Growing fast food culture entrapping Nepalis

February 24, 2023
2 MIN READ
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The drastic shift of Nepali families from cultivation and consumption of nutritious and organic foods to quick ready-to-eat meals started in the 20th century, growing even more in the 21st century. However, junk and processed food, though convenient, result in poor eating habits inviting numerous public health issues.

Fast food and packaged food are very high in calories, salt, sugar and fat, but very low in protein, vitamins and minerals. Definitely these foods give pleasure and instant fulfilment of hunger and temptation but give little to no benefit to the human body. As such foods have a tendency to provide instant gratification, addiction potentiality increases a thousand fold for these foods as compared to others. “The human brain releases a chemical called dopamine, when sugary and junk food items are consumed. The release of dopamine provides pleasure to a person, which makes the experience associated with its release addictive,” says health expert Dr. Rajendra Bhadra. Even though high sugar items are often not listed in the list of ‘harmful products’ that come with an advisory, addiction to sugary food items is actually comparable to cocaine addiction. Several studies have pointed out how sugar addiction is similar to the addiction of opioid drugs but is often underestimated.
It is shocking to find out the amount of sugar, modern people are consuming everyday without even noticing it in the form of soft drinks and packaged fruit juices. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that an adult living on a standard 2,000 calorie diet should aim to consume about 25 grams of sugar per day. However a single can of coke contains more than 40 grams of sugar.