Healthy Junk Food Substitutes: An Opened Door to Healthier Food in Future

According to Dictionary.com, Junk food is defined as a substance that is appealing and is energy dense, but does not offer much nutritional value (Junk Food, N). Junk food often has substances that scientists create to mimic the way products like Sugar taste. This process is not necessarily a healthy alternative. In recent studies, sugar and its alternative HFCS or High Fructose Corn Syrup have been similar in terms of impact on health and its contents (Sucrose and Fructose). An article written by Joe Leech stated, “High-fructose corn syrup and table sugar (sucrose) are almost identical.” (Leech). This is only one example of a chemical substitute. There are many more and through the use of science we can change our diet leading to a changed society and culture.

Sugar is not the only product scientists chemically engineer. They also engineer fat alternatives. There are many different kinds of fat substitutes.These may include Caprenin, Salatrin, and Olestra. The most common kind is Olestra. Back in 2015, Akinson conducted a study on the most common fat substitute, Olestra. Atinkinson stated, “Olestra has a sucrose backbone with eight linkages and thus has essentially zero calorific value.” (Atkinson, 2011). Although Olestra has no calories, it has been found to cause abdominal problems and bowel problems. For these reasons it is not used in some places. Scientists have been trying to try find and create the perfect fat substitutes over the past couple of years. A study on the process of modifying fat substitutes found, “fat substitutes can be produced by modifying the fatty acids attached to the glycerol backbone of the fat molecule which may be long, medium or short chain saturated fats”(Salatrim, Enova, Atkinson).

Olestra is the most is currently the most advanced substitute, but still has many problems that will hopefully be solved in the years to come. Sugar substitutes on the other hand, are found to be similar to its counterparts. The FDA studied the relationship between sugar and types of HFCS and found, “HFCS 42 or HFCS 55 and foods containing similar amounts of other nutritive sweeteners with approximately equal glucose and fructose content, such as sucrose, honey…”(FDA). Because of these specific kinds of corn syrup and their relative heatless to table sugar or sucrose, scientists have yet to find any problems to make them have the need to create a better alternative.

Food substitutes are becoming more widely used in various foods. Eating too much of anything is not good, especially if it is not good for you. A good example of this is Aspartame. Aspartame is a table sugar substitute made of phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methyl alcohol. It took 8 years for the FDA to approve the drug and even then could only be used on certain things like cereals and chewing gum. This is because Aspartame is highly dangerous in many ways. Firstly, is over 200 times the sweetness of table sugar. Next, Aspartame can cause a variety of physical and internal problems. It can cause brain damage/tumor, bad eyesight, chronic fatigue syndrome, headaches, hypertension, and multiple sclerosis. These are only a few of the many problems known to be linked in some way to Aspartame.

An Article written by Christine Lydon that appeared in the Oxygen Magazine stated, “Of approximately 100 independent studies conducted on aspartame, over 90 percent have demonstrated significant health risks. This would lead to the question, ‘why hasn't aspartame been banned?’ ”(Lydon). While Aspartame is one of the more dangerous food substitutes, it is important to keep track of what you are eating and how much of it you consume. It is important to know that even if there are not any short-term problems, there will likely be long-term problems. One’s diet should also be balanced. If you eat too much sugar, there needs to be something to make up for the unhealthiness. This could be anything from fruits and vegetables to drinking water.

Some of the most important aspects of American culture come from science and its impact on everyday life. Science constantly changes American history. Where that change is in lifestyle or how we eat and plan our meals, science changes the way we see ourselves and the way others see us. Different parts of the USA are known to eat different things and scientists week and improve the overall look, taste and healthiness everyday. Each change is a step forward in history books. For example, when asked to think about a food widely eaten in the South, many think of fried chicken. Scientists find ways to make the unhealthy food, healthier. Following past traditions, we recreate the same things everyday until we have reached the point until it becomes perfect. An article by Chu Be Le stated, “It’s important to remember that each dish has a special place in the culture to which it belongs, and it is special to those who prepare it. Food is a portal into culture, and it should be treated as such.”(Le).

Science changes the world and cultures in many ways. The key to good and healthy food is science. Science is the foundation of all food and gives food its originality. It does this in many ways, but one of the most important one is changing food through food substitutions. Science will change food for many years and decades to come. In time, all unhealthy food will become healthy and newly engineered foods will arise due to the constant study food. In the meantime, everyone should know what they eat, how they eat, and when they eat it.