Junk Food

Before 1972, we didn't have junk food. (According to the Wikipedia entry, Junk Food, the first use of  the phrase is attributed to Michael Jacobson, then director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.)

We had snack food, about which see Bon Appetit's fascinating post, United Snacks of America, from the 1900s to the present day. We had candy bars (circa 1903), convenience food (1937), and fast food (1951). But until the phrase junk food, we had no implicit judgment of the value of this food.

My idea is that by labeling food good or healthful, bad or junky, we add a false moral component to the equation. You are not good if you eat healthful food and you are not bad if you eat junky food. By the way, in a distinction that may be disappearing, healthful means "beneficial to health" and healthy means "in good health." So food cannot be healthy.

As anecdotal proof only, I offer the story of Kansas State University professor of nutrition Mark Haub. He went on a junk-food diet consisting mostly of Twinkies, Oreos, and Doritos.  "[I]n weight loss," he said, "pure calorie counting is what matters, not the nutritional value of the food." He lost 27 pounds in two months, lowered his body mass index (BMI), and lowered bad cholesterol.

Not that Professor Haub recommends such a diet; he does not. He does suggest that portion size is a factor in weight loss or gain.