Junk foods: Are we getting the whole story?

It would be hard to imagine any adult in the Information Age who isn’t yet aware that foods high in fats, sugars and salt are linked to obesity and various other chronic health problems.  Countless nutrition studies over the years have weighed the long-term effects of diet, including what’s labeled “junk” food, to determine its influence on human health.

And the baleful effects of junk foods especially have long since been known.

But how certain can we be that even now we know the full extent of the story?  A scholarly article published in the Public Library of Science (Medicine) looks into nutrition studies funded by food companies, and concludes that there is no reason not to believe that such studies suffer from a credibility problem known to taint comparable studies in, for instance, the pharmaceuticals industry.

It seems that research paid for by producers themselves tends to, in turn, produce findings sensitive to the needs of those actually funding the research.  No real surprise there, right?

The obesity, diabetes, hypertension and other afflictions credited to over-indulgence in junk foods might therefore be merely the tip of the iceberg, suggest the article’s authors.  Not a comforting thought when one considers just how omnipresent such foods remain in our own daily lives and those of loved ones.

Why is it that our bodies seem to tolerate such foods poorly in the long run?  If, as scientists conclude, homo sapiens spent their earliest days in forests and grasslands, happily meeting nutritional needs through nature’s wholesome bounty — might it not be logical to assume that the closer we can come to duplicating that natural feast, the better off we’ll be?

And might YoNaturals’ distinctive YoZone vending machines not be modernity’s closest commercial equivalent to that primeval cornucopia of healthy nutrition?  Consider that very few alternatives in the modern marketplace exceeds the wholesomeness of YoNaturals’ five-hundred healthy snack food and drink choices.  Certainly nothing that sports a modern-age wrapper!

And yet — many simply value YoNaturals products for their delicious taste.

Leave a comment