WHAT IS REALLY IN PROCESSED FOOD?

When you look at the ingredients in products like cereals, chips, crackers, or macaroni and cheese, and other processed food, have you ever stopped to consider what is really in those packages? When you read ingredients like modified food starch, artificial flavors, or citric acid have you ever asked what those things are really made of and how they are made? Well, if you like I used to, think a strawberry popsicle with natural flavors is actually flavored with strawberries you’re in for a rude awakening.

 

 

ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL FLAVORS

Artificial flavors as the name suggest are artificial, meaning they are synthetic and made in a lab. They’re not regulated in the name of trade secrets and contain a number of chemicals to make up a single flavor. Would it surprise to know that the same is true for “natural” flavors? To be considered natural it only needs to be 80% derived from natural sources and that the other 20% can be literally anything. Also, those natural sources are probably things you don’t want to eat anyway. They’re derived from things like tree bark or the ooze of a beaver’s anal gland. Talk about gross! Unless a company discloses what the flavoring is from, it’s a safe bet that you don’t want to eat anything with artificial or natural flavors.

 

FOOD DYES

Food dyes are another common ingredient in processed food that people often overlook. These dyes are not only synthetic but are also petroleum based. There have been several studies done linking food dyes to cancers, ADD, ADHD, and other behavioral disorders. Many countries have actually banned artificial food dyes and yet they still allowed in the US.

 

SUSPECT INGREDIENTS

Food starch or modified food starch can come from corn, wheat, potatoes or any other form of starch. There is no way to know what exactly you are eating. This is especially important if you have allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances. Also, the processes by which modified for starch is made is reason enough to avoid this ingredient. There are numerous ways to modify food starch, such as cooking, hydrolysis, oxidation, bleaching, oxidation, esterification, esterification, and crosslinking. While some of the modifying processes are harmless enough, chemical modification is anything but harmless.

 

1. Esterification: Acetylated starch (E1420), esterified with acetic anhydride or vinyl acetate.
2. Esterification: Hydroxypropyl starch (E1440), esterified with propylene oxide.
3. Acid treated starch (INS1401), treated with inorganic acids.
4. Alkaline treated starch (INS1402), treated with inorganic alkaline.
5. Bleached starch (INS1403), dealt with hydrogen peroxide.
6. Oxidation: Oxidized starch (E1404), treated with sodium hypochlorite.
7. Emulsification: starch sodium Octenylsuccinate (E1450), esterified with octenyl succinic anhydride.

Citric acid is another suspect ingredient hiding in processed food. Now you might be wondering, what’s wrong with citric acid? Doesn’t it just come from citrus fruits? I certainly used to think so. The truth is it comes from black mold grown on GMO corn. That’s right! Citric acid is made in a lab from black mold.

These are just a small handful of harmful ingredients that are in the vast majority of processed food for sale in the US. This is why I advocate so strongly for a whole diet and encourage everyone to learn to read food labels. If you read something on a label and you don’t know what it is or how it’s made, then it’s time to research what and where it comes from.

 

Sources:

What is Modified Food Starch (E1404–E1452): Types, Uses, and is it Gluten Free? (foodadditives.net)

3 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Natural Flavors | by JW Ross | Medium

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/citric-acid#what-it-is.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23026007/