Foods today have not
undergone the natural food chain anymore, since people have changed them to
produce more than less, to meet the demand of cheaper and more food. For
instance, cows no longer eat green grass,
their main and natural source of food. Instead, they eat corn, while the fishes eat poultry and chickens eat fish. When it comes to
plants, fresh vegetables and fruits are usually exported while local markets also
sell goods coming from other countries.
Food prices are rising,
but in reality, people spend less on modern food than in ancient times,
courtesy to the contemporary practice of food production. However, the price is
perhaps greater than what is expected. This write up is not aimed to scare
people and eradicate some modern foods which are mostly fast processed, from
everyday diet, but to give knowledge of the ingredients people may not be aware
of, and in a way, are depriving themselves of the fundamentals of nutrition.
Food processing and preservation
Food shelves today
are mostly filled with fake foods, junk foods and processed foods, which are
actually real food that undergo devitalizing
chemical processing and are infused with preservatives. Canned foods, hot dogs, low-fat yogurt
with artificial sweeteners are
examples of these processed foods. Intake of these foods costs the body more to
digest and eliminate, than offering nutrition. That is a poor return of
investment while the body is left depleted and sluggish.
Ancient people used
salt, sun drying and fermentation to naturally preserve foods. From this simple
food preservation evolved more complicated methods, and today, food companies
use thousands of chemicals and additives to process food, many of which can be
devastating to the health. Many preservatives used today carry toxic chemicals
that are more problematic to the
health of humans, than the decay they aim to stop.
Furthermore, the
good intentions of food processing during the early days have de-evolved to
find ways of cheaper food processing to produce more and increase profits,
while the health of the consumers is jeopardized.
Preservatives
Preservatives are
additives that prevent the food from spoiling. Some examples are nitrates,
nitrites, benzoic acid and sulfites like sulfur dioxide and metabisulfites.
Nitrites and
nitrates are found to cause nausea, headaches and asthma in some people. These
preservatives are found in meats like bacon
and ham. Sodium nitrite in some foods is converted to nitrous acid when
humans ingest it. Despite showing increased cancer rates in animal testing, it
is still in use.
Margarines, carbonated beverages and fruit juices usually have benzoic acid or sodium benzoate, which
can cause allergic reactions, and even death in some people.
Sulfites are used to
stop fungal spoilage and browning of peeled vegetables and fruits, like apples, potatoes and dried fruits, to
prevent brown spots. It is also applied to molasses. Along with the toxins it
contains, it bleaches rotten foods and conceals inferior vegetables and fruits.
They have similar effects as nitrites and nitrates, plus allergic reactions. Sulfites
destroy vitamin B1, thus, it is not allowed to be used in foods with such
vitamin. People who are sulfite-sensitive, respond to the foods containing them
with adverse reactions. It is found to worsen asthma in humans and about 5 to
10 percent of chronic asthmatics are thought to result from sulfite
sensitivity.
There is also the
controversial butylated hydroxytoluene, one of the most common preservatives,
which is permitted at a low level in foods. With butylated hydroxyanisole, it
is investigated further for its ability to harm genetics. Research showed these
compounds BHT and BHA can damage red blood cells and trigger chemical
sensitivity.
While foods with
preservatives cannot all be harmful, the addition of milk and vitamins to them,
help cover up the adverse effects they can cause. If most people understand the
consequences of preservatives, or how the food they eat is processed, they will
be able to make wiser choices on how many of these foods they are willing to
eat.
Image courtesy of Luis Tamayo - Flickr
