Food and Drink Consumption

As a society we just can’t seem to stop consuming, ranging from overconsumption of our natural resources to the latest tech product that is a must have. This same trend has also led to the excessive intake of certain foods and drink that have negatively impacted our health. Below are some examples of overconsumption of certain foods and drink and their overall impact on the health of our society.

Fast food tends to be high in carbohydrates (especially sugars) and fats at the expense of minerals and vitamins. This leads to over consumption of unhealthy calories that the body digests and stores as fat on the body and as plaque that clogs up the arteries. If fast food is a regular part of your diet, it will be challenging to get control over your waistline and be healthy.

American adults consume on average 77 grams of sugar per day. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends the following dietary limits for added sugars.

Average male: no more than 9 teaspoons, 36 grams or 150 calories from sugar

Average female: no more than 6 teaspoons, 25 grams or 100 calories from sugar

This means that women on average consume more than 3 times and men twice as much as the recommended daily amount. For example, drinking 2 medium sized glasses of wine will reach this total limit. Also, studies have shown that drinking just one sugar-sweetened beverage a day increases the risk of developing diabetes by 13%, irrespective of any weight gain it may cause. The negative effects of excessive sugar intake also include higher blood pressure, inflammation, and fatty liver disease all linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

Do you recall the widespread notion that drinking a glass of wine a day is good for heart health? Well, it turns out that no amount of alcohol consumption is good for one’s health. A large global study published in the Lancet showed that the risks of developing cancer and other diseases outweighed the potential cardiovascular benefits. Also, as alcohol consumption escalates, so does the risk of damage to the heart muscle called cardiomyopathy, including elevations in high blood pressure and disturbances to the heart’s electrical conduction system leading to arrhythmias.

The key takeaway here is that what we drink and eat, how it is made/processed, and the quantities we consume have a direct impact on our overall health.