It’s no secret that junk food is harmful for you body; all that sugar and fat can’t be good. Sure, a doughnut is delicious, and so is a churro. How about a bag of chips or a pint of ice-cream? Yes, yours truly is guilty of eating those from time to time.
But no matter how delicious it is, it’s also not good for you if consumed in large quantities. In fact, consuming junk food can cause high blood sugar levels and an equal amount of damage to the kidneys as Type 2 diabetes.
Studying Mice Sheds a Light
A study published in Experimental Physiology researched how excess sugar or fat affect glucose transport to the kidneys. To do this, the researchers fed mice a junk food-based diet for two months. After the period passed, the mice were tested to see the effects of the diet on blood sugar levels and the effect on the kidneys. The results were compared to mice not fed with a high-fat diet but already had Type 1 or 2 diabetes.
The results showed that the junk food diet increased the number of proteins dedicated to transport glucose or regulate it. These factors were already seen in the group of mice with diabetes.
Unfortunately, here in the west, our diets contain more and more processed junk food (see fast food chains, chips, chocolates, soda, etc.). There is a established link between eating this food and the increase of obesity and type 2 diabetes. In this study, it is shown that type 1 and type 2 diabetes both cause unfavorable changes in the kidneys, and a junk food diet has a similar effect to type 2 diabetes.
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