By Barbulescu Ovidiu-Gabriel cls a XII-a B Coordinating Teacher Mihail Adriana

Junk food is an informal term applied to some foods which are perceived to have little or no nutritional value, or to products with nutritional value but which also have ingredients considered unhealthy when regularly eaten, or to those considered unhealthy to consume at all. The term was introduced by Michael Jacobson , director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest ,in 1972. A particularly British form of fast food is the sandwich, popularized by John Montagu , who in 1762 wrapped dried meat in bread so as not to interrupt his work or his gambling (accounts vary).Within its wide appeal and consumption in the UK, the sandwich is only in recent years considered to be fast food, initially pomoted like this by the Subway. As automobiles became popular and affordable following the First World War, drive-in restaurants were introduced. This type of restaurant was built in New York in 1930, rapidly gaining popularity. The modern history of fast-food in America began on July 7, 1912 with the opening of a fast food restaurant called the Automat in New York. The Automat was a cafeteria with its prepared foods behind small glass windows and coin-operated slots. Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart had already opened an Automat in Philadelphia, but their "Automat" at Broadway and 13th Street, in New York City, created a sensation. Numerous Automat restaurants were quickly built around the country to deal with the demand. Automats remained extremely popular throughout the 1920's and 1930's.

In the United States alone, consumers spent about $110 million on fast food in 2000 (which increased from $6 million in 1970). The National Restaurant Association ,forecasted that fast food restaurants in the U.S. would reach $142 million in sales in 2006, a 5% increase over 2005. In comparison, the full-service restaurant segment of the food industry is expected to generate $173 million in sales. Fast food has been losing market share to fast casual dining restaurants, which offer more robust and expensive cuisines.

McDonald's, the largest fast-food chain in the world and the brand most associated with the term "fast food," was founded as a barbecue drive-in in 1940 by Dick and Mac McDonald. After discovering that most of their profits came from hamburgers, the brothers closed their restaurant for three months and reopened it in 1948 as a walk-up stand offering a simple menu of hamburgers, French fries, shakes, coffee, and Coca-Cola, served in disposable paper wrapping. As a result, they were able to produce hamburgers and fries constantly, without waiting for customer orders, and could serve them immediately; hamburgers costes 15 cents, about half the price of a typical diner. Their streamlined production method, which they named the "Speeded Service System" was influenced by the production line innovations of Henry Ford.

A study by Paul Johnson and Paul Kenny at the Scripps Research Center suggested that junk food has addictive properties, similar to heroin. After five days on a junk food diet, the pleasure centers of rat brains became desensitized, requiring more food for pleasure. After the junk food was taken away and replaced with a healthy diet, the rats starved for two weeks instead of eating nutritious food.

The fast food is also high in fat content, and studies have found associations between fast food intake and increased body mass index (BMI) and weight gain. A 2009 study fed monkeys a diet consisting of a similar level of trans fats as what a person who ate fast food regularly would consume. Both diets contained the same overall number of calories. It was found that the monkeys who consumed higher level of trans fat developed more abdominal fat than those fed a diet rich in unsaturated fats . They also developed signs of insulin resistance, which is an early indicator of diabetes. After six years on the diet, the trans fat fed monkeys had gained 7.2% of their body weight, compared to just 1.8% in the unsaturated fat group.

What's wrong with fast-food like Mc Donalds, KFC, Burger King? All of them hide their ruthless exploitation of resources, animals and people behind a facade of colorful gimmicks and family fun. The food itself is much the same everywhere - only the packaging is different. The rise of these firms means less choice, not more. They are one of the worst examples of industries motivated only by profit, and geared to continual expansion. Some people don't agree to fast-food experiment and studies, and they say that nobody actually eats junk food for every meal of every day; but in fact, a lot of people do get pretty close to that. The point is not to change fast-food into some sort of vegetarian organization, but to change the whole system itself. Anything less would still be a rip-off. I hope that the society will start promovating healthy food instead of junk food and that people, especially teenagers and kids, will realize the damages that can follow an unhealthy regim.