Food Additives and Your Health

Over the millenium, people have learned to preserve foods for later use with various methods that are quite effective.

- pickling in brine or vinegar
- smoking
- curing
- salting
- sugaring
- fermenting
- canning
- refrigerating
- freezing
- drying-dehydrating
- freeze-drying
- vacuum-packing
- packing in alcohol or syrup
- etc.

Yet food manufacturers insist upon adding chemical preservatives. But I wonder, if those chemicals prevent food from breaking down, can your body then break down that food? Sometimes manufacturers actually add chemicals to foods that are already preserved. Why do we need to add chemicals to canned soup when the canning process already preserves the soup? Why add chemicals to dried foods when the drying process preserves the food? Why add chemical preservatives to food that is then frozen? Doesn't this raise the cost of manufacturing the food unnecessarily? And how many chemicals have been used in the past only to be deemed unsafe later on? Why take a chance? Why not use safe, effective traditional food preservation methods?

Check out these Chemical Food Preservatives that are commonly used today. Are they safe to eat?

- Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
- Calcium benzoate
- Calcium propionate
- Calcium tartrate
- Dimethyl dicarbonate (DMDC)
- Dthylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)
- Ethyl para-hydroxybenzoate
- Glycolic acid
- Hydroxyacetic acid
- Natamycin
- Nisin
- Paraben
- 2-Phenylphenol
- Potassium benzoate
- Potassium nitrate
- Potassium sorbate
- Sodium benzoate
- Sulfur dioxide
- Thiabendazole

Then take the relatively trivial issue of the color of our food. There are quite a number of natural food colorings that are actually food themselves. They cover a wide variety of colors including the basic blue, yellow and red of synthetic chemical coloring agents. Any food manufacturer who would use these natural food colorings would certainly be safer from health liability claims than a manufacturer that used synthetic colors that ultimately proved to be harmful.

Here is a small sample of Natural Food Coloring items.

- Tumeric (yellow)
- Beets (red)
- Paprika (red)
- Elderberry (blue, black)
- Betanin (various)
- Algae (green)

The following synthetic Food Coloring Agents do not appear in nature, but are commonly used in the US. However these and other chemical agents used in the past are not even permitted in some countries around the world.

- Blue No. 1
- Yellow No. 5
- Red No. 40

Now consider this partial list of Natural Sweeteners. Sweets abound in nature, and again they are actually food themselves.

- Cane sugar
- Fruit juices
- Carrot juice
- Sugar beets
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Sprouted wheat
- Stevia

Some artificial sweeteners used in the US have since been banned, such as Cyclamate. Yet some food manufacturers insist upon using Artificial Chemical Sweeteners like the following. Are they positive these chemicals are not harmful to us? Why take a chance when real food alternatives can be used instead?

- Aspartame (also known as Equal or Nutrasweet)
- Saccharin (also known as Sweet 'n' Low)
- Sucralose (also known as Splenda)

Some chemicals by themselves are safe, but when mixed with certain other chemicals, are toxic to humans. Is it safe to eat peanut butter and jelly on bread? How about chips and dip with a soft drink? Breakfast cereal and a glass of juice? I suppose it depends upon what chemical additives the various manufacturers put in those foods. What about the sulfur dioxide they like to spray on dried fruit. Doesn't sulfur dioxide and humidity create sulfuric acid (acid rain)? So what happens when you eat it? Do I have to wonder about how the chemicals I ingest will react with chemicals in my toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant or prescription drugs? Or maybe react with chemicals in my clothing that my skin absorbs? Or chemicals I breathe in the air? What do these chemicals do to your organs, joints, brain and body in general? How long do these chemicals stay in your body? And how can I find out if they're present and then get rid of them? Are you still wondering why the country is grossly obese and getting sicker by the minute?

No health care system is affordable when almost everybody is sick. So why does the government allow food companies to add chemicals to food when other natural solutions are available? And why does the government allow food companies to avoid reporting additives under .5%? Why is the government talking about allowing chemical additives in organic food? Why does the government plan on spending billions of dollars on health care when it would be cheaper to simply ban unnecessary chemicals in food, and allow people's bodies to start healing themselves? If we get sick from chemicals we ingest, who is to blame: Manufacturers? Their executives? Retailers? The government? Politicians? Lobbyists? Ourselves?!

The politicians, lobbyists and food company executives will have nowhere to hide when juries with dead and dying loved ones pass judgement on decisions to allow chemicals in food when safer, cheaper alternatives were available. No guidelines or rulings crafted by misguided and unconstitutional government agencies, designed to legalize conduct regardless of life will pacify the nation's anger. I expect the tobacco company shenanigans of the past will look like a juvenile prank when compared to the food company lawsuits yet to come.

- Buy organic whenever possible.
- Buy local whenever possible.
- Buy only dairy or meat products derived from organic, free-range animals.
- Avoid fast food.
- Read the ingredients on the labels.
- Throw out and don't buy foods with unsafe chemicals.
- Start a backyard vegetable or fruit garden.
- Build a greenhouse and grow year-round.
- Bake using sprouted wheat flour.
- Eat sprouts that you grow from organic seeds.
- Grow your own wheatgrass and then juice or dehydrate it.
- Share your food knowledge with others.
- Support small farms in your state.
- Support small organic, eco-friendly food producers.
- Boycott food companies that unnecessarily add chemicals to food.
- Demand full ingredient disclosure in commercially-produced foods.
- Demand politicians safeguard your interests instead of lobbyists' clientele.

FOOD SAFETY IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS - NOBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO POLLUTE YOUR FOOD.

First published July 29, 2009
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