Health Issues in Fast Food Industry

Health issues still reside today with regards to South Africa’s Fast Food industry. Many people prefer to get fast food or take out instead of purchasing groceries and making healthy food at home. Although many fast food brands claim that their product is healthy, they have been proven to have high levels of sugar and fats, both of which can be very taxing on your health and overall vitality.

Trans fat is created during food processing and is commonly found in pastries, crackers and cookies to name a few. This type of fat is not healthy at any amounts. It is said that it increases the chances of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Excess intake of fast foods increases your chances of gaining weight and its very possible to fall victim to obesity, both putting stress on your heart and lungs. It is possible that you will feel short at breath. Some fast food franchises offer substitute products or complimentary products that seem to be the healthier approach. KFC have implemented their coleslaw and mash potatoes into their menus for years, providing a “healthier” alternative for their customers.

Detailed analysis:Many fast food franchises offer “healthier” alternatives to customers to help alleviate the unhealthy choices, such as salads in place of fried chips in unhealthy oils. Some franchises promote the choosing of healthier options by decreasing the pricing for these healthier choices and providing sugar free beverages instead of high sugar level drinks only. Fast food industries should create all-heathy portions of meals and increase the cost to purchase the unhealthier options making it more difficult to eat unhealthy. This way, the lower income segment of society will naturally start turning toward the healthier approach (e.g. buying cheese and bread to consume homemade sandwiches).

Although the promoting of healthy alternatives exists, the issue that persists is the frequent purchasing of the brands product. The frequency of purchases by customers due to their laziness and the low pricing of the fast food meals endanger consumers by raising their sugar / insulin levels, and in turn their blood pressure. This can lead to improper management of the body causing heart diseases and possibly cardiac deaths due to the unnatural increase of sugar in the system. Coupled with increased sugar levels, without exercising or burning the extra calories obesity starts to take its toll. High levels of trans fats, sugar, sodium and saturated fats are used at higher levels, superseding the recommended amounts in an attempt to add flavour to their products, in turn making them more appetising / pleasing (increasing productivity). Increasing the frequency in which someone eats is no problem – what they eat is what matters.

Constant or frequent consuming of healthy foods grants the body stable, reliable levels of energy and minerals. The constant consuming of unhealthy alternatives spike the bodies energy levels, giving the candidate unexpectedly high levels of energy then plunging down to lower levels. Takeout restaurants should include equalising foodstuffs (such as complimentary vegetables or waters) that help the body regulate levels of sugar. The usage of natural oils or healthy substitute oils (such as coconut oil) when cooking will greatly reduce the unhealthy fats consumed by hundreds of customers at a branch.