2023.

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Is fast food bad for you? All you need to know about its nutrition
and impacts

Medically reviewed by Jerlyn Jones, MS MPA RDN LD

CLT, Nutrition — By Timothy Huzar — Updated on February 9, 2023
 Short-term impacts
 Long-term impacts
 Mental health
 Summary
Fast food is often nutritionally poor and high in calories.
Evidence demonstrates that overeating commercial fast food
products can negatively impact health in both the short- and
long-term.
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Many fast food establishments now list the number of calories each item
contains. However, this is only part of the consideration of whether it is healthy
or not.

Fast food is typically poor in terms of nutrition. According to a 2015

reviewTrusted Source, fast food tends to contain various substances that are
generally unhealthy. It is high in sugar, salt, saturated or trans fats, and many
processed preservatives and ingredients. It also lacks some beneficial
nutrients.
However, not all fast food has negative impacts, and a person can make an
informed choice by researching the nutritional content of particular fast food
items. People can find this information on the websites of most major
restaurants.

That said, even the more healthy fast food items are generally high in sugar,
salt, saturated fats, and trans fats. The Office of Disease Prevention and
Health PromotionTrusted Source notes that the typical person in the United
States consumes too much of these food components.