(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock)
Posted on 06/24/2024 9:57:55 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
On her first day after moving from Australia to the United States, Elizabeth Dunford walked into a supermarket to buy bread. As a researcher of food additives, she instinctively glanced at the ingredients label.
“Why are there so many additives?” she exclaimed in surprise. Nearly every loaf she picked up contained ingredients that made her uneasy. After lingering by the shelves, she reluctantly chose a bag.
“At that moment, I thought: It looks like I will have to choose the best from the worst when shopping in the future,” Ms. Dunford, project consultant for The George Institute for Global Health and adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina, told The Epoch Times.
(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock)
Today, over 73 percent of the U.S. food supply is ultra-processed. While both natural and ultra-processed foods are referred to as “food,” there is a vast difference between them. For instance, ultra-processed foods are not grown in soil but manufactured in factories, using many ingredients that cannot be found in the average home pantry.
Beyond conventional additives such as preservatives, colors, and flavorings, many new additives are emerging. Stabilizers, emulsifiers, firming agents, leavening agents, anti-caking agents, humectants, and more have been invented to modify and improve the taste and texture of food.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lists at least 3,972 substances added to food.
Perhaps driven by a growing desire for richer and more varied flavors or by the pressures of fast-paced living, people have become accustomed to these substances, even considering them a natural part of the modern diet.
In the old days, families used salt and vinegar to preserve food. But with the advent of the industrial age, people became increasingly reliant on ready-made foods available on supermarket shelves.
“By the mid-20th century, more and more food additives were being used,” said Mona Calvo, who has a doctorate in nutritional sciences and is an adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Only recently have people begun to pay closer attention to what goes into the foods they eat.
In the 1950s to 1970s, the FDA began evaluating the safety of common food additives, Ms. Calvo told The Epoch Times.
“A safety assessment involves the scientific review of all relevant data, including toxicology and dietary exposure information,” an FDA spokesperson told The Epoch Times. These include tests conducted on rodents and cells. The ingredients will be added to food after the FDA gives its approval.
Consumers can identify what is in their packaged foods by the nutrition facts and ingredient labels, said Ms. Calvo.
Among the most widely used FDA-approved substances added to food, many have a safety classification known as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) based on their extensive historical use before 1958 or their safety evaluation in the 1970s or more recently.
However, many people may not realize that substances classified as GRAS often lack an upper limit on the amount that can be added to food. In many cases, the quantity added is based on Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) guidelines. Ms. Calvo explained that if a manufacturer adds an excessive amount of an additive during production, which makes it unpopular among consumers, it could affect product sales. In other words, the amount of substances added is left to the manufacturer’s discretion.
Over time, GRAS classification may be withdrawn for certain substances if the FDA is presented with compelling evidence of safety concerns associated with its use. A notable example is the official removal of trans fats from the GRAS list in 2015.
Ms. Calvo pointed out another unresolved issue: There is no oversight on how much of these additive-containing foods people actually consume.
“Many of the commonly used food additives were granted GRAS approval between 1970 and 1975, when people could not foresee the situation today,” she said. During that era, fewer women worked outside the home, and people consumed more home-cooked meals made from natural ingredients. With the prevalence of ultra-processed foods in today’s diet, the consumption of certain additives has naturally exceeded initial expectations.
After an additive is approved for a specific function, food manufacturers often quickly incorporate it into a wide range of products, including breads, cookies, instant soups, sausages, and frozen, prepackaged meals.
Dr. Jaime Uribarri, a nephrology specialist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who has long been concerned about specific food additives, told The Epoch Times that “once an additive-containing packaged food is in the marketplace, the FDA does not have a mechanism for regularly testing its safety, such as through periodic sampling checks.”
Objectively speaking, some food additives may offer more benefits than drawbacks, said Ms. Dunford.
Preservatives, for example, help extend the shelf life of food. Adding a moderate amount of nitrites to cured meats can prevent botulism, a serious condition.
However, she pointed out that many additives that enhance color, flavor, and other sensory aspects are “essentially not necessary.”
Scientists have demonstrated in various studies the health hazards of consuming ultra-processed foods, including their close association with early death, cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, respiratory diseases, metabolic syndrome, and cancer.
Specifically, a cohort study involving nearly 45,000 middle-aged and older individuals in France found that for every 10 percent increase in the intake of ultra-processed foods, the risk of all-cause mortality increased by 14 percent. According to a 2024 umbrella review published in the BMJ, convincing evidence has been found linking ultra-processed food to a 50 percent increase in cardiovascular disease mortality, a 53 percent increase in common mental disorder outcomes, and a dose-dependent 12 percent increase in diabetes risk.
Ultra-processed food is linked to significant increases in cardiovascular disease mortality, mental disorder outcomes, and diabetes risks. (The Epoch Times)
While part of the increased risks can be attributed to the use of high-sugar, high-salt, high-fat, and low-fiber ingredients, some additives previously thought to be safe also warrant attention.
“Phosphate additives is one that I’m very wary of,” said Ms. Dunford.
A 2023 study published in the Journal of Renal Nutrition found that of all the 3,466 U.S. packaged foods tested, over half contained phosphate additives.
Phosphate additives encompass a range of substances with various functions, such as stabilizing, thickening, emulsifying, adjusting acidity and alkalinity, improving texture, enhancing flavor, providing antioxidant properties, preserving, and coloring. Some phosphates serve multiple functions simultaneously.
Multiple studies have shown that the health hazards associated with consuming ultra-processed foods are linked to a high intake of inorganic phosphates.
The body’s absorption rate and utilization efficiency for phosphorus vary depending on the source. When a person eats natural foods, the release of phosphorus is relatively slow, and not all of it is absorbed. In contrast, inorganic phosphate food additives are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, significantly increasing blood phosphate levels and releasing hormones that promote phosphate excretion. These hormones can have a range of adverse effects on the cardiovascular system, kidneys, and bones, resulting in reduced vitamin D levels, bone loss, vascular calcification, and impaired kidney filtration capacity.
Using inorganic phosphate additives in animal or cell experiments results in immediate side effects. “That gives you enough rationale to suspect that these may happen also in humans,” said Dr. Uribarri.
Read more here...
They attack phosphates, because they want to reduce fertilizers so we have a harder time growing food.
Fauxcy says they are safe and effective.
The unholy alliance between Big Food & Big Pharma
We’re being poisoned slowly and surely.
It was bad by the 80s, but got worse when the tobacco companies bought the food companies and used the same tricks they used making lung darts more addictive.
1. Over 73% of the U.S. food supply is ultra-processed, containing many additives.
2. The FDA lists at least 3,972 substances added to food.
3. Many additives are classified as "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), but this classification may not account for modern consumption patterns.
4. Studies have linked ultra-processed foods to increased risks of early death, cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, respiratory diseases, metabolic syndrome, and cancer.
5. Specific additives of concern include phosphate additives and emulsifiers.
6. Long-term effects of additives, especially in combination, are difficult to study and potentially unpredictable.
Now, here's a chart of the food additives discussed and their potential health impacts:
Phosphate Additives:
* Quickly absorbed, increasing blood phosphate levels
* Can adversely affect cardiovascular system, kidneys, and bones
* May reduce vitamin D levels
* Associated with bone loss and vascular calcification
* Linked to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases
* Higher mortality rates at daily intake exceeding 1,400mg
Emulsifiers (e.g., carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and polysorbate-80 (P80)):
* Can harm gut microbiota
* May cause intestinal inflammation
* Potential to increase toxin translocation into bloodstream
* Associated with increased appetite and obesity
* Can reduce gut microbiota diversity
* May deplete beneficial short-chain fatty acids
* Linked to erosion of intestinal mucus layer and bacterial infiltration
* Associated with higher risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease and overall cancer
I’m not being poisoned. I use Environment Working Group’s list of the Dirty Dozen and Clean fifteen lists, only buy organic versions of the Dirty Dozen.
Also buy teabags at Natural Grocer, where they have no nasty micro plastics. Gave up beef because cows are getting shot with MRNA vax now.
Buy organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs at Trader Joe, which WebMD says is the best kind of chicken for your heart. Lots of stores have their own brand of those.
Alaskan salmon comes from clean water, Costco has Alaskan salmon burgers that are very tasty and far cheaper than Alaskan salmon in supermarkets. ,
Our city has horrible water and lead in the pipes. So my cat and I get filtered water, refill gallon jugs at Natural Grocer or other supermarkets in town. You can also put filters on your faucets. My daughter’s house has filter in the basement so even her tub and shower have filtered water. That’s a pretty expensive way to go, but it was already there when she bought the house a few months ago.
Lots of ways to avoid being poisoned. And you don’t need to go broke to do it.
That’s a good condensation. How did you do that?
“nasty micro plastics”
I’ve read a couple of articles about micro plastics the past week. It’s very scary — tens of millions of tons of plastic decomposing into 5 mm chunks down to micron-sized particles that accumulate in the oceans, enter the fish food cycle and get concentrated. And to think that these chemicals didn’t even exist 100 years ago.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it’s not the additives, but the sheer amount of food consumed that messes most Americans up.
CC
Not more than 10 minutes ago, I saw a video of a woman who went to Spain and was able to eat anything she wanted. It didn’t affect her at all like food in the US does.
They will take away my frosted brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
You can get that one in Australia
Saved article as PDF, asked Claude.ai (my fave): "I do not have the time to read the PDF article attached which discusses the potential dangers of food additives. Please read it for me and summarize the most important points therein, and then produce a chart displaying in the first column the food additive discussed, and in the second column its potential dangers or impacts on health."
Then changed chart into bullet points in a follow-up.
AS near as I can figger, this article says I died 10 or 15 years ago...
Is it Alaskan Salmon processed in China ?
Mass production, the industrial farm, reductions of loss through spoilage etc. are a great idea, (((but not at the expense to quality!)))
Our food looks and tastes good, but it is of extremely low quality.
Over use of soil (depletion) causes the mineral / nutrient content of food to drop.
Pesticides.
Fungicides.
Herbicides.
Pasteurization (destroys pro-biotics).
Irradiation.
Food coloring.
Aromatics.
Preservatives.
The use of HFCS in everything.
Foaming agents.
Artificial flavors.
The use of oil to substitute for whip cream or cheese.
Pink slime. Still used.
Bleaching.
The use of hormones.
Antibiotics.
GMO.
Over use of salt in everything.
The weird things we feed livestock. Cows being fed fish...
Packaging which leaches chemicals into the food.
When you eat chicken, it’s likely only 47 days old before it was slaughtered. There is a chance that it was raised in complete darkness...
Our food is a lot like an Oreo. It looks pretty and tastes really good, but you probably ought to not eat to many of them.
You have to read labels and do some research to find quality food.
U.S. food is loaded with preservatives so it can sit on the shelf in a grocery store forever without going bad. I was stationed in Italy for a while, I ate like a pig and didn’t gain an ounce. When I came back to the states I couldn’t keep the weight off despite eating probably 1/3 less than I was in Italy. The preservatives in our garbage food are killing us.
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