
Tara Green
Many people think occasional junk food indulgence can be balanced out
by skipping meals later in the week or by putting in some extra time on
the treadmill. The truth is that the consequences of this type of
eating can turn up in unexpected ways, often years later as toxins
accumulate in your body and cause serious illnesses like cancer or
diabetes.
It is only in the past several decades that the abundance of toxic
chemical ingredients in food, have made the consequences of dietary
indulgences so lethal. In order to boost profits, food purveyors use
chemicals which have a similar effect to the tobacco industry’s addition
of nicotine to tobacco, making a substance at once more addictive and
more deadly.
Mystery Ingredient #1
Take this quiz to help you to see how much you know about the real
results of fast food snacking: What was concocted in a laboratory in
1908 and is present in nearly every non-dessert item on KFC’s menu?
What “seasoning” did the US begin manufacturing subsequent to WWII
after learning that rations for soldiers on the opposing side included
this substance?
When the FDA “generally regarded as safe” (GRAS) standard for food
additives was established in 1958, what substance was grandfathered in
without any testing to verify its safety?
What food additive, so omnipresent in fast food restaurants that even
salads often contain it, has been linked to obesity as well as
depression, migraines, mental confusion, dizziness, anxiety or panic
attacks, stiffness, joint pain, loss of balance, slurred speech,
diarrhea, blurred vision and ADHD?
What chemical substance do food manufacturers love to use so much
that they have developed a long list of aliases to hide its presence
from consumers?
If you answered MSG to all of the above questions, give yourself a gold star for knowledge of food chemicals.
Mystery Ingredient #2
What popular sweetener, present in most soft drinks and “sports
drinks,” is manufactured via a process which makes use of
glutaraldehyde, an embalming chemical?