This is a guest post from Vani Hari (a.k.a. The Food Babe) and New York Times Best Selling author. You can read more about her take on the food industry in her second book, Feeding You Lies!
Thoughts of outrage, unfairness, disbelief, and ultimately grief consumed me while I was doing this investigation. A list of ingredients that are banned across the globe but still allowed for use here in the American food supply recently made news.
While I have written about some of those ingredients before, this list inspired me to look a little deeper and find out how pervasive this issue is for us. Could these banned ingredients be contributing to the higher mortality and disease rates here in the U.S.?
The health of Americans is downright grim according to a report just released by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. It declares "Americans are sicker and die younger than other people in wealthy nations." The United States spends 2.5 times more on health care than any other nation, however, when compared with 16 other nations we come in dead last in terms of health and life expectancy for men and near the bottom for women.
Here is the breakdown for you:
- More than two thirds of United States citizens are overweight – 33% being obese.
- 32% of children are either obese or overweight.
- 43% of Americans are projected to be obese in 10 years.
- After smoking, obesity is America’s biggest cause of premature death and is linked to 70% of heart disease and 80% of diabetes cases.
- And 41% of Americans are projected to get cancer in their lifetime!
These reports and statistics scream the word HELP!
Recently, I spent some time down in Mississippi volunteering in the most obese county in the nation. I found that while social and economic factors do play a part in this epidemic, the main culprit was the lack of nutrition education.
The victims of obesity are likely the same victims of systematic brainwashing from Big Food marketers, relying on diet soda or low fat products or looking only at calories on product labels. Basically, they are doing what the food industry has been teaching them about losing weight versus finding out the truth about real food.
And that's the problem - the food industry is the one leading our conversation in this country about food and nutrition, educating the mass public about what to eat and what not to eat. Coca-Cola recently even went as far as creating a special campaign to combat obesity - yes you read that right - a sugar filled soda company trying to stop obesity. (You can read my reaction to that here).
Unfortunately, the doctors in this country are not exactly leading the discussion either, since nutrition is not currently a focus in medical school. And the government has their hands tied by big food industry and chemical company lobbyists that basically control what the FDA approves, deems safe for human consumption, and our overall food policy.
So who is going to finally tell us the truth about our food?
The food industry does not want us to pay attention to the ingredients nor do they care about the negative effects from eating them. They certainly don't care about the astronomical medical bills that are a direct result of us eating the inferior food they are creating.
The HELP we need starts here. We as a collective nation must stop this trajectory of sickness and rising health care costs, by understanding the ingredients we are putting into our bodies. We must challenge the U.S. food industry to discontinue the use of banned ingredients that are not allowed elsewhere in the world. We deserve to have the same quality food without potential toxins.
Food is medicine, and plain and simple, if our food is sick (filled with GMO’s, chemicals, additives, artificial ingredients, and/or carcinogens), collectively we as a country are going to continue to be sick.
Using banned ingredients that other countries have determined unsafe for human consumption has become a pandemic in this country. To prove this point, I found the best and easiest place to look for evidence was just across "the pond" in the United Kingdom, where they enjoy some of the same types of products we do - but with totally different ingredient lists.
It is appalling to witness the examples I am about to share with you. The U.S. food corporations are unnecessarily feeding us chemicals - while leaving out almost all questionable ingredients in our friends' products overseas. The point is the food industry has already formulated safer, better products, but they are voluntarily only selling inferior versions of these products here in America. The evidence of this runs the gamut from fast food places to boxed cake mix to cereal to candy and even oatmeal - you can't escape it.
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Some of the key American brands that are participating in this deception are McDonald's, Pringles (owned by Kellogg's), Pizza Hut and Quaker (owned by Pepsi), Betty Crocker (owned by General Mills), Starburst (owned by M&M/Mars), and Ritz Crackers (owned by Kraft). In the examples below, red text indicates potentially harmful ingredients and/or ingredients likely to contain GMOs.
Having a pre-made box of flour, baking soda and sugar all ready to go saves time for some people when it comes to making a cake, but does saving time have to come at the expense of chemically derived and potentially toxic ingredients?
The United States version of Betty Crocker Red Velvet cake not only has artificial colors linked to hyperactivity in children, food cravings, and obesity, but it also has partially hydrogenated oils (a.k.a. trans fat). Trans fat has been shown to be deadly even in small amounts. “Previous trials have linked even a 40-calorie-per-day increase in trans fat intake to a 23% higher risk of heart disease.” This could easily be the amount of trans fat in one serving of Betty Crocker icing alone.
Sodium benzoate is an ingredient that Coca-Cola actually removed in their Diet Coke product overseas, but you'll still find it in their product Sprite, cake mixes and loads of other products across the USA. The Mayo Clinic reported that this preservative increases hyperactivity in children. Also, when sodium benzoate combines with ascorbic acid (vitamin C), it can form benzene, a carcinogen that damages DNA in cells and accelerates aging.
Fast Food giants like McDonald's and Pizza Hut are just as guilty as General Mills' Betty Crocker.
Look closely at the ingredients in McDonald's french fries above. Do you see how the french fries in the U.K. version are basically just potatoes, vegetable oil, a little sugar and salt? How can McDonald's make french fries with such an uncomplicated list of ingredients all over Europe, but not over here?
Why do McDonald's french fries in the U.S. have to have TBHQ, trans fat and "anti-foaming" agents? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time I checked - I didn't think Americans liked foam with their fries either!
The anti-foaming agent - dimethylpolysiloxane - is a type of silicone used in caulks and sealants and as a filler for breast implants. It's also the key ingredient in silly putty.
Thanks FDA for allowing companies to put silly putty in our french fries. Seriously - this is out of control.
McDonalds Strawberry Sauce in the United States includes high fructose corn syrup, red #40 and sodium benzoate, while the citizens of the U.K. get off scot-free. Instead, they get 37% real strawberries in their product and no additional flavoring or harmful preservatives.
Pizza Hut does a huge disservice to us (and their workers) by using Azodicarbonamide in their garlic cheese bread. This ingredient is banned as a food additive in the U.K., Europe, and Australia, and if you get caught using it in Singapore you can get up to 15 years in prison and be fined $450,000.
The U.K. has recognized this ingredient as a potential cause of asthma if inhaled, and advises against its use in people who have sensitivity to food dye allergies and other common allergies in food, because azodicarbonamide can exacerbate the symptoms.
However, Pizza Hut and many other fast food chains like Subway and Starbucks use this ingredient in their U.S. bread products.
Natural and artificial flavors and hidden MSG (in the form of autolyzed yeast extract, in this case) are commonly found throughout products in America but not elsewhere. Junk food companies intentionally add this combination of ingredients to create sensory overload by exciting your brain cells to remember the food you are eating and make less nutritious ingredients taste better to you.
I'm not saying that the food industry has completely eliminated these same tricks abroad - but when you look at the U.K. version of garlic cheese bread, the ingredients look pretty basic. Many of the ingredients you could use at home to make garlic bread. I've never found TBHQ in the baking aisle at the grocery store, have you?
TBHQ, by the way, is a preservative derived from petroleum and used in perfumes, resins, varnishes and oil field chemicals. Laboratory studies have linked TBHQ to stomach tumors. This preservative is also used by Chick-Fil-A in their famous chicken sandwiches.
Reviewing the ingredients in Pringles really got me worked up....ever wonder why you can't stop eating chips after having just one? MSG is the culprit - and in the U.S. version of Pringles, it's added twice! Once in its known name and again in a hidden source, called "yeast extract."
This begs the question "Why are Americans so addicted to processed food?!" The food industry has designed it that way on purpose to line their pockets with profits, at the expense of our health.
The U.K. Ritz Crackers ingredient list resembles items that you'd find in every household around the country - but the United States version goes the extra mile to include trans fat, HFCS and natural flavor. Natural flavor can be also be a hidden form of MSG, which, again, is an additive that will likely make you eat more than you would otherwise.
In the United States, Quaker Oats has several different flavors of oatmeal that contain different fruit flavored, artificially dyed pieces of dehydrated apple but that don't actually contain any of the fruit shown on the package. But in the U.K. - they don't even attempt to sell that garbage. They instead have a product called "Oats so Simple" that actually has REAL strawberries in it - light years ahead of our version that includes trans fat, artificial food coloring, and artificial flavors.
There's only one difference in Rice Krispies between the U.S. and U.K. version - but it's a big difference. It's one ingredient that is banned virtually in every other country, except here in the United States. That ingredient is called BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) or BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and is a very common preservative used rampantly throughout packaged food in the U.S.
Test studies published by the IPCS (International Program for Chemical Safety) "show tissue inflammation, enlargement, and/or growths in 100%, and cancer in 35% of [animal] subjects" as reported in this article. How can the U.S. allow this chemical in our food - much less in cereal aimed and targeted at our kids?
And speaking of targeting our kids - food companies have found a way to naturally color candy all over Europe, but our candy here is still full of artificial substances made from petroleum and GMO sugar. Looking at the ingredients in Starburst Fruit Chews provides a great example of this disgrace.
I saved the most startling fact for last. One very cautionary set of ingredients that are included in almost all of the American products but not the U.K. products are GMO's, in the form of either corn or soy.
There have been no long term human studies on GMOs and preliminary studies on animals show horrific consequences. For instance, a study showed GMOs caused toxic and allergic reactions, sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ studied in lab animals.
Another study revealed that female rats fed GMO soy for 15 months showed significant health issues in their uterus and reproductive cycle, compared to rats fed organic soy or those raised without soy. A 2009 French Study concluded that Glyphosate (used on GMO soy) can kill the cells in the outer layer of the human placenta, the organ that connects the mother to her fetus, providing nutrients and oxygen and emptying waste products.
A Russian study conducted on hamsters that were fed GMO soy diets for two years over three generations found that by the third generation, most of the hamsters lost the ability to have babies, showed slower growth, and suffered a higher mortality rate.
In the U.K. food companies are required by law to list if a certain ingredient is derived from a genetically modified or genetically engineered material on the label. Out of all the products I researched, I couldn't find one product with this label. (See example from GMO-Compass and BBC above of what it would look like if I did.)
This was very telling considering that not only have food companies taken out all sorts of hazardous chemical ingredients abroad - but they also have willingly reformulated their products without GMOs.
Food corporations in the U.S. claim reformulating their products to remove harmful ingredients or changing labels would be too expensive - but they've already done just that in Europe and in many other countries. Their governments listened to the outrage of their people and took the safety of their citizens' health above everything else.
Is it too much to ask the same for us in the United States of America? How much do our sickness, obesity, and mortality rates have to worsen before they respond to us?
I will leave you with this note: Lisa and I are very disturbed about the shameful hypocrisy allowed to happen with our food supply here in the U.S. In fact we are feeling very compelled to do something about it. Stay tuned, because we are going to need every one of you to help when we are ready. In the meantime, I hope you'll come check me out at Food Babe and also share this article (you can use the green ShareThis button below).
March 5th Update: Lisa and I have started a petition - please sign and share it now. Together we can make a change.
Comments have been closed on this article, which was written by Vani Hari. If you have a question or comment you can reach her at http://FoodBabe.com.
LIndsay says
I too am overwhelmed with this issue. Please let us know how to help. I'm not sure where to start...
Thanks!
Kina says
A lot of the American ingredients are allowed in Sweden so it doen't include all of Europe. Sweden for example LOVES Sodium Benzoate...
Eleah Boyd says
What ever the science is, I am not certain, what I do know is that people like myself who are slowly deteriorating from "unknown" "un-treatable" diseases are being told by mainstream America that the food we eat has nothing to do with it, yet the only thing that seems to make a difference in the way that I feel and think and function and heal is what I don't eat. The best I have ever felt was 2 weeks that I spent in Africa, eating freshly prepared food. I saw the chicken that morning running around and the beans on the vine before we threw them in the pot!
Sam says
The shocking amount of sodium in processed food is scary! Not to mention all the dairy additives which really do not need to be in there. Eat less dairy people!
Jessica, RN says
As a nurse who enjoys doing "food research" as an (odd) personal little hobby, I really enjoyed this article. I applaud you! Yes, Americans are some of the least healthy people on the planet despite all of the opportunities and advantages we have here. Sometimes one of the most frustrating things about working in health care is seeing how needlessly sick people in this country make themselves simply by what they choose to put in their mouth. Aside from the politics and money of why our food is like this in the US (which is a huge part of the problem), do you know what all those other countries that don't allow all that junk in their food have in common? Universal healthcare!!! A government who pays for its people's healthcare has a much more vested interest in keeping its people healthy because obviously as the statistics show in the US, its much more expensive to take care of people that have chronic illness - like diabetes and heart disease.
You also mentioned in your post about doctors talking to patients about nutrition. Doctors don't get any substantial teaching about nutrition. Did you know that? In the 12+ years doctors spend in school learning to be doctors, they only get about 5 hours of teaching on nutrition! 5 hours!!! Nurses are required to take nutrition as a prerequisite course to get into nursing school, and are taught about nutrition throughout nursing school. Our board exams even have many questions about appropriate diet selections to teach patients. Patient education is one of the biggest things we do as nurses, and talking to patients about what to eat are common conversations we have. Many people really have no concept of what it means or looks like to eat healthy. This has to change. Thankfully there are people like you putting this information out there!
Sara K says
I know I am always surprised about our pediatrician's responses to diet questions. She knows we are vegetarian but still kept telling us our baby should have that jarred turkey! She pushes such junk on us!
Bobby says
This whole article is a load of bollocks. Canola Oil has Omega-3 Fatty Acids, which is better for you than soybean oil, and equally as good as olive oil, if you can buy that correctly.
Trish says
Canola oil in the US is genetically modified.
Sandy says
Bobby, with all due respects, canola oil does not even get close to being equally as good as olive oil, which you certainly can buy currently at any store today. In fact, it's the only one I have been buying for years, EXTRA virgin olive oil to be specific...healthiest without doubt!
Keri says
Can you explain why you think the "whole article is a load of bollocks"? Are you saying the author's lying? That no chemicals exist in processed foods? Or that the chemicals listed are harmless? Or... Or.... what, exactly?
Very unhelpful to trash a whole article as bollocks without stating why. Perhaps you feel the same way about nuclear waste or industrial air pollution or the pollution of rivers & oceans in the same dismissive manner.
Priscilla says
Thats it. Screw this and America's selfishness and greed for money T___T'. I can't believe that we are consuming these toxins almost everyday and we don't realize it and we're so ignorant about this issue!! Ugh.. this motivates me more to study nutrition. I wish everyone would become more educated about their environment and what they put on their plate you know? Im so glad to come across your article, thank you so much.
Michelle says
Please be very careful with PALM OIL which was used as a substitute ingredient. Big corporations are letting you think this is the way to go but they are actually killing the rain forests to grow palm oil. The gasses emitted from the deforestation of these amazing forests are in turn the cause for most of the ozone depletion. We are wiping out species of animals, plants, and trees that have not even been recorded yet. There is also a tree that cures all cancers but we have cut them down to grow palm oil which has as much trans fat as the rest of the crap we eat. We are destroying quicker than you may know. Please don't support palm oil ingredients.
Sara K says
I just read about the palm oil industry and was sick to my stomach after reading it. All of the damage to the rainforest and the chimps living there are allowed to be buried alive or burned alive. They are considered "pests" by the governments. It's horrible. I have been paying attention to those products much more. I love Nutella but need to find something else now that I know it has palm oil!
Bill Allen says
In the mean time, does anyone have a list of foods/companies that have safe food in the US ?
andrea says
Vegetables and fruits. From organic farms, especially.
leann says
I love Trader Joe's! I travel 250 miles to TJs and really stock up.(haha I also visit family while I'm there)
Their website says:
All Products In the Trader Joe's Label Promise:
NO artificial flavors, colors or preservatives
NO genetically modified ingredient
NO MSG
NO added Trans Fats
LeAnn says
I like Trader Joe's.
Sarah says
Thank you for this. It is very scary and upsetting. For the last few months I have been trying my best not to eat processed foods. It is possible but difficult because you have to read labels very carefully.
Anne Caston says
I did notice that, in the Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting list from Great Britain, the final ingredient is sodium hydroxide! How is that safer????
Keri says
I noticed that too. I looked up sodium hydroxide ("lye") on the 'net and it's one of those chemicals with multiple uses (including drain cleaner, and the production of detergents). But it's also been used in foods for a long time - particularly green olives, pretzels, Chinese noodles, lutefisk, and hominy grits). I would imagine the Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting contains a very tiny amount of sodium hydroxide.
That said, I can't think why anyone would want to buy such a product?? To save time? Sheer laziness? It's so simple to make your own cream cheese frosting with 4 ingredients: butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and a splash of (real) vanilla extract. >That's assuming that each of those ingredients are "clean" :)
Possibly, it costs more to make your own frosting with fresh ingredients than it does to buy the boxed, chemical version, but you know what - if I didn't have the money to make my own I'd sooner go without than ingest chemicals. Just not worth it.
Steph says
This is a really interesting post! You mention it a little at the end, but I would really like to see more on the actual economic impact of switching to the better ingredient versions. I know companies use these chemicals because they're cheaper than the natural ingredients, so it would be interesting to see how much it would really cost us to get there!
Liet says
Well written Vani. I don't understand why America puts so much fillers in their products, except they leave one of the biggest carbon footprints. But all over the world people are getting obese, anywhere you have fast food/restaurant chains and lots of kids stuck behind TV/net/cell phones. UK may have cleaner foods than the USA but they lead in mad cow disease. The UKs Prince Philip has even said of humans:
"What would be its feelings toward the human species whose population explosion had denied it somewhere to exist... I must confess that I am tempted to ask for reincarnation as a particularly deadly virus. "
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh#Quotes
stacia nordin says
Vani, thank you for this and helping to wake up the world to understand what is in processed food and that we are getting played.
It doesn't have to be this way, there are companies that are producing food that is healthy for us and our environment - yes they are few and far between, but in addition to searching out real organic food, we can support these companies. Maybe you could do a whole article on good food companies that we can rally behind and support. Put our money into the good and not into the bad, that's a big message to companies.
I'm part of an amazing group of Registered Dietitians Hunger and Environmental Nutrition dietetic practie group http://www.HENdpg.org who are working toward healthy food systems and advocating for our own nutrition organization to partner with healthy food and beverage companies. The unhealthy companies have got a grip there, too, but we are changing things for the better, the conversation is moving with all the public discucsion - which we need more of, open and honest discussion, open and honest systems.
My family is also a part of the Permaculture movement around the world, living the 3 ethics of caring for the earth, its people and sharing resoruces fairly. For our own website see http://www.NeverEndingFood.org where we live in Malawi. The unhealthy companies are working their way into life here as well, I hope that people wake up to the problem of these companies before it becomes a big problem for our people, society and environment.
Cathie says
This is a great article. Thanks for doing the research. One of the big problems is that the top dogs in the FDA used to work for the company that manufactures Roundup (and an argument could be made that they still DO). Between that and the big food company lobbyists, legislation to label GMO food has so far been successfully suppressed. CA just recently had a public vote on whether to require GMOs to be labeled, and these companies spent billions in advertising to misinform the public and keep it from getting passed. They succeeded. Regarding marking the soy ingredients in this article RED but not the soy in European products... That would be because at least 90% of the soy produced here in the US is now GMO whereas in Europe - where it must be LABELED if GMO - it is not. Perhaps because if given a choice people don't WANT to eat soy products that have been modified to resist Roundup and then soaked in it time after time after time before being harvested.
Oh, and the FDA cleared the way for GMO salmon right before Christmas... when no one was paying attention of course. If you are really interested in finding out more about these issues, check out Millions Against Monsanto on fb, and watch the movie Food Inc. Trust me... You will never look at food the same way again.
Meadow says
And GB is having the SAME obesity problem we are having in the U.S.-- 1/3 of the population over there is obese as well. However-- they do tend to live longer, which I would attribute to their healthcare system.
Meadow says
And Propane-1,2-diol is used as a solvent and antifreeze. http://www.ebi.ac.uk/chebi/searchId.do?chebiId=CHEBI:16997
Mmm--mmm! Gimme some of that British antifreeze in my cake!
Stephanie says
I'd be interested to see what the difference is with Canadian foods, are they made with the same ingredients as US foods? Do we have as many GMOs up here? Is there a Canadian food babe equivalent?
Melissa says
Thanks for posting. Mind blowing.
candy says
This is crazy! makes you wonder about our government is this there way of keeping control over the population or/and you figure if they put harmful chemicals in our food it controls how much social security they have to pay out.. If you dont survive till social security age then all that money you paid in goes in there pockets... just a thought... look around everyone knows at least one person if not more that has some form of cancer... why? where does so much sickness and diseases come from, now we know... We as americans need to stop accepting this kind of stuff and stand up... This is not right if other countries can make the same products without these harmful ingredients than why do we need them... Thanks for this article, very informative... My son loves mcdonalds fries, but he wont get them no more after this...
Dye Diet says
There is a clear formula I came to realize after TWO years publishing at Dye Diet: THE MORE WE DEVIATE FROM NORMAL HUMAN DIET, THE LESS HUMAN WE BECOME. Eat food, not food additives! Get back to your kitchen and start cooking for yourself and your family IF you want to stay: 1) human and 2 ) alive.
Dye Diet says
Yes, it is a good representation of what we do have in the American food supply vs the European one. But Center For Science in the Public Interest has been exposing this very problem of their website for YEARS: go to their "Food safety" then "Food dyes" too see the article and picture. Your article once more time has convinced me that ONLY CHEMISTS can professionally CORRECTLY interpret ingredient lists: You have marked RED "propylene glycol" esters in American food but failed to recognize that "propane-1,2-dial esters" in British food is simply a synonym of the same substance, which, in addition in NO WAY is dangerous for humans. Another thing: What makes you think bad about "soybean and canola oils" in American food and good about "Vegetable oils" (which are likely again soybean and canola oils) in European foods? Those are NOT toxic ingredients to be afraid about. As well as soy lecithin. And in the same time you not a single time have marked RED the synthetic polymer Polysorbate 60..... Go to Dye Diet for more details from a professional chemist's point of view.
Mariellen Jacobs says
The moral of the story is this. Eat as close as you can to nature. MOVE...once you are past childhood, exercise is key to health and weight management. It ain't rocket science, folks. Do your research and eat what is good for your body. Fast food? Don't eat it!! Make your own meals. It's not the government's job to dictate what is healthy for you. It's up to YOU!
Leslie says
Loved the article and all the FB articles you send around. I do the best I can to eat without consuming all the garbage that is put into processed foods.
I would also say, that I think the majority of people either don't care, say their lives are to busy, or make excuse's for what they eat. Most people don't pay attention to what is going on in this country, let alone what they eat.
Yes, it is sad. Has anyone watched the shows where they go out and ask very simple questions that most people should know? Stunning. So, to ask people to pay attention to what they eat......to much to ask I am afraid. Those of us who are concerned will pay attention, but without a real reason, nope.
Misty says
Insightful and honest article-thank you..Veggies and fruits are my staples it is unfortunate so many do not realize all the dangers or even care..
Jasmine Rivas says
Nice work, thank you for doing what you do and sharing it with the world ;)
scrammer says
Damn. .. Too bad about starburst!!
Caroline Stanton says
You know, many of these ingredients in red, on the American labels, are also in the UK labels under different names. For instance, glucose-fructose syrup is the same as high fructose corn syrup. FYI.
Tiffany Lindsey says
What do we eat then? I've heard a lot about this lately and it's scary! I don't want to eat or feed my family food that is going to harm us in any way. What is safe to eat?
Becca C. says
Fruits and veggies, real food. =)
Deb says
Best article I've read so far. No other has made me madder, either.
Thanks for the info.
Deannej says
The point here, is that there are many people who have no idea where their food comes from. I can't count how many people (not just overweight people) have said that if it's allowed in our food, it must be okay.) I watched one TV reality show where a man actually said, "These product were created by smart and educated people. They wouldn't allow this stuff if it was all that bad for us.") Can you believe hoq trusting they are of these companies? Too think that they they wouldn't sell their customers up the river to make a $1.50 bad of cheese curls is completely naive. One day, about a year ago I began to have moderate anaphylactic reactions to foods. I did an elimination diet but just couldn't pin point one or two things that were causing it. Terrifying. During this time, I was able to eat only about 10 foods. I dissected ingredients like my life depended on it (because it did) and was extremely disgusted by what I found. So many unnecessary, disease causing, chemicals in our foods that our bodies just weren't meant to process. The average person has no practical need to research what cellulose gum is and why it's in our cheese, or understand why BHT is so bad for us, or that all of the juices in the juice aisle are so processed that any nutritional value they once had has to be added back with flavoring packets. After a year, and 40 lbs down later; I'd only seen doctors who would rather send me to a psychiatrist than put actual effort into diagnosing me; (because they were stumped - it had to be my imagination) I found out for myself that I had leaky gut syndrome. A simple probiotic was the answer. (Evidently, a course of antibiotics I'd had at the dentist's office depleted my gut of all of the bacteria needed to process food) I still cannot eat most of the top allergens, like soy, eggs, nuts, and shellfish - but I can eat some processed foods in moderation - with mixed results. This has taught me that whether you suffer from these symptoms or not -- our bodies DO know the difference. Food allergy and sensitivity are more rampant than ever, and I whole-heartedly believe it's because our food is not as wholesome as it was 30 years ago. It's time for food companies to be responsible for what they are selling us. If a product claims to be food, then there should be more actual food that chemicals on the ingredient list. The next time you get a headache, feel nauseous, irritable, suddenly lightheaded, or suffer from brain fog, or feel more tired than energized by your dinner; google the ingredients in what you last ate. Check out every thing from the meat you used, to the steak sauce, and even your veggies. It's likely that you'll find more answers there than in taking a pill to fix it.
JoJo Montreal says
And yet I have seen in written many Americans laugh at Canadians, saying we are ridiculous when we want to see what we are eating on our labels. That's the reason people!
S.A. says
I was well aware the fact that food in America contained a lot of suspicious chemicals that certainly isnt healthy for us, but seeing a comparison of both the US and the UK version of same products is really an eye opener! I normally stay away from food that I know is full of artificial crap and either make it myself or buy alternatives that contains less "bad stuff". Ã would never, however, give any of my future children food that might cause them harm.
If I am not totally wrong, then here in Europe/EU, the companies HAVE to note ALL the E-numbers in the product. The more E's, the more artificial the product is. THere are many producs who sadly contain this and is quite unneccesary if you ask me, but the companies do everything to make products last longer and avoid money loss from tossing out the expired products.
I've wondered about something for a long time... Those companies who make all this bad food filled with GMOs and chemical crap, do they eat this food themselves? Because I would like to see how they are faring health-wise from eating their own products, IF they even do that..
Dye Diet says
Do NOT be naive. The owners of big food companies profiting from poisoning ignorant Americans have their personal family chefs working hard to cook perfectly nutritious food for them.
Yasmin says
Monsanto serve only organic food in their Cafe!!!
CASSANDRA says
THIS COMMENT IS IN RESPONSE TO DAVE'S
YES. YOU DO SOUND LIKE AN IDIOT. LEAVING THE UK 200+ YEARS AGO FOR "FREEDOM" HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. ALL THESE "FREEDOMS" YOU LIST WE ACTUALLY CAN'T OBTAIN OR NEVER WILL BECAUSE OF MINDS THAT ARE CONVINCED AS YOURS. FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS MAKE RAIDS ON CO- OPS, FARMERS AND ORGANIC RAW DAIRY FARMS BECAUSE THEY AREN'T DOING IT THE FDA WAY. THE GAME IS TO SNUFF ORGANIC FARMERS OUT BEFORE YOU EVEN NOTICE THERE WAS ANOTHER OPTION. LOBBYISTS ARE THE ONES THAT SAY WHAT "GROWS" AND WHAT DOESN'T. WE HAVE NO SUCH FREEDOMS. YOU ARE PREJUDICED AGAINST PEOPLE WITH LITTLE CONTROL OVER THEIR OWN SITUATION. CLEARLY THESE LABELS ARE MISGUIDING AND WE HAVE MONSANTO TO THANK FOR BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SPENT ON DUPING THEM. NOT TO MENTION OFTEN OBESITY IS INHERITED, WETHER ON A MOLECULAR LEVEL OR SIMPLY BY HANDING DOWN "FAMILY RECIPES" THE TRUTH IS AMERICA IS SICK AND SO ARE YOU.
Linda says
well Matt you are wrong they are telling us how and what to do some are just to blind to see it we are not as free as we think have you ever thought how we just let stuff like this food thing go on and never do anything about it when did we stop helping our self? Come on people stop being dumb and start a sort of war on this kind of thing stuff would change if we stood up for us, ask the south about that.We have us to blame/// And I have not said this before never been on here till now
Linda says
well Matt you are wrong they are telling us how and what to do some are just to blind to see it we are not as free as we think have you ever thought how we just let stuff like this food thing go on and never do anything about it when did we stop helping our self? Come on people stop being dumb and start a sort of war on this kind of thing stuff would change if we stood up for us, ask the south about that.We have us to blame///
Tyler says
I read your first two explanations between the differences of U.S. vs. UK products. I stopped reading after that. You might be a great writer, but you are a terrible investigator. Go back to school and learn science, you have no idea what you are talking about.
J. Lundgren says
You would think that it costs more to produce two different formulas. One would think they should just use the UK formula since it is more restrictive. Surely using less ingredients cost less to produce.
Michael Crump says
America is firmly in the hands of the healthcare industry - we are making people too rich for them to want us to get healthy. Wake up to reality. As to someone thinking that we should not follow the example of the UK, they are wrong in this case. We need to reshape our healthcare so that it is not for profit. Yeah, right, that will happen.
Marcie McNamara says
Eating healthy in the US is difficult. Ca. had it on the ballot to ban GMO, but there was too much money paid out in defeating it.
Having various digestive issues, have been really been putting in a lot of effort to try and eat healthy. I have pretty much stopped shopping at the local grocery stores, and instead have been shopping in the local Asian markets where most of the food is organic and veggies are soooo much cheaper (and fresher) than our local Vons and Albertsons, whose prices on food marked "organic" are at least 1 and a half times more expensive.