Other Health Hazards Found in Foods - 2
Yesterday I discussed some potential food additives that may cause cancer. Here are few more.
- Food Colorings: Blue 1 and 2; Red 3; Green 3; Yellow 6: These I really hate to see around because they are typically found in children's food choices. Blue 1and 2 are found in beverages, candy, baked goods and even pet food, and they have been linked to cancer in mice. Red 3, used to dye cherries, fruit cocktail, candy, and baked goods, has been shown to cause thyroid tumors in rats. Green 3, added to candy and beverages, has been linked to bladder cancer. The widely used yellow 6, added to beverages, sausage, gelatin, baked goods, and candy, has been linked to tumors of the adrenal gland and kidneys.
- Olestra: This is a synthetic fat found in some potato chip brands and other processed convenience meals, and may cause severe diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and gas. Olestra also inhibits healthy vitamin absorption from fat-soluble carotenoids that are found in fruits and vegetables.
- Potassium Bromate is used as an additive to increase volume in some white flour, breads, and rolls. It is known to cause cancer in animals, and even small amounts in bread could create a risk for humans.
You can avoid many of these additives by consuming more fresh whole unprocessed foods and purchasing less processed foods. And always, please read your label on any manufactured food.
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Posted by: Kat | Jul 22, 2008 1:49:39 PM
There is a lot more to this issue than what's being discussed.
1)I, for one, am naturally skeptical of scientific reports on certain foods being potentially harmful just because they were tested on rats, an animal which is a good deal smaller than a human. I am sure others share my skepticism, hence the continued purchasing of foods with things like artificial colorings, flavorings and sugar substitutes.
Because official tests have not been run on adult humans in the way they've been run on rats, it's a little hard for folks to swallow the idea that sugar substitutes and factory-produced colors and flavors would be extremely harmful to humans as a whole. I am not saying that such foods are harmless. I think we'd all be better off if FD&C colors and artificial flavors were tanked immediately. But I also think official tests on humans of various ages (children, young adults and elderly) should be run, in order to confirm or debunk scientific extrapolations of rat-based data, before we get all paranoid about something that might or might not happen.
2)I feel that while much should be done to sharply curtail the advertising, marketing and sale of processed foods, especially those with factory-produced colorings and flavorings, much *more* should be done to curtail and completely stop the contamination of our soil, water and other resources, which has resulted from agribusiness' nonchalant attitude about the environment.
I believe it was Chief Seattle who said we should think about the consequences of our actions, down to the seventh generation.
Posted by: Elaine Murphy | Jul 21, 2008 2:25:04 PM
Hi Eugene, I am unclear on your question. Do you want to know about what foods to avoid that are unhealthy or foods to avoid for weight loss? For unhealthy additives in foods read my blogs June 20th and June 21st. Also artificial sweeteners like aspartame (Equal)and sucrolose (Slenda) may cause health problems. Scour the Nutrition Data web site on how to lose weight.
