JUNK FOOD Junk food is a derisive slang term for food that is of little nutritional value and often high in fat,

sugar, salt, and calories. It is widely believed that the term was coined by Michael Jacobson,

director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, in 1972

About junk food

What’s in some of that Junk Food?

•One teaspoon of sugar is extracted from a stalk of sugarcane one metre in length!

•A can of cola contains 10 teaspoons of sugar.

•The metal in the can costs more than the ingredients (mainly water with additives, refined sugar

and caffeine).

•A super-sized order of McDonald’s fries contains 610 calories and 29 grams of fat.

•A king-sized order of Burger King’s fries packs 590 calories and 30 grams of fat.

•Artificial ingredients can contain an alarming variety of chemicals. For instance, ‘artificial

strawberry flavor’ can contain about 50 chemicals… and no strawberries at all!

•A king-sized Burger King meal, (Double Whopper with cheese, large fries and large drink) contains

1,800 calories (mostly derived from fat and refined sugar). To ‘burn’ these calories would take

nearly 6 hours of cycling (at 20 miles per hour).

Junk Food Advertising

The food industry spends over $33 billion per year in the US alone to advertise food products that

could be classified as junk food. The majority of food advertising during children’s television programming is for sweetened cereals,

soft drinks, candy, processed snacks and fast foods.

The average American child sees around 20,000 ads a year for junk food.

Over 90% of American children eat at McDonald’s at least once per month

American teenagers drink an average of 760 can of soda pop per year (with boys drinking about

25% more than girls). The average American of any age drinks over 500 cans of soft drinks per year.

Nearly 20% of children under 2 years of age are given soft drinks every day in America!

The average person today consumes more sugar in two weeks than a person a century ago would

have eaten in a whole year. That’s a junk food fact!

The term junk food refers to foods high in calories, unhealthy fats, sugar and salt but low in valuable nutrients like complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and minerals. Snacks and dessert foods like

candy, potato chips and ice cream, as well as fast foods like hamburgers and French fries, all fall into this category. While the occasional junk food meal won't ruin your health, consistently eating

junk food contributes to serious health problems.