Food Additives Turn Deadly
Ref: Hong Kong recalls dairy products
Three infants are among those who died and thousands of others are ill after being fed tainted baby milk.
Suppliers are believed to have added melamine, a banned chemical normally used in plastics, to diluted milk to make it appear higher in protein.
The additive is blamed for causing severe renal problems and kidney stones.
Side note: Please, PLEASE know where your food is coming from when you purchase it in your supermarkets. More and more we are learning that exported foods are often contaminated:
Health scares and fatalities in recent years have ranged from the contamination of seafood to toothpaste and, last year, to pet food exported to the US.
Back to additives…
I find this utterly horrifying, in light of the fact that we continually see manufacturer’s putting additives into the every day foods we buy all in the name of the latest health-news trend.
For example, recently “fiber additives” have become popular in yogurts, ice cream, water, juice) simply to allow the manufacturers to lay claim to their product providing fiber in your diet. Yet when you read up on the additives, they are nothing like the fiber that is truly essential to our diet and can only come from healthy food choices such as legumes, fruit, etc.
Names of these fiber additives are inulin, maltodextrin, oat fiber and polydextrose. These are considered “isolated fibers”. Fibers from foods (fruits, vegetables, grains) are soluble or insoluble.
So the question is, are these added fibers all in the name of peddling products, really doing us any good? From what I’ve read thus far, the jury is out. However, negative effects have surfaced.
Inulin has been found to cause gas or other GI problems, especially at doses over 15mg a day. Polydextrose can cause an unwanted laxative effect, especially to those who find they’re highly sensitive.
In summary: The labels on these foods using fiber additives look very convincing, but “fiber” does not always equal FIBER. Be careful, and read those food labels when you see the claim of “added fibers”.
See also:
Fight Back with Fiber
The Role of Fiber in Your Diet
Fitting Fiber into Your Day
Fiber: A Non-Nutritional Vital Nutrient
High Fiber Recipes
