Do You Eat Food With Any Of These 9 Cancer-Causing Chemicals?
July 19, 2004 — There are more than 3000 different chemicals added to our food. Manufacturers add these chemicals to make the food last longer, look better or taste better. Many of them are dangerous. Some cause cancer. So why are they allowed in our food? Powerful food industry lobbies put political pressure on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow small amounts of cancer-causing substances in our food. So, not only are many of our foods not healthy, they’re unsafe. But you?ll probably never find out because the companies that produce the chemicals or add them to your food usually do the testing for safety. Needless to say, the test results almost always show that the food additives are safe. What?s more, safety testing has only been done for individual additives, not for combinations of additives. Nobody knows the effects of the many different additives used in the thousands of different combinations.
You can stay healthy by not buying foods that contain harmful additives. To help you out, here are some cancer-causing chemicals you?re going to want to watch out for and keep out of the food you eat:
- Acesulfame-K, also known as Acesulfame-potassium or ?Sunnette? is an artificial sweetener. It has not been adequately tested for human consumption. The FDA approved this additive even though the tests done to determine its safety did not meet the FDA standards and caused cancer in lab animals.
- Here?s a rogue?s gallery of artificial colors used in foods. Green #3, Blue #1, Blue #2, Yellow #5, Yellow #6 and Red #3 are all carcinogens. Some of them have other harmful effects such as allergic reactions, interfering with nerve transmission and genetic damage.
- BHA & BHT are widely used as preservatives, stabilizers and antioxidants. BHA is known to cause cancer in humans. Both BHA and BHT are toxic to the liver and kidneys. BHT may react with other ingested substances to cause the formation of carcinogens. BHT is banned in England.
- Potassium bromate is used to treat flour to give bread and baked goods a sponge-like quality. It is a carcinogen and highly toxic. It is banned worldwide, except in the U.S. and Japan.
- Carrageenan in its native form has not been classified as a carcinogen, but in it?s degraded or broken down form it has been classified as a possible human carcinogen. The problem is that carrageenan cannot be identified as native or degraded on food labels, so there is no way of knowing if you are ingesting the carcinogenic form of carrageenan or not.
- Nitrates and nitrites are found primarily in processed meats. Although they don?t cause cancer by themselves, they combine with stomach acids and chemicals in foods to form nitrosamines, which are powerful carcinogens.
- Olestra has not been shown to cause cancer. However, it robs the body of carotenoids, which are known to have a protective effect against cancer. Watch out if you eat potato or corn chips that have been prepared with olestra. Studies have shown a 40-50% drop in blood carotenoids after consuming the amount of olestra found in only 6-16 potato chips.
- Propyl gallate is used as an antioxidant in fats, oils, candy and a variety of processed foods. It is a suspected carcinogen and has not been adequately tested.
- Saccharin, or Sweet ?N Low, is an artificial sweetener that is known to cause cancer. Because of pressure from the food industry, in 2000, saccharin was removed from the list of cancer-causing chemicals, in spite of the fact that studies still show that it causes cancer in lab animals.
There are even more cancer-causing and unsafe additives that are added to our food. So, how do you know which foods are really safe to eat? Dr. Christine Farlow, in her handy pocket-sized book, FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper’s Guide To What’s Safe & What’s Not, now in its 2004 revised edition, makes it easy to identify which additives are harmful
Farlow, an Escondido, CA, chiropractor and nutritionist has been counseling patients in nutrition and teaching nutrition classes since 1984. She has helped thousands of people improve their health through nutrition. She is also the author of HEALTHY EATING: For Extremely Busy People Who Don’t Have Time For It, and DYING TO LOOK GOOD: The Disturbing Truth About What?s Really in Your Cosmetics, Toiletries and Personal Care Products.
The book can be purchased online at www.healthyeatingadvisor.com/foodadditives.html, on amazon.com, at health food stores or from KISS For Health Publishing, P.O. Box 462335-306, Escondido, CA 92046-2335. To order by mail, send $4.95 + $1.50 S&H. California residents add $.50 sales tax.
Farlow is available for telephone interviews.
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