“Poisonous drug”: the doctor explained why she craves fast food

Fast food or instant food is popular among Russians – it is believed that it is fast, convenient and tasty. However, in fact, such food is harmful to health, warns endocrinologist Anastasia Sinitsyna, writes the Izvestia newspaper.

The doctor explained that fast food contains a large number of chemicals, including taste enhancers, and they are addictive to the body. “When they enter the body in large quantities, they act on it like a drug. A person wants to consume them more and more,” Sinitsina explained. In addition, fast food is usually washed down with carbonated drinks, which contain a lot of sugar. Soda also helps push the food bolus, stretching the walls of the stomach, and stimulates increased production of insulin, which breaks down glucose into glycogen.

“The more sugar, the more insulin, the greater the need for fast carbohydrates. As a result, so much insulin is produced that the body loses sensitivity to it,” the doctor noted. According to her, this is how insulin resistance and diabetes develop.

Sinitsina also noted that dyes are added to fast food, which can cause allergies, destroy the nervous system, contribute to oxygen starvation and decreased attention. Moreover, potassium bromate is often added to burger buns, pizza dough and sandwiches to improve texture. And this substance is not completely consumed during the heat treatment and remains in the finished product, contributing to the occurrence of cancerous tumors. Even when preparing fast food, a preservative is often used – tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), which is used to prevent spoilage of oils and animal fats – it has a bad effect on the functioning of beneficial intestinal bacteria, as a result, the body’s immune response to influenza viruses is reduced, the doctor added.