Junk food is engineered to taste good, not satisfy

DEAR DOCTORS: Can you please talk about what makes something count as “junk food”? My diet has been less than stellar during the pandemic, and not only did I gain weight, but I just got the news that I have prediabetes. Specifics about how those kinds of food are bad for your health would help a lot.

DEAR READER: We have often addressed the adverse health effects of eating a diet that is high in fast foods and snack foods. But with high blood sugar, elevated blood pressure, excess weight, surplus abdominal body fat and abnormal blood lipid levels becoming a not-so-silent epidemic…