Can regular intake of fast foods lead to illnesses and death?

Image for representational purpose only. Photo Courtesy: File pic

Regular eating of fast foods, ranging from deep-fried snacks served as street food to quick-service restaurant chains, can cause serious damage to health, which can, in the long run, lead to several diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular conditions, contributing to death, said experts on January 3.

The doctors said this as social media was recently flooded with viral posts claiming that an 11th-grade student from Amroha district in Uttar Pradesh, admitted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi in December, died due to excessive consumption of junk food.

While the girl's family asserted that she was suffering from an intestinal infection that ultimately led to her death, media reports revealed that the girl was facing multiple health issues, including severe typhoid and complaints of tuberculosis.

Doctors at the AIIMS declared that her death resulted from cardiac arrest.

"While habitual excessive consumption leads to obesity, fatty liver, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, it is definitely not a cause for perforation of the intestine," Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, ex-president of IMA Cochin and Convener of the Research Cell, Kerala, said.

"In a young Indian adult, in the absence of trauma, the main causes of intestinal perforation are duodenal ulcer, typhoid, tuberculosis, or severe appendicitis. The two main causes of ulcers of the stomach and duodenum are Helicobacter pylori infection and excessive intake of painkillers," he added.

Eating fast food is known to increase weight gain, cause inadequate nutritional intake, digestive issues, energy crashes, and mood swings. These can contribute to obesity, diabetes and hypertension, and poor mental health, and more -- all of which can lead to mortality in the long term.

Studies have shown that fast food consumption is associated with "all-cause mortality," meaning a higher overall risk of dying early. Unhealthy diets, including fast food, contribute to approximately 1.1 crore deaths worldwide annually.

"Regular eating of fast food can silently damage the heart, liver, and blood vessels. It leads to obesity, high sugar and high BP, increasing the risk of heart attack, stroke and sudden death -- even in young people who appear otherwise healthy," Prof Dr Naresh Bansal, Dept of Gastro, at a leading Delhi-based hospital, said.

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