Food additives having health hazards

Many food products are manufactured and marketed worldwide, and we are eating them to reduce our efforts for food and saving time or eat because we enjoy it.

But are they safe? The food manufacturer has to add differents chemicals or additives to make the food presentable to the people with attractive colour, flavour, and nutrients or calories. But the truth is they have to preserve the food for an extended period and add preservatives.

Today's topic of Dr. Hasan's Blog - www.dr-hasan.info is Food additives having health hazards.

Let’s try to evaluate some common food products and additives which are damaging our body silently-

Soft drinks and other beverages:

Soft drinks and other beverages contain colouring agents, high sugar, and soda.

All of these are injurious to our health. High sugar produces high calories, and you will gain weight. By drinking one cane soft drink, you could gain up to 5 pounds of weight in a year. (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/sugary-drinks/ )

The soft drink contains soda, which causes osteoporosis and may fracture your bone.

Bleached flour:

Bleaching agents are used in flour to make it whitish. Fleshly milled flour is yellowish. Bleaching agents are also used to oxidize the surfaces of the flour grains and help with the development of gluten. The main contributor to the ‘food and drug act,’ Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, charged a case against using bleaching agents as food additives. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Food_and_Drug_Act )The Supreme Court passed a judgment to stop using bleaching agents to food. But many manufacturers are avoiding these rules, and we have to take white bleached flour.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG):

It is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, a widely used food additive, and using for the last 100 years. It is used to create different tests and smells in food. It is a CNS (central nervous system stimulant). It is relatively safe, but if we eat about every meal containing MSG may cause health hazards like obesity, and it may damage our hypothalamus.

Sodium Benzoate:

Sodium benzoate is a food additive used as a preservative in varieties of processed food. If sodium benzoate is used with other artificial food colours or vitamin C may cause cancer.

It is suspected that sodium benzoate, in addition to artificial food colour, may increase hyperactivity in some children. Sodium benzoate in soft drinks may also react with added vitamin C to make benzene, a cancer-causing substance. In 2006 and 2007, the FDA tested a sample of almost 200 beverages from stores in different states that contained sodium benzoate and vitamin C. Four of the beverages had high levels of benzene. And it may cause cancer.

Saccharin:

It is an artificial sweetener, and its chemical composition is formed by benzoic sulfilimine. It has no food energy and is much sweeter than sucrose. It is used to sweeten products such as drinks, candies, cookies, medicines, and toothpaste. By prolong and high use, it acts as a carcinogen (a substance responsible for developing cancer).

Today Dr. Hasan's Blog - www.dr-hasan.info is discussing about Food additives having health hazards.

Artificial food colouring:

These are chemical dyes used to colour food and drinks. Many types of processed foods, beverages contain artificial colouring substances. Some of the colouring dye, like the dye Yellow No. 5, has been thought to worsen asthma symptoms. In the 1970s, the FDA banned the dye. Red Dye No. 2, after some studies, found that large doses could cause cancer in rats. Red 40 and Yellow 6 also have adverse effects on our bodies. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2957945/ )

Trans fat:

Trans fats are artificially created when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil. However, small amounts of Trans fats are present naturally in animal fat. Trans fats increase the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The American Heart Association recommends getting less than 1% of your daily calories from Trans fats. But we are taking much more by eating vegetable oil which is used for cooking and by eating a large amount of animal meat.

There are many other additives used in processed food. We have to be careful to take them and try to use the minimum in our daily life.

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Food additives having health hazards