-school sales of food and drink containing excessive sugar, salt, or saturated fat.
[62] In October 2021, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs of Spain, under the leadership of minister Alberto Garzón, announced a ban on the advertising of several categories of junk food to children under 16.
The habits children develop early in life may encourage them to adopt unhealthy dietary practices which persist into adulthood, increasing the likelihood of overweight, obesity and associated health problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
"[11] In the United Kingdom, efforts to increasingly limit or eliminate advertising of foods high in sugar, salt, or fat at any time children may be viewing are ongoing.
[69] In Australia, a Wollongong University study in 2015 found that junk food sponsors were mentioned over 1,000 times in a single Australian cricket match broadcast, which included ads and branding worn on players' uniforms and on the scoreboard and pitch.
