Fast foods, it turns out, speed up more than a meal: they may also shorten our lives. EurekaAlert reports that researchers at the Department of Medicine, Infection and Immunity at the Harvard School of
Dental Medicine examined the effects of phosphates, which are added to fast food as preservatives and flavor enhancers, on three groups of mice.
The first group of mice was missing a gene (klotho), which when absent,
causes mice to have toxic levels of phosphate in their bodies. These
mice lived 8 to 15 weeks. The second group of mice was missing the
klotho gene and a second gene (NaPi2a), which when absent at the same
time, substantially lowered the amount of phosphate in their bodies.
These mice lived to 20 weeks. The third group of mice was like the
second group (missing both the klotho and NaPi2a genes), except they
were fed a high-phosphate diet. All of these mice died by 15 weeks, like
those in the first group. What does it mean? The researchers believe that phosphates have toxic
effects in mice, and may have a similar effect in other mammals, like themselves.
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yeah but i still need a burger king whopper
…but who would want to live longer eating grass and bark?….
I think it depends on your genes, my grandmother ate fast food everyday from 1960 to 2005 and when she died she was 75. Isnt that the normal age to be dying at now?? And she died of old age not a heart attack or stroke.
Wow!. Nowadays, 75 is not considered as old as it used to. Just Google “healthy 75 y/o’s” and you would be amazed at how many 75 y/o well toned, highly active men and women there are. I am sorry tohear that your grandmother passed away. My heart goes out to you. But if eating healthier can help to live longer, why wouldn’t you at least give it try?.
She must have been an exception to the rule. It has been proven over and over again the negative effects of fast food. Without it our life expectancy would increase substantially!