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Introduction: Food, which once considered as survival need; has now come up as a pursuit of pleasure for taste buds. In past few decades, food and food industry has undergone a drastic change with very devastating impact at every front; be it ecological, social, psychological, economical or biological. Urbanization, modernization and mere copying the west has given rise to ready to eat and on-the-go food. This changed practice of food is widely consumed in the form of three main whites namely: white flour, white salt and white sugar. These processed and refined food articles introduced in human diet few centuries ago have badly impacted the human health and given rise to many non-communicable diseases (NCDs) also known as life-style disorders. The objective of this study is to put light on the health effects of these refined food articles.

Methods: Various available Ayurveda literature, books and relevant research papers were thoroughly searched for the classical description, processing technique and health effects of white flour, white salt and white sugar.

Results: It was found that white flour, white salt and white sugar not only reduce the nutritional value of the food but also their processing cause increase of cost by many folds, hence affecting the financial structure. White flour and white salt available in its natural form don’t cause that much harm to the human health.

Conclusion: This ‘self-poisoning’ is no way beneficial for human. Fortification and substituting these food articles with the naturally and locally available ones can cut the cost of food and make diet healthy.

Key words: life-style disorders, non-communicable diseases, white flour, white salt, white sugar.