Additives and Our Food Today
“Market forces don’t promote a healthy diet—in fact, they do the opposite.”
—Walter Willett
Taken from"Food Fight" http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hphr/files/HSPHFall09saltsugar.pdf
Why are Food Additives Used in My Food?
Food additives are added to processed foods for several reasons and processed foods are chalked full of them! One is in order to increase their shelf life, which means stripping away vital nutrients during processing. Sometimes, some of the nutrients lost during processing are added back in. These are normally the naturally occurring substances found in whole foods that we consider healthy and good for us. Additional food additive are of a different breed, with motives for addition not being as beneficial to health. Food additives are also used to make processed foods more attractive and appealing to us and our children. Food colorings, many of which became banned for being used due to detrimental health effects, are just one of the many additives used to enhance the visual appeal of processed foods and make them more appealing to the consumer. There are however many other types of food additives that may not be what you intended to have for dinner. Food emulsifiers, chemical flavors, and loads of inorganic phosphates are a few more that are easier to pick out. With all of these extra chemicals, some good, some bad, not to mention the load of sugar the body takes in from the high fructose corn syrup found in most processed foods, well you can see where this is going.
What's so bad about adding?
While the idea of adding vitamins and minerals to foods deficient in these much needed suppliments dosen't sound bad, it is all of the x-tra chemical components that go into these processed foods that make them a danger to our health and our families. Many times companies begin adding fiber or whole grain for example, to satisfy the new "food fad" instead of actually trying to make their entire product more healthy.
In short, processed food companies make a lot of money selling us cheap foods with little nutritional value and a whole lot of extra "stuff" that we normally would not recognize as food. To help us recognize these items as food they add cheap chemicals to disguise the true nature of these items, package them nicely, and advertise, advertise, advertise. The most vulnerable in our society, our children, are then bombarded with these ad campaigns on television, billboards, and even in the grocery stores and schools where soda and candy machines are placed in hallways and by the school cafeteria. Unfortunately, the consequence on health are more then evident.
We, as parents, get the unfortunate job of sifting through this mess and trying to figure out what half of these ingredients are. Many times this leaves us looking instead at the health claims plastered on boxes like "heart healthy". We are left a bit helpless, instilling our health into the hands of the advertisers and processed food companies. Really, we can't be blamed. With ingredients like Hydroxypropyl distarch phosphate and Dimethylpolysiloxane, who is to say if it's healthy or not? The label telling us it's low-fat and a good source of fiber seems to be the best way to decide whether to buy this product, or pick up another box and start the whole process over.
Chemicals, such as food colorings, are ingredients you will see listed in most processed foods. Many have now been banned for their links to cancer and other diseases. Other chemicals still allowed to be used in our foods have been proven to cause health concerns but only in amounts larger then what the serving size on a particular box might say. The concern here is that eating a diet high in processed foods can lead to a buildup of these chemicals and, with so many processed food companies adding them to lessen cost, increase shelf life, and appeal to our visual senses the risk of this occurring is more then likely.
In the end, it's best to just keep to foods that have ingredients with names you've heard of and know what they are. Things like whole fruits and vegetables or milks and breads without a lot of processing and manufacturing are good bets. If you are really concerned, just read the label. Products with ingredients you can't picture is a good indications that your safest bet is to put down the box and try something else.
In short, processed food companies make a lot of money selling us cheap foods with little nutritional value and a whole lot of extra "stuff" that we normally would not recognize as food. To help us recognize these items as food they add cheap chemicals to disguise the true nature of these items, package them nicely, and advertise, advertise, advertise. The most vulnerable in our society, our children, are then bombarded with these ad campaigns on television, billboards, and even in the grocery stores and schools where soda and candy machines are placed in hallways and by the school cafeteria. Unfortunately, the consequence on health are more then evident.
We, as parents, get the unfortunate job of sifting through this mess and trying to figure out what half of these ingredients are. Many times this leaves us looking instead at the health claims plastered on boxes like "heart healthy". We are left a bit helpless, instilling our health into the hands of the advertisers and processed food companies. Really, we can't be blamed. With ingredients like Hydroxypropyl distarch phosphate and Dimethylpolysiloxane, who is to say if it's healthy or not? The label telling us it's low-fat and a good source of fiber seems to be the best way to decide whether to buy this product, or pick up another box and start the whole process over.
Chemicals, such as food colorings, are ingredients you will see listed in most processed foods. Many have now been banned for their links to cancer and other diseases. Other chemicals still allowed to be used in our foods have been proven to cause health concerns but only in amounts larger then what the serving size on a particular box might say. The concern here is that eating a diet high in processed foods can lead to a buildup of these chemicals and, with so many processed food companies adding them to lessen cost, increase shelf life, and appeal to our visual senses the risk of this occurring is more then likely.
In the end, it's best to just keep to foods that have ingredients with names you've heard of and know what they are. Things like whole fruits and vegetables or milks and breads without a lot of processing and manufacturing are good bets. If you are really concerned, just read the label. Products with ingredients you can't picture is a good indications that your safest bet is to put down the box and try something else.
The Top 5 Food Additives to Stay Away from
This information is provided by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
1. Sodium nitrate
2. Saccharin, Aspartame, Acesulfame-K
3. Caffine
4. Olestra
5. Food Dyes
1. Sodium nitrate
2. Saccharin, Aspartame, Acesulfame-K
3. Caffine
4. Olestra
5. Food Dyes
For more information on particular additives please visit:
http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm
This site is produced by the Center for Science in the Public interest and gives a list of food additives, there danger or safety level, and studies giving information about each additive and why it has been assigned a particular level.
http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm
This site is produced by the Center for Science in the Public interest and gives a list of food additives, there danger or safety level, and studies giving information about each additive and why it has been assigned a particular level.
