There are thousands of harmful food
additives that we are consuming every day. Many
of these food additives have been show to be
harmful to our health. The information in this
article will help empower you to know what to
look for.
In 1958 the government passed the Delaney Clause
Food Additives Amendment which prohibited
companies from adding known harmful chemicals to
our food. But in spite of this, there are still
dangerous chemicals that are still being added
to our food and it is important to understand
which chemicals these are and what the potential
dangers are.
The only defense we have as consumers is that
all packaged food is required to list all the
ingredients on the label. We need to educate
ourselves and become familiar with the harmful
food additives and read every label of the food
we purchase. The challenge however, is that food
companies tend to make finding these suspicious
ingredients somewhat tedious, hiding them in
hard-to-find areas of the package and making the
print extremely small so as to discourage their
discovery.
The names of these chemicals themselves can
complicate matters. They tend to be
extraordinary long and hard-to-remember and most
people just ignore them rather than
investigating them further. The food producers
are clever. They will intentionally use
healthy-sounding phrases to dupe people into
thinking that the product is free of chemical
additives. For instance, "Natural
Flavors" or "No Preservatives"
are commonly found on packaged food products,
but does this mean that the product is free of
harmful food additives? Absolutely not. Again,
you must check all the ingredients to determine
whether a product is completely free of food
additives.
Here is a helpful tip that relies on basic
common sense. If you are reading the ingredient
list and you find it is long and loaded with
long words that you are unfamiliar with, guess
what? This product almost assuredly has plenty
of chemical food additives.
Here is a list of twelve food additives that
you should definitely try and avoid. This is not
an exhaustive list, however, these food
additives have been linked to health
concerns and harmful side effects.
Sodium Nitrate or Sodium Nitrite
Found primarily in lunch meat and hotdogs, this
is a preservative and color and flavor enhancer
and has been linked to cancer.
BHA and BHT
Butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated
hydrozyttoluene are used as a preservative. You
can find them in things like chips, cereals and
even chewing gum. They are know to oxidize the
cells and cell oxidation is the precursor to
cancer.
Propyl Gallate
Also a preservative. There has been evidence
that this can be linked to cancer.
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
MSG is one of the more well-known food additives
and is primarily used as a flavor-enhancer. Much
of the restaurant food we consume is flavored
with MSG. This food additive can cause reactions
in some people such as headaches and nausea.
Trans Fats
Trans-fats are proven to cause heart disease.
Restaurant food, especially fast food chains,
often serves foods laden with trans-fats.
Aspartame
Aspartame is a sweetener and is also known as
NutraSweet. The brand of sweetener called Equal
is also aspartame. This food additive has been
linked to cancer and neurological problems.
Acesulfame-K
A new sweetener used in baked goods and candy,
Acesulfame-K has had limited testing and there
has been some evidence that it may cause cancer
in lab rats.
Food Colorings: Blue 1, 2; Red 3;
Green 3; Yellow 6
Food colorings are basically just a form of
paint. They can liven up the walls in your
living room but should definitely be avoided in
food. Blue 1 and 2, found in beverages, candy,
baked goods and pet food, have been linked to
cancer in lab animals. Red 3, has been shown to
cause thyroid tumors in rats. Green 3 has been
linked to bladder cancer. Yellow 6 has been
linked to tumors of the adrenal gland and
kidney.
Olestra
Olestra is a chemical fat that is used in chips
and can have a wide array of side effects.
Additionally, Olestra can impede the absorption
of vitamins from fruits and veggies.
Potassium Bromate
This food additive is found in many breads and
products that use flour. It has been linked to
cancer in animals.
White Sugar
White sugar is white because of bleach. Eating
foods that add a lot of white sugar is very bad
for you.
Sodium Chloride
AKA... salt. Most of the commercial foods we eat
are loaded with Sodium Chloride. This additive
has been proven to cause heart disease.
There are literally thousands of
chemicals known as "food additives"
that are intentionally added to our foods and
some of these have been linked to cancer and
other diseases. So the question is, what is the
relationship between food additives and health
and harmful potential consequences?
Reaching millions of people with the
message of Simple Balanced Health, through radio
and television, Joe Costello is a well-respected
health activist, researcher and communicator.
Joe founded Kylea Health in 1995 and has
helped hundreds-of-thousands of people get back
on the road to better health with cutting-edge
nutritional solutions. For more information
about Joe Costello and Kylea Health visit http://www.kylea.com.
|
