There are three other areas of concern surrounding our daily chemical ingestion and that is plastic, cosmetics, and additives. I hope to spend the next couple posts addressing these topics more in-depth, so that we can all be chemically savvy shoppers and consumers in this modern world we live in.
The average American consumes 4 pounds of additives per year, they are found in most processed foods for the purposes of preservation and flavoring.
The Top Seven additives and preservatives are as follows:
Additive or Preservative | Purpose | Symptoms and health effects |
Acacia gum (additive) | Thickening agent in gum, hard candies, ice cream, and salad dressings | Asthma or breathing problems, rashes or skin irritations, and abnormal embryo development |
Alginic Acid (additive) | Used to maintain texture in packaged foods, commonly found in beverages, cheeses, ice creams, and salad dressings | Reproductive problems and birth defects; has caused maternal and fetal deaths in animals. |
Benzoic Acid (preservative) | Found in baked goods, BBQ sauce, beer, candy, chewing gum, fruit juice, jams, jellies, margarine, pickles, and soft drinks | Gatrointestinal, liver, and kidney problems. Can also result in asthma, rashes, and itching and irritation of the eyes and mucous membranes (especially in people allergic to aspirin). May also cause neurological disorders and hyperactivity in children |
BHA and BHT (preservative) | Found in baked goods, breakfast cereals, candy, chewing gum, enriched rice, freeze-dried eats, gelatin, ice cream, instant potatoes flakes, lard shortening, soup bases, salad dressings and unsmoked dry sausage. | Linked to liver problems, reproductive problems, breathing problems, high cholesterol, behavioral problems, vitamin d deficiency, weakened immune system, and increase susceptibility to cancer causing substances. |
Iron Salts (additive) | Used to add iron to foods like bread, breakfast cereals, cornmeal, poultry stuffing, and self-rising flours. | Linked to gastrointestinal disturbances (like ulcers) and tumors |
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) (additive) | Flavoring agents in baked goods, candy, condiments, Chinese food, pickles, pork sausages, seasoning salts, sodium-free substitutes, and soups. | Often results in a diverse range of allergic reactions like burning sensations, dizziness, fainting, itching and hives. May cause facial and chest pressure, headaches, eye inflammation, brain edemas, depression, irritability, mood swings; and central nervous and vascular problems like numbness and high blood pressure. The placenta concentrates MSG, doubling the amount to which a fetus is exposed, and young test animals given MSG have shown decreased brain function and learning abilities. |
Propyl Gallate (preservative) | Found in baked goods, candy, chewing gum, breakfast cereals, flavored beverages, frozen custards, gelatin desserts, ice cream, ice milk, instant potato flakes, mayonnaise, and vegetable oils and shortenings. | Stomach irritation, skin irritation, and allergic reactions like asthma, especially in people sensitive to aspirin. Also causes liver and kidney damage. Since this preservative is frequently used in combination with BHA and BHT, it can intensify the problems caused by those additives, like elevated cholesterol, allergic reactions (like asthma), liver damage, kidney damage, infertility, behavioral problems, vitamin D deficiency, a weakened immune system, and increased susceptibility to cancer-causing substances. |
What is beneficial about this information is that it provides incentive as to why it is important to know the food we eat. The health effects of these substances can aid in explaining the growing number of chronic health disorders society is experiencing. Eating foods where we can fully comprehend the ingredients list is not only beneficial for our bodies but it is beneficial for the environment.
What you can do: Check the labels! My goal in this blog, if anything, is to assert the need for health and eco-conscious consumerism. We make thousands of decisions about the foods we buy and eat, understanding the health end environmental effects of these products is essential to changing the market economy.
What I will do: I checked the labels and it is defiantly a learning experience. Kellogs cereal with dehydrated strawberries? Surprise, they are not strawberries; they are actually apples with flavoring and preservatives. Now I try and make my own complex foods. Instead of buying something sweet it is much more rewarding to make it yourself, crumbles, pies, granola (bars) have all become something I love to make and love to enjoy!
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