The frightening dangers of food additives within chemically processed foods are often ignored because these products are perceived as convenient, tasting good and are often cheap – however these “advantages” may come at a heavy price.
It needs to be recognised that chemically processed foods (also known as “ultra-processed” foods) have an unacceptably high level of damaging additives such as refined sugars, artificial chemical ingredients, refined carbohydrates and trans fats. For this reason, these so-called foods are a major contributor to global obesity, type 2 diabetes and a host of debilitating and deadly diseases.
There has been a dramatic increase in global consumption of these products – a 2019 study found that throughout much of the world they account for 25-60% of an individual’s daily intake of energy.
What are the frightening dangers of food additives?
So, you have your ultra-processed food to hand and you’re looking forward to eating it because it tastes so good. This kind of laziness and stupidity will potentially cost you dearly in the long run in the form of a world of pain of particularly unpleasant conditions with the outcome of an existence chained to pharmaceuticals.
Is it worth it?
These frightening dangers of food additives within ultra-processed foods are wide-ranging and include the following:
• Cardiovascular disease
• Coronary heart disease
• Cerebrovascular disease
• Obesity – with all of the associated health problems
• Cancers
• Metabolic syndrome
• Many inflammatory diseases
We did not evolve as human beings to be insulting our bodies with this toxic rubbish and, in many cases, are paying a heavy price for ignorance and laziness.
We should be cooking from scratch and eating natural wholefoods, not nutritionally bereft and toxic ultra-processed foods such as the following rogue’s gallery:
• Ready meals
• Processed cheese products
• Instant soups and noodles
• Reconstituted meats – examples include sausages, processed ham and nuggets
• Breakfast cereals
• Baked items – these include pastries, cakes and pizzas
• Sodas and other artificially sweetened drinks
• Packaged, mass-produced breads
• Commercially manufactured ice creams
We will now look more closely at what is contained within chemical ultra-processed foods and equally important – what isn’t found in these products.
Firstly, we’ll look at the toxic additives.
The frightening dangers of food additives – refined sugars
Ultra-processed foods often contain startlingly large amounts of added refined sugar – often in the form of the problematic (but cheap) high fructose corn syrup. These additives provide no essential nutrients but are high in dead calories.
Regular consumption of, particularly corn syrup, will predispose to compulsive overeating and a host of unpleasant disorders including morbid obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Soft drinks are a particular culprit – often leading to excessive sugar consumption without realising – these products often carry a surprisingly high sugar content.
Simple solution- avoid processed foods and drink sparkling water as a substitute for sodas.
Artificial chemical additives
If you care to take a look at the legally required list of ingredients on the back of the packaging of ultra-processed foods, you will either be mystified or horrified – often a multitude of unrecognisable substances are included. Many of these are added to make the product more palatable – the fact these are needed speaks volumes about the product!
Ultra-processed foods often contain chemicals (of no nutritional value) such as the following hall of shame:
• Artificial colourings – many of which are of questionable safety
• Chemical flavours – often an undisclosed proprietary blend of chemicals
• Preservatives
• Chemical texturing agents
• Additional chemicals not featured on the ingredients label – this is possibly the most worrying aspect
Official organizations have apparently tested most food additives for safety, though, worryingly, the use of these chemicals remains controversial among doctors and researchers.(ie the people who matter)
Refined carbohydrates
Ultra-processed foods often have an unacceptable level of refined carbohydrates – these are rapidly metabolised by the body resulting in rapid increases in blood insulin and sugar levels.
In the short term these spikes in blood sugar and insulin are followed by equally rapid drops in these levels resulting in low energy and the craving for more food.
In the long term, these frequent fluctuations in blood sugar levels are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Healthy (non-refined) carbohydrates are an essential component of a healthy diet. These may be found in whole foods such as:
• Whole grains
• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Legumes (beans and pulses)
The frightening dangers of food additives – trans-fats
Ultra-processed foods often have a high content of unhealthy fats. This is due to such foods containing fats derived from heavily refined seed and vegetable oils. These are employed because they are easier to use, have a longer shelf life and, particularly important to the manufacturers of these artificial foods, they are inexpensive.
Often, to give these foods a desired texture, manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oils to make them more solid. This process creates the dreaded trans-fats.
Nutritionally unnecessary trans-fats are anathema to a natural state of good health for the following reasons:
• These fats increase levels of bodily inflammation
• They raise blood levels of “bad” LDL-cholesterol while decreasing blood levels of “good” HDL-cholesterol
• They increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.
A 2019 study concluded that a mere 2% increase in bodily energy intake from the consumption of trans-fats correlates to a 23% increase in cardiovascular risk.
There is an obvious need to avoid refined oils and trans-fats – this is best achieved by totally avoiding processed foods.
When cooking with oils be sure to use healthy types such as:
• Rape seed oil
• Safflower oil
• Olive oil
Next we will look at the deficiencies of ultra-processed foods – that is to say what they should contain but don’t.
Ultra-processed foods are nutritionally deficient
These so-called foods have an exceptionally low level of essential nutrients – particularly in comparison with healthy whole foods. This often necessitates the addition of synthetic (non-bioavailable) vitamins and minerals to replace those lost during the processing of these foods.
Whole foods, by comparison will provide a host of nutritional benefits including:
• Essential minerals
• Vitamins
• Plant compounds such as flavonoids, anthocyanins and carotenoids – these provide powerful antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and anti-inflammatory effects.
Ultra-processed foods have an exceptionally low fibre content
Another winning feature of ultra-processed foods – they are exceptionally low in natural fibre – insoluble and soluble – as this is sacrificed during the processing of these foods.
Dietary fibre is an essential nutritional requirement with a number of health benefits including:
• Weight management – dietary fibre acts to slow carbohydrate absorption, resulting in appetite satisfaction from fewer calories
• Acting as a prebiotic – effectively feeding the health boosting good bacteria within the gut
• Promoting heart health
• Healthy bowel function
By comparison with the nutritionally bereft ultra-processed foods, whole foods contain high levels of fibre- examples include:
• Legumes
• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Nuts and seeds
• Whole grains
In recent times ultra-processed foods have been increasingly incorporated into diets worldwide – small wonder that there has been an associated and escalating deterioration in general worldwide health (to the delight of Big Pharma).
In previous generations – who had no access to processed foods, only healthy natural products – in many cases these diseases were just not seen.
The takeaway message has to be that these all too convenient and potentially lethal options should ideally be avoided at all costs.
Wholefoods have to be the answer.
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“BE TRULY FREE – BE PHARMA FREE”
Excellent thank you Phil ♡♡♡