Food Additives and Health - Why Are They Harmful
According to a few videos circulating around, McDonald's fries allegedly stay the same after years! As not a big fan of fast food, I was proudly showing the video to my friends and I got a very good question from one of them.
How do we know whatever those additives that keeps fries the same for so long are bad for us? This is actually a very good question and I didn't have an answer before researching the subject.
We all hear that these food additives are bad; we just don't know what they are and why they are bad.
It is an interesting fact that the same additives and preservatives are used in various industries.
Some products used as food additives or preservatives are also used to retard corpse decomposition (formaldehyde), in antiperspirants (aluminum compounds), in anti freeze or paint remover (propylene glycol), Here are some other food additives and preservatives that are very commonly used are were used till very recently ARSENIC I remember first reading about arsenic in an Agatha Christie Novel.
It was used by the killer to poison his victim.
Till then the name 'arsenic' gives me the goose bumps.
Of course this doesn't mean a lot.
But it was interesting for me to find this; Most common chicken feeds contained arsenic (Roxarsone).
Organic arsenic stimulates growth while inorganic acid arsenic can cause bladder, lung, skin, kidney, and colon cancer, and it has deleterious immunological, neurological, and endocrine effects.
Low-level exposures can lead to partial paralysis and diabetes.
And Roxarsone is proven to be converted to arsenate (inorganic arsenic) very rapidly by the micro organism in chickens.
And through chicken fertilizers, humans are exposed to inorganic arsenic.
In 2007, Mc Donald's prohibited poultry suppliers from using the additive.
Arsenicals were started being used as poultry in 1950s.
SODIUM NITRATE The meat under normal conditions will decompose into a not so mouth watering grey color; anybody who left meat out of the fridge for a few hours know the shade of the grey I am talking about.
To prevent this and keep meat looking red, sodium nitrate is used, especially to prevent ham, bacon, sausage and bologna.
Our stomach converts sodium nitrate into nitrous acid which is suspected of inciting stomach cancer.
Germany and Norway have already banned the use of this toxin.
BHA and BHT Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are antioxidants used to keep fats and oils from spoilage.
It is commonly used in cereals, chewing gum, vegetable oil and potato chips as well as in food packaging and as preservatives in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
Their oxidative characteristics may contribute to carcinogenicity or tumorigenicity.
There have been findings that these additives cause cancer in rats.
Not all manufacturers use these preservatives, so if a brand you commonly buy uses these additives, you may want to look for a different variety.
ASPARTAME Aspartame is a popular artificial sweetener which is also known by the brand names Nutrasweet and Equal.
It is about 200 times sweeter than sugar and found in so-called diet foods such as low-calorie desserts, gelatins, drink mixes, and soft drinks.
This sweetener has been found to cause brain tumors in rats as far back as the 1970s, however a more recent study in 2005 found that even small doses increase the incidence of lymphomas and leukemia in rats, along with brain tumors.
There are also claims that it may cause neurological problems, such as dizziness or hallucinations.
PROPYLENE GLYCOL Ice cream producers use propylene glycol and the same substance exists in antifreeze and paint remover.
It is claimed to be safe by FDA but propylene glycol is not approved for use in cat food!BROMINATED OIL For years, brominated oils were added to bottled fruit juice to maintain a look of freshness for longer than 6 months of storage.
Unfortunately, brominated oils have been found produce changes in heart tissue, enlargement of the thyroid, kidney damage, decrease in liver metabolism and cause withered testicles.
Canada, Holland, and Germany have banned brominated oils in the production of bottled drinks, yet they can still be imported from other countries.
It is believed that new food additives are gone through diligent testing processes before approved.
But unreliable testing methods, expensive analysis equipments and lack of qualified technical expertise added to budget constraints and government lobbying by the food industry let use of additives that are marginally carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic.
Even if these tests were accurate and adequate, the long term combined effects of more 3000 additives are almost impossible to accurately test and verify.
And food producers will keep pushing the use of these additives as it makes perfect business sense.
They can load fat, sugar and salt and many other additives into their products to turn these cheep and raw material into nice looking, tasty products with high resistance to spoilage.
It affects their bottom line.
It is obviously preposterous to claim that either every single additive is another thread to the human kind or FDA is an illusion to make us believe that it is OK to consume these additives.
It is in our best interest to consider what science has to offer us and make the best use out of it.
We may not be able to avoid consuming all the additives but at least we can reduce the risks considerably by knowing the worst and the most used ones.
Also keep in mind that food industry, like any other industry, is driven by demand.
With more resistance to additives and preservatives, food producers will take the necessary actions to secure their bottom line.
How do we know whatever those additives that keeps fries the same for so long are bad for us? This is actually a very good question and I didn't have an answer before researching the subject.
We all hear that these food additives are bad; we just don't know what they are and why they are bad.
It is an interesting fact that the same additives and preservatives are used in various industries.
Some products used as food additives or preservatives are also used to retard corpse decomposition (formaldehyde), in antiperspirants (aluminum compounds), in anti freeze or paint remover (propylene glycol), Here are some other food additives and preservatives that are very commonly used are were used till very recently ARSENIC I remember first reading about arsenic in an Agatha Christie Novel.
It was used by the killer to poison his victim.
Till then the name 'arsenic' gives me the goose bumps.
Of course this doesn't mean a lot.
But it was interesting for me to find this; Most common chicken feeds contained arsenic (Roxarsone).
Organic arsenic stimulates growth while inorganic acid arsenic can cause bladder, lung, skin, kidney, and colon cancer, and it has deleterious immunological, neurological, and endocrine effects.
Low-level exposures can lead to partial paralysis and diabetes.
And Roxarsone is proven to be converted to arsenate (inorganic arsenic) very rapidly by the micro organism in chickens.
And through chicken fertilizers, humans are exposed to inorganic arsenic.
In 2007, Mc Donald's prohibited poultry suppliers from using the additive.
Arsenicals were started being used as poultry in 1950s.
SODIUM NITRATE The meat under normal conditions will decompose into a not so mouth watering grey color; anybody who left meat out of the fridge for a few hours know the shade of the grey I am talking about.
To prevent this and keep meat looking red, sodium nitrate is used, especially to prevent ham, bacon, sausage and bologna.
Our stomach converts sodium nitrate into nitrous acid which is suspected of inciting stomach cancer.
Germany and Norway have already banned the use of this toxin.
BHA and BHT Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are antioxidants used to keep fats and oils from spoilage.
It is commonly used in cereals, chewing gum, vegetable oil and potato chips as well as in food packaging and as preservatives in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
Their oxidative characteristics may contribute to carcinogenicity or tumorigenicity.
There have been findings that these additives cause cancer in rats.
Not all manufacturers use these preservatives, so if a brand you commonly buy uses these additives, you may want to look for a different variety.
ASPARTAME Aspartame is a popular artificial sweetener which is also known by the brand names Nutrasweet and Equal.
It is about 200 times sweeter than sugar and found in so-called diet foods such as low-calorie desserts, gelatins, drink mixes, and soft drinks.
This sweetener has been found to cause brain tumors in rats as far back as the 1970s, however a more recent study in 2005 found that even small doses increase the incidence of lymphomas and leukemia in rats, along with brain tumors.
There are also claims that it may cause neurological problems, such as dizziness or hallucinations.
PROPYLENE GLYCOL Ice cream producers use propylene glycol and the same substance exists in antifreeze and paint remover.
It is claimed to be safe by FDA but propylene glycol is not approved for use in cat food!BROMINATED OIL For years, brominated oils were added to bottled fruit juice to maintain a look of freshness for longer than 6 months of storage.
Unfortunately, brominated oils have been found produce changes in heart tissue, enlargement of the thyroid, kidney damage, decrease in liver metabolism and cause withered testicles.
Canada, Holland, and Germany have banned brominated oils in the production of bottled drinks, yet they can still be imported from other countries.
It is believed that new food additives are gone through diligent testing processes before approved.
But unreliable testing methods, expensive analysis equipments and lack of qualified technical expertise added to budget constraints and government lobbying by the food industry let use of additives that are marginally carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic.
Even if these tests were accurate and adequate, the long term combined effects of more 3000 additives are almost impossible to accurately test and verify.
And food producers will keep pushing the use of these additives as it makes perfect business sense.
They can load fat, sugar and salt and many other additives into their products to turn these cheep and raw material into nice looking, tasty products with high resistance to spoilage.
It affects their bottom line.
It is obviously preposterous to claim that either every single additive is another thread to the human kind or FDA is an illusion to make us believe that it is OK to consume these additives.
It is in our best interest to consider what science has to offer us and make the best use out of it.
We may not be able to avoid consuming all the additives but at least we can reduce the risks considerably by knowing the worst and the most used ones.
Also keep in mind that food industry, like any other industry, is driven by demand.
With more resistance to additives and preservatives, food producers will take the necessary actions to secure their bottom line.