Fast Food: the most powerful vectors of disease

By Marc Dellière, Medical Consultant & Trainer – Specialist in Stress, Prevention & Integrative Health

When 6 p.m. rolls around and fatigue sets in, fast food seems like a simple, quick, almost lifesaving option. Yet this instant comfort hides a cascade of physiological, mental, and social disruptions—often invisible until it’s too late.

“What we call ‘food’ today is sometimes one of the most powerful vectors of disease.”

The Weight of the Facts Junk food kills—more quietly than tobacco, but even more broadly. Today, 88% of Americans would be considered overweight if we applied the longevity criteria of the Blue Zones. This isn’t just a gap—it’s a nutritional epidemic, driven by daily consumption of fast food, ultra-processed products, refined sugars, fried foods, and industrial snacks.

A few numbers

• 1 in 5 Americans suffers from a psychiatric disorder, possibly linked to a nutrient-deficient diet.
• In certain underprivileged neighborhoods, an obese diabetic may lose up to 45 years of potential life (Years of Potential Life Lost).
• Just one extra tablespoon of oil per day can lead to a 10–20 lb weight gain over 10 years.

The Pain Behind the Numbers Fast food isn’t just what you buy at a burger counter. It’s also what fills rushed shopping carts, what’s eaten standing up, what “soothes” stress. For millions, it’s a response to fatigue, isolation, or poverty.

But this “solution” is a trap… These foods flood the bloodstream with empty calories, overload the liver, accelerate aging, promote cancer, and trigger addiction on par with alcohol or tobacco. And most importantly, they break the link with true hunger—the kind that protects and balances.

What you feel…

• Bloating, fatigue, cravings…
• Too much sodium: water retention, high blood pressure
• Too much refined sugar: insulin spike → crash → fatigue
• Too little fiber: sluggish digestion, depleted microbiome
• Your heart suffers: saturated fats + salt = cholesterol, hypertension, arterial plaque
• Your energy crashes: refined carbs and low protein/fiber = rapid digestion, short-lived energy, followed by fatigue
• Your mood declines: sugar and fat excess + micronutrient deficiency = increased risk of depression, irritability
• You gain weight… and gradually lose your sense of true hunger

What your body silently endures…

• Silent inflammation, accelerated aging
• Repeated insulin and IGF-1 spikes → cell proliferation + cancer
• Glycation end products (AGEs) → brain, kidney, and joint aging
• Nutrient deficiencies → antioxidant depletion
• Hepatic overload, chronic oxidative stress

A Society Sick From Junk Food – A Call for Collective Responsibility In poor neighborhoods, life expectancy can drop by up to 45 years for overweight diabetics. Fast food feeds cycles of addiction: the worse you eat, the worse you feel… the more you eat again.

A nutritional medicine specialist, warns:

His solution: the Nutritarian Diet, based on the following principles

• Maximize micronutrients per calorie. “Health (H) is proportional to Nutrient Density (N) divided by Calories (C): H = N/C.”
• Eat whole, unprocessed foods rich in fiber, antioxidants, and phytochemicals
• Limit animal-based calories to under 5–10%
• Observe a nightly fasting window of at least 13 hours (e.g., dinner at 7 p.m., breakfast at 8 a.m.)

This approach led to a 26% reduction in breast cancer recurrence in a 10-year study—without changing diet content, just by adjusting meal timing.

What you can do

• Make better choices (even at fast food restaurants) → Choose lean proteins, vegetables, and standard sizes (avoid XL!) → Check nutritional info before ordering or buying @Yuka – https://yuka.io
• Change your dietary foundation → Adopt a “Nutritarian” diet: high in fiber, phytonutrients, and colorful vegetables (H = N/C) → Less than 10% of calories from animal products
• Respect your body’s natural rhythm → Finish dinner early (e.g., by 7 p.m.), and wait 13 hours before breakfast = +26% survival in breast cancer patients
• Advocate for universal access to healthy food → Information alone is not enough. Good food must be available, affordable, and appealing

Fast Food = Fast Aging

This isn’t just a matter of willpower. It’s a matter of environment, biology, and justice—as Dr. Fuhrman underscores. As long as poor neighborhoods remain food deserts, and junk food remains cheap, omnipresent, and socially reinforced, obesity and chronic disease will keep spreading.

Health professionals, policymakers, educators, and responsible industries: we have a duty to change the norms. Let’s make the healthy choice the easy, accessible, and natural one. Food can become a pillar of prevention, longevity, mental health, and social cohesion.

Scientific sources :

• Fuhrman J. The Hidden Dangers of Fast and Processed Food. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2018;12(5):375-381. doi:10.1177/1559827618766483
• Cleveland Clinic. “Here’s How Fast Food Can Affect Your Body.” https://health.clevelandclinic.org/heres-how-fast-food-can-affect-your-body