[SDOG]

Who here actually cares about what they put in their bodies?

Tell me something I or someone else might not know about things the average american consumes.

What are food additives?
Food additives are chemical compounds that are used to enhance the flavour, colour and texture and prolong the shelf life of manufactured foods. The FDA and other authorities around the world tell us that permitted food additives are safe in small quantities. The reality, however, is that some food additives are consumed in far greater quantities than may have been foreseen, and that many are consumed with other chemicals in combinations that have not been (and cannot possibly be) extensively tested. You need only do a search on the internet for such additives as "MSG" or "Aspartame" to find that many specialists are worried about the long-term effect on consumers.

If you want to know what you are putting into your body and feeding your children, you must become adept at reading food labels and understanding the implications of those incomprehensible lists of chemical ingredients.

MSG
MSG is a food additive originally developed to enhance the flavour of Chinese food. It is now used extensively in snack foods - particularly heavily flavoured potato chips (crisps), stocks and sauces. MSG stands for Monosodium
Glutamate, and Monosodium Glutamate or MSG is an excitotoxin. Excitotoxins are designed to excite the taste buds on your tongue, thereby enhancing the flavour of the food. But MSG is also known to cause nerve damage by overexciting your nerves.

An unknown percentage of the population reacts badly to MSG with symptoms that can include numbness or burning on the back of the neck, back and arms, tingling sensations on the face, neck and back, headache, nausea, rapid heart beat and weakness. Some scientists believe that MSG also contributes to long term neurological damage and could be a factor in such diseases as MS and Alzheimer's.

You will rarely see "MSG" on a list of ingredients. It is usually hidden within other common ingredients such as yeast extract, autolyzed vegetable protein or hydrolyzed vegetable protein - all three of which contain MSG and should be avoided.

Sodium Nitrite
Sodium Nitrite is added to many packaged and deli counter meat products, to add red colouring to meats in order to make them look fresher and more appetizing. The "sodium" in the name leaves many people thinking it is a form of salt, but Sodium Nitrite is, in fact a carcinogen (a cancer-causing substance) that has been linked to brain tumours, leukaemia and cancers of the digestive tract. Amazingly this is an "accepted" ingredient and you will find no warnings on food labels.

BHA and BHT
These food additives are preservative and are used to prevent oils or fats from
going rancid. They slow down the autoxidation rate of ingredients (reaction with oxygen in the air) that can cause changes in taste or colour. Despite Department of Health and Human Services findings that BHA is considered to be "a reasonably anticipated human carcinogen", the FDA continues to allow this additive to be used.

Aspartame
Aspartame is a chemical sweetener that is used extensively in diet soft drinks and deserts. There is huge controversy over this sweetener, with over 90 health symptoms reported in various studies. Many children (and their weight conscious parents) consume vast quantities of aspartame by drinking supposedly "healthy" sugar-free drinks and eating sugar-free yoghurts and snacks.




This is just the tip of the iceberg. If this thread gets any activity I will start posting more but I don't think its useful to put much more information then this at once.

[Capn]

I've read alot about all these substances. The FDA is ran by the same people who used to head the companies that developed most of these substances.

Go figure right?

[AndreNicky]

This is why i only eat locally grown fruit and vegetables from the farmers market, they put so much bullshit in food nowadays its no wonder people are so fat and fucked up