I think we are all familiar with the risks to health posed by being overweight and obesity, but there isn’t much that is said about the health risks associated with eating junk food. Aside from making us fatter there is also evidence that a poor diet will have a direct effect on our health.
A new study, undertaken at the Anglia Ruskin University and funded by Diabetes UK, has shown that the problems caused by following a junk food diet or a diet high in fat are similar to those found in Type 2 diabetes patients. This studylooked at the changes that diet caused in blood sugar levels and in the glucose ‘transports’ that we all have in our kidneys. The changes caused by diet alone were then compares to the changes in the kidneys that Type 2 diabetics experience and they were found to be the same.
So, this was showing that non-diabetics experienced similar changes in the kidneys as diabetics, just by following a poor diet. This is very important because problems with the transporters in the kidneys can lead to significant problems with the internal organs.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body doesn’t produce enough hormones to deal with high blood sugar or doesn’t react to it as it should. This has a knock-on effect to how the organs function, including the kidneys. These new findings show that non-diabetics following a poor diet experience similar changes in their body to those experienced by diabetics. As a consequence, we might expect similar long-term health problems in the future.
It means that a poor diet based on junk food and/or very high in fat could lead to the same long-term health problems as those experienced by diabetics.
Cleaning up your diet therefore may not only help to reduce your weight but will improve your health regardless of your weight.