AbstractJunk food has no or negligible nutritional value. They are low in fibers, high in fat, sugar in liquid form and palatability. It can lead to various health problems like increased obesity, memory loss, learning problems and worsens digestion. All age groups like to eat fast food and like to have everyday due to their busy life schedule. Junk food includes wafers, chips, pizza, French fries, noodles, Chinese dishes, soft drinks and other fast food.
According to the study done in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2011 healthy people who consumes junk food for 5 days shows poor performance in cognitive tests that includes attention, mood and speed. It concludes that consuming junk food for just 5 days may deteriorate memory. Too much consumption of calories may inhibit the healthy production and functioning of the synapses.
A Non-experimental study was performed to assess the knowledge regarding harmful effects of junk food. The study was conducted among college going students in selected colleges of Pune city using non – probability sampling technique. The tool developed which includes Section I (the demographic profile) and Section II (self-structured questionnaires) consist of knowledge regarding harmful effect of junk food among college going students in selected colleges. The tool was validated and found reliable and feasible. The results showing majority of the samples i.e. 69% of students having average knowledge regarding harmful effects of junk food, 23% of students possess good knowledge and the rest 8% has poor knowledge.
There is significant association between Age, Education, Sources of information about harmful effect of junk food and reason why people prefer junk food with knowledge regarding harmful effects of junk food.