Sometimes we all need a quick meal-on-the-go, with fast food always being an option. However, some of these foods can be detrimental to your health if consumed too often, according to some gastroenterologists who spoke with Newsweek.
Toufic Kachaamy, interventional program specialist, chief of medicine and director of gastroenterology and endoscopy at City of Hope Phoenix, told Newsweek that he always avoids the fast foods that are "high in salt, sugar, or fat." He also avoids those that have "more than a few ingredients" in them.
"These foods hack the reward system in the brain and cause addiction like physiology that keeps you coming for more," Kachaamy said. "Guess the end result. In this modern fast paced life, we often find ourselves in a hurry and needing food. 'Fast food' can serve as a meal often on the go. Many 'fast food restaurants' now offer a healthier version of their food. If you must consume fast food, opt for the salad with natural meat and use only a small amount of the dressing provided (where most of the calories are)."
Fast foods that are high in salt, sugar and fat, also tend to be very low in fiber and other beneficial nutrients that aid your digestive system.
Too much of this food can also result in some gastrointestinal issues such as constipation as well diverticular disease, which can cause stomach pains and even a fever.
"I tend to avoid burgers and chips as these are high in processed and animal-derived fats which can lead to higher numbers of gut bacteria that can be more harmful to the gut," Vincent Ho, a clinical academic gastroenterologist at Western Sydney University, who also goes by the Gut Doctor online, told Newsweek.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2018 found that 44.9 percent of Americans aged 20 to 39 ate fast food on a given day between 2013 and 2016. The report concluded that fast food forms a part of the average American's diet. Too much fast food has not just been associated with digestive problems, but also higher caloric intake and poor diet quality, the CDC reported.
James H. Tabibian, a gastroenterologist at Adventist Health Glendale and professor at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said that he avoids fast food meat.
"Especially ground beef, that isn't well done; I say this mainly due to infection risk, though well done meat also tends to be more lean, as it's lost more of its fat content," he told Newsweek. "At the same time, I avoid meat that's been cooked so much that it's charred; the char is relatively unhealthy."
The excessive charring on meat can produce heterocyclic amines, a chemical that can cause cancer.
Ground beef, when high in fat, can also cause symptoms of gastritis, which is when the lining of the stomach becomes inflamed. This can cause painful stomach cramps, indigestion and vomiting.
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Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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