Health Hazards Related To The Consumption Of Food Additives
The modern world is filled with processed foods everywhere we look. Unfortunately, these are the polar opposite of what we need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Some foods contain ingredients that can ruin your health without you even noticing. In my opinion, people are not supposed to have more chemicals in their kitchen than in a science laboratory. I've always wondered how can we eat something we are not sure what is made of without any problem. Consuming foods with many additives harm your body and health, including mental health. A study funded by the government's Food Standard Agency (FSA) is understood to have drawn links to behavior problems in children such as temper tantrums and hyperactivity. There are also concerns about allergic reactions such as asthma and rashes. First of all, if you're not too familiar with additives they are substances added to food to maintain, prolong or improve its safety, freshness, taste, texture or appearance. Some additives have been used for centuries to preserve meat, vinegar, sugar, herbs and sulfur dioxide for wine. However, there are many disadvantages to consuming food additives, because they can trigger allergic reactions and possibly lead to other serious health issues. Many allergic reactions are usually mild- skin irritation, intestinal upset, breathing problems, but they may be greatly under-reported. The food additives also have links with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.
However, there are many disadvantages to consuming food additives, because they can trigger allergic reactions and possibly lead to other serious health issues. Many allergic reactions are usually mild- skin irritation, intestinal upset, breathing problems, but they may be greatly under-reported. The food additives also have links with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. Are chemical dyes used to color foods and drinks, as they can be found in many types of processed foods, beverages, and condiments? It is suspected of causing increased hyperactivity in children. And also, Yellow No. 5 has been thought to worsen asthma symptoms. In the 1970s, the FDA famously banned Red Dye No. 2 after some studies found that large doses caused cancer in rats. It is a sweetener made from corn. HFCS is one of the most harmful additives in the human diet. The main negative about high fructose corn syrup is that it's in almost everything. From soda to bread and many other packaged foods, it's hard to avoid, and the number of foods that contain these additives is quite shocking. MSG looks like salt or sugar crystals. Glutamate doesn't have a flavor of its own, but enhances other flavors and impacts the savory taste. Tomatoes, soybeans, and seaweed have contained a lot of glutamates naturally. Fun fact, some scientists say that glutamate is the fifth essential flavor that the human palate can detect with the others being sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Monosodium glutamate can be commonly found in Chinese food, canned vegetables, soups, and processed meats.
Many people claim to have had bad reactions when they eat food seasoned with MSG. In the late 1960s, people started talking about 'Chinese restaurants syndrome' alleging that food prepared with MSG at Chinese restaurants made them sick. It is an additive used for curing meat. It usually found in preserved meat products, like sausages and canned meats. There is a theory that eating a lot of sodium nitrite might cause gastric cancer. Also, there is evidence that sodium nitrite could have been to blame for a lot of the gastric cancers that people had in the past. Until the early 1930s gastric cancer caused the most deaths of all cancers in the United States. After those events, more Americans began to use modern refrigeration and ate less cured meat. Also, the producers started to use less much less sodium nitrite in the curing process around that time. As these changes took place, deaths from gastric cancer also dropped dramatically. Trans fatty acids are created by a process that uses hydrogen gas to make vegetable oils solid. The partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is one of the very worst things we can eat, and unfortunately, there are still many foods containing trans fat. Scientists have found that eating trans fats raises LDL (Good cholesterol) and lowers your HDL (Bad cholesterol) and disrupts blood regulation and increases the risk of blood clots. Trans fat is probably the very worst ingredients in processed food. In the simplest way possible, the flavor enhancers' job is to make stale, flavorless and poor quality 'foods' taste nice. It is a colorless, odorless powder that is very cheap and easy for food manufacturers to replace real ingredients with. They are using food additives as masks on food to cover their real identities. The food producers all around the world try to produce food at an alarming rate but at the same time, use the most economic or poor quality products, that's where food additives come in.
Food industries are achieving the goal by sacrificing our health. It is a proven fact that MSG and other flavor enhancers are highly addictive. That's the reason why people can't stop eating or drinking some products like Coca Cola. There is no way that flavor enhancers are not a massive contributing factor in the current 'Obesity epidemic' and the industries know this but still manage to ignore it. Food additives can harm us and we should avoid as many as we can or if not completely. I encourage you to make healthier or 'clean' choices the next time you want to eat something. You can start by eating fresh fruits and vegetables, eat more whole grains, preferably plain or in bulk, limit saturated fat and maximize nutrients and fiber by choosing lean sources of protein and avoiding high calorie or high sugar-packed snacks. By cutting down these junk foods you're making a huge impact on your health. You might not see it now but in the long run, you'll be very pleased to have made those decisions.
After all, the food industries can do whatever they want with their product, it is you who has complete responsibility of goes inside your body, so next time try to be more cautious of what you eat.
