Revealed: The Most Disturbing Health Effect of A Western Diet
Do You Binge On Tasty French Fries At A Restaurant Or Have An Insatiable Hunger For Processed Foods?
It’s high time you changed your foods habits. A recent study published in the journal Cell in 2018 suggests a Western diet is as bad as a bacterial infection when it comes to irritating your immune cells. This means when you feed the wrong way for longer durations, your immune cells become hyperactive and end up causing long-term inflammation, which has been linked to a number of chronic illnesses.
So, What Is Going On?
An increasing evidence suggests that a typical Western diet does more harm to your health than previously thought.
No wonder, the occurrence of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and arthritis has peaked through the last few years.
According to the CDC, 7 of the top 10 causes of death in the US in 2014 were chronic diseases.
Two of these chronic diseases—heart disease and cancer—together accounted for nearly 46% of all deaths.
The Major Culprits in A Western Diet that Sabotage Your Health
Nutrition experts across the globe unanimously agree that a Western diet is laden with a number of unhealthy ingredients.
These include:
- Refined sugar Salt (Sodium)
- Saturated fats and Omega-6 fatty acids
- Gluten
- Genetically Modified (GM) Foods
Along with these ingredients, it’s the portion size and intake of healthy ingredients such omega-3 fats and fibers that determine long-term health impacts. If your eating pattern includes more refined sugars, saturated fats, red meats and less fiber and healthy omega-3 fats, your risk of getting chronic disease increases by many folds.
What Did The Study Find About The Effect Of A Western Diet On Immune Health?
In the study, experimental mice were fed high-calorie, high-fat and low-fiber foods, the hallmarks of a Western diet.
After just 30 days, their immune cells started behaving abnormally as if they had been invaded by some disease-causing bacteria. Most notably, the levels of certain immune cells in the blood went up drastically indicating a hyperactive immune response.
Such an abnormal and rapid immune response led the researchers to dive deeper to explore what the causes could be. And what they found were surprising, if not scary.
They found that the diet similar to a Western diet had actually caused genetic changes to rev up the immune response.
Interestingly, the researchers also noted that switching to a healthy diet could turn off the “alert state” of the immune cells. However, even a healthy diet seemed ineffective in clearing the long-term effects of a Western diet on the immune health.
What This Means to Your Health and Risk of Chronic Disease
One of the newest studies to shed light on a more explicit link between a Western diet and immune health, this study is surely a red light for those who consume excessive amounts of unhealthy foods. In addition, it also points towards a dark side of Western food habits. Rather than just the foods you take, it’s your long-term food habits that matter.
Though the study was conducted on mice, there is enough ground to extrapolate the effect of a Western diet on humans. This is evident from the fact that numerous previous studies have linked excessive consumption of saturated fats, sugars and low intake of fiber to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and inflammatory conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and asthma.
All things considered, it is critically important to be careful while building your food habits because you never know when your habits turn into an obsession.
Do This Instead
Even if you have been wreaking havoc on your health by taking unhealthy foods for years, it’s never too late to start making a few changes that will help restore your health.
Consider joining a gym or going for a walk, reducing salt, unsaturated fats and sugar intake, and supporting your health with high-quality supplements. While nothing can replace the value of balanced diet and exercise, taking a supplement can become necessary in certain conditions like poor digestion and deficiency states.
Moreover, some supplements can support specific conditions like Omega-3 is great for heart health, vitamin D3 for strong bones, and Probiotics for supporting immune function.
Stay Healthy and Make the Most of This Life, Start Now!
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