All the Health Risks of Processed Foods

Every day, 7 percent of the U.S. population visits a McDonald's, and 20-25 percent eat fast food of some kind, says Steven Gortmaker, professor of society, human development, and health at the Harvard School of Public Health. As for children, 30 percent between the ages of 4 and 19 eat fast food on any given day.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Americans get processed food not only from fast-food restaurants but also from their neighborhood grocery stores. As it stands, about 90 percent of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy--that's right--processed foods.

Think about it ... if it comes in a box, can, bag or carton, it's processed. The fact that these foods are so readily available, and, often, of such poor quality, has led some, like associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard David Ludwig, to say that they're actually discouraging healthy eating and leading to a "toxic environment."

"There's the incessant advertising and marketing of the poorest quality foods imaginable. To address this epidemic, you'd want to make healthful foods widely available, inexpensive, and convenient, and unhealthful foods relatively less so. Instead, we've done the opposite," says Ludwig.

Processed foods have, indeed, been implicated in a host of chronic diseases and health conditions that are currently plaguing the nation. What follows is just a taste of the risks processed foods may present to your health.

Obesity

The World Health Organization (WHO) says processed foods are to blame for the sharp rise in obesity (and chronic disease) seen around the world.

In one study by Ludwig and colleagues, children who ate processed fast foods in a restaurant ate 126 more calories than on days they did not. Over the course of a year, this could translate into 13 pounds of weight gain just from fast food.

"The food industry would love to explain obesity as a problem of personal responsibility, since it takes the onus off them for marketing fast food, soft drinks, and other high-calorie, low-quality products," Ludwig says.

However, "When you have calories that are incredibly cheap, in a culture where 'bigger is better,' that's a dangerous combination," says Walter Willett, M.D., D.P.H., professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Diabetes

"In the last 50 years, the extent of processing has increased so much that prepared breakfast cereals--even without added sugar--act exactly like sugar itself ...

As far as our hormones and metabolism are concerned, there's no difference between a bowl of unsweetened corn flakes and a bowl of table sugar. Starch is 100-percent glucose [table sugar is half glucose, half fructose] and our bodies can digest it into sugar instantly," says Ludwig.

"We are not adapted to handle fast-acting carbohydrates. Glucose is the gold standard of energy metabolism. The brain is exquisitely dependent on having a continuous supply of glucose: too low a glucose level poses an immediate threat to survival. [But] too high a level causes damage to tissues, as with diabetes," he continued.

Heart Disease

Many processed foods contain trans fatty acids (TFA), a dangerous type of fat. According to the American Heart Association, "TFAs tend to raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol ... These changes may increase the risk of heart disease."

Further, most processed foods are extremely high in salt, another blow to the heart. One-half cup of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, for instance, has 37 percent of the daily-recommended amount of sodium.

"Probably the single fastest way to reduce strokes in this country is to halve the amount of salt that's added to processed food," says Tim Lang, professor of food policy at the City University, London.

Cancer

A seven-year study of close to 200,000 people by the University of Hawaii found that people who ate the most processed meats (hot dogs, sausage) had a 67 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer than those who ate little or no meat products.

A Canadian study of over 400 men aged 50 to 80 found similar results. Men whose eating habits fell into the "processed" pattern (processed meats, red meat, organ meats, refined grains, vegetable oils and soft drinks) had a significantly higher risk of prostate cancer than men in the other groups. Men who ate the most processed foods had a 2.5-fold increased prostate cancer risk.

Yet another study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Mile Markers, and Prevention found that refined carbohydrates like white flour, sugar and high fructose corn syrup is also linked to cancer. The study of more than 1,800 women in Mexico found that those who got 57 percent or more of their total energy intake from refined carbohydrates had a 220 percent higher risk of breast cancer than women who ate more balanced diets.

Processed meats like hot dogs, lunch meats, bacon and other sausages have been linked to various forms of cancer.

Acrylamide, a carcinogenic substance that forms when foods are heated at high temperatures, such as during baking or frying, is also a concern. Processed foods like French fries and potato chips have shown elevated levels of the substance, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

"I estimate that acrylamide causes several thousand cancers per year in Americans," said Clark University research professor Dale Hattis.

Food Additives: Unknown Effects

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains a list of over 3,000 chemicals that are added to the processed food supply. These compounds do various things to food: add color, stabilize, texturize, preserve, sweeten, thicken, add flavor, soften, emulsify and more.

Some of these additives have never been tested for safety--and require no government approval--but instead belong to the FDA's "Generally Recognized as Safe" (GRAS) list. An item is "safe," as defined by Congress, if there is "reasonable certainty that no harm will result from use of an additive."

Some compounds that are known to be toxic to humans or animals are also allowed, though at the level of 1/100th of the amount that is considered harmful.

Potential side effects from the additives vary, and are controversial. For just one common food additive, monosodium glutamate (MSG), for example, the following symptoms have been reported:

1. Numbness
2. Burning sensation
3. Tingling
4. Facial pressure or tightness
5. Chest pain
6. Headache
7. Nausea
8. Rapid heartbeat
9. Drowsiness
10. Weakness
11. Difficulty breathing for asthmatics
    

As is the case with most food additives, some people have no side effects, but others may become ill.

Definition : Nutrients

There are seven major classes of nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, fiber, minerals, protein, vitamins, and water.

These nutrient classes can be categorized as either macronutrients (needed in relatively large amounts) or micronutrients (needed in smaller quantities). The macronutrients are carbohydrates, fats, fiber, proteins, and water. The micronutrients are minerals and vitamins.

The macronutrients (excluding fiber and water) provide energy, which is measured in Joules or kilocalories (often called "Calories" and written with a capital C to distinguish them from gram calories). Carbohydrates and proteins provide 17 kJ (4 kcal) of energy per gram, while fats provide 37 kJ (9 kcal) per gram.[1] Vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water do not provide energy, but are necessary for other reasons.

Molecules of carbohydrates and fats consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. Carbohydrates range from simple monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose) to complex polysaccharides (starch). Fats are triglycerides, made of various fatty acid monomers bound to glycerol. Some fatty acids, but not all, are essential in the diet: they cannot be synthesized in the body. Protein molecules contain nitrogen atoms in addition to the elements of carbohydrates and fats. The nitrogen-containing monomers of protein are amino acids, and they include some essential amino acids. They fulfill many roles other than energy metabolism; and when they are used as fuel, getting rid of the nitrogen places a burden on the kidneys.

Other micronutrients include antioxidants and phytochemicals.
Most foods contain a mix of some or all of the nutrient classes. Some nutrients are required regularly, while others are needed only occasionally. Poor health can be caused by an imbalance of nutrients, whether an excess or a deficiency.

12 Dangerous Food Additives: The Dirty Dozen Food Additives You Really Need to be Aware Of

In the United States, more than 3,000 substances can be added to foods for the purpose of preservation, coloring, texture, increasing flavor and more. While each of these substances is legal to use (at least here in the States), whether or not they are all something you want to be consuming is another story all together.

With any processed food you run the risk of coming across additives, and reading through ingredient labels can be like trying to decode a puzzle.

Of course, eating largely fresh, whole foods is the best way to stay away from unsavory additives, but, assuming you do include some processed foods in your diet, the following additives are ones you surely want to stay away from. Look for them on ingredient labels and if one turns up, take a pass.

Propyl Gallate

This preservative, used to prevent fats and oils from spoiling, might cause cancer. It's used in vegetable oil, meat products, potato sticks, chicken soup base and chewing gum, and is often used with BHA and BHT (see below).

BHA and BHT

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are used similarly to propyl gallate -- to keep fats and oils from going rancid. Used commonly in cereals, chewing gum, vegetable oil and potato chips (and also in some food packaging to preserve freshness), these additives have been found by some studies to cause cancer in rats. If a brand you commonly buy uses these additives, look for a different variety, as not all manufacturers use these preservatives.

Potassium Bromate

This additive is used in breads and rolls to increase the volume and produce a fine crumb structure. Although most bromate breaks down into bromide, which is harmless, the bromate that does remain causes cancer in animals. Bromate has been banned throughout the world, except for in the United States and Japan. In California, a cancer warning would likely be required if it were used, which is why it is rarely used in that state.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

MSG is used as a flavor enhancer in many packaged foods, including soups, salad dressings, sausages, hot dogs, canned tuna, potato chips and many more. According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, an author and neurosurgeon, there is a link between sudden cardiac death, particularly in athletes, and excitotoxic damage caused by food additives like MSG and artificial sweeteners. Excitotoxins are, according to Dr. Blaylock, "A group of excitatory amino acids that can cause sensitive neurons to die."
Many consumers have also personally experienced the ill effects of MSG, which leave them with a headache, nausea or vomiting after eating MSG-containing foods. To find out more about the side effects associated with MSG, as well as a complete list of which foods contain it, see our past article MSG: If it's Safe: Why do They Disguise it on the Labels?

Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet)

This artificial sweetener is found in Equal and NutraSweet, along with products that contain them (diet sodas and other low-cal and diet foods). This sweetener has been found to cause brain tumors in rats as far back as the 1970s, however a more recent study in 2005 found that even small doses increase the incidence of lymphomas and leukemia in rats, along with brain tumors.
People who are sensitive to aspartame may also suffer from headaches, dizziness and hallucinations after consuming it.

Acesulfame-K

Acesulfame-K is an artificial sweetener that's about 200 times sweeter than sugar. It's used in baked goods, chewing gum, gelatin desserts and soft drinks. Two rat studies have found that this substance may cause cancer, and other studies to reliably prove this additive's safety have not been conducted. Acesulfame-K also breaks down into acetoacetamide, which has been found to affect the thyroid in rats, rabbits and dogs.

Olestra

Olestra is a fat substitute used in crackers and potato chips, marketed under the brand name Olean. This synthetic fat is not absorbed by the body (instead it goes right through it), so it can cause diarrhea, loose stools, abdominal cramps and flatulence, along with other effects. Further, olestra reduces the body's ability to absorb beneficial fat-soluble nutrients, including lycopene, lutein and beta-carotene.

Sodium Nitrite (Sodium Nitrate)

Sodium nitrite (or sodium nitrate) is used as a preservative, coloring and flavoring in bacon, ham, hot dogs, luncheon meats, corned beef, smoked fish and other processed meats. These additives can lead to the formation of cancer-causing chemicals called nitrosamines.

Some studies have found a link between consuming cured meats and nitrite and cancer in humans.

Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

The process used to make hydrogenated vegetable oil (or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil) creates trans fats, which promote heart disease and diabetes. The Institute of Medicine has advised that consumers should eat as little trans fat as possible. You should avoid anything with these ingredients on the label, which includes some margarine, vegetable shortening, crackers, cookies, baked goods, salad dressings, bread and more. It's used because it reduces cost and increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods.

Blue 1 and Blue 2

Blue 1, used to color candy, beverages and baked goods, may cause cancer. Blue 2, found in pet food, candy and beverages, has caused brain tumors in mice.

Red 3

This food coloring is used in cherries (in fruit cocktails), baked goods and candy. It causes thyroid tumors in rats, and may cause them in humans as well.

Yellow 6

As the third most often used food coloring, yellow 6 is found in many products, including backed goods, candy, gelatin and sausages. It has been found to cause adrenal gland and kidney tumors, and contains small amounts of many carcinogens

Toxic Shock: The Links between Pesticides and Cancer

This is compelling stuff that we have to take seriously. Whilst a UK focussed article, the risks are common to Australia as well. In our view, we eat organic because why take the risk when the evidence is emerging? The dangers of chemicals and pesticides are becoming increasingly apprarant and we dont want to wait until it is 100% certain before changing our eating habits. As the article says "the time lapse makes it hard to research any link with disease"

Cancer and Pesticides Link

A new link has been found between cancer and pesticides. According to a recent study by Belgian toxicologist Dr Charles Charlier, women with breast cancer are five to nine times more likely to have pesticide residues in their blood than those who do not.1 The doctors found hexachlorobenzene and DDT, banned in Europe for over a decade but still present in the environment.

Studies have shown that there are over 500 chemicals in our bodies which were not there 50 years ago. Meanwhile cancer is on the increase. So how strong is the link between cancer and the chemicals used in farming?

Part of the problem with pesticides (which include herbicides and fungicides) is that they just don't fade away. Often stable and persistent, they can be found decades later in the environment, and subsequently collect in our fatty tissue. This time lapse makes it hard to research any link with disease.

Several studies have shown, however, that those with high exposures to pesticides, like farm workers, have higher incidences of cancer.2,3 Despite this, government bodies, like the Food Standards Agency (FSA), argue that by the time pesticide-sprayedfood reaches the table, the chemicals are hardly a health risk. With this kind of attitude, it follows that government testing may be half-hearted.

Inadequate testing

So-called safe limits of pesticides for humans are established by testing the effects of different levels of the chemicals on laboratory rats and mice. How safe is safe? The Soil Association believes any exposure to these toxins is a potential health risk.

When pesticides turn up in food, they are called residues. No government testing is carried out on the impact of residues on children, despite their extra vulnerability (children absorb more toxins per kilo of body weight and their bodies are less able to break them down). As for monitoring methods, they are hit and miss: although staples such as milk, potatoes and bread are checked annually, there is little consistency for other foods. Coffee, for instance, has never been tested.

The government's Pesticide Residues Committee's latest annual report found that, out of 4,000 samples, nearly a third contained pesticides residues, with one in a hundred over permitted levels.

Even the FSA is now beginning to recognise that organic food may provide the reassurance consumers need. Last June, the chair of the FSA, Sir John Krebs, said, "Organic food contains fewer residues of pesticides used in conventional agriculture, so buying organic is one way to reduce the chances that your food contains these pesticides."

Hormones disrupted

The apparent cancer link may be related to the impact of some pesticides on human hormones, says Shane Heaton, author of the Soil Association's Organic Farming, Food Quality and Human Health. "Some pesticides mimic the hormone oestrogen, potentially disrupting the fine hormonal balance in our bodies, and this may be why incidences of hormone related cancers such as breast, prostrate, ovarian and testicular cancers are on the increase," he says.

This area has been explored by Miriam Jacobs of the University of Surrey. "It should come as no surprise that many pesticides interfere with hormone pathways, as they are designed to interfere with these systems," she writes on the Pesticide Action Network website, "for instance, insecticides which disrupt the hormonal systems that control moulting."5 Atrazine, a herbicide commonly used on maize, and listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a potential carcinogen, has been shown to be a powerful disrupter of oestrogen mechanisms in rodents, reports Miriam Jacobs.

These concerns are echoed by the Royal Society which recommends that, "human exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (especially during pregnancy) should be minimised on grounds of prudence."

Cocktail effect

A further concern is the 'cocktail effect' –what happens when different types of pesticides are sprayed on crops. Studies show that combinations of low-level insecticides, herbicides and nitrates can affect our health in ways that chemicals in isolation do not.Eventually, after years of pressure from the Soil Association and others, a report was produced in 2002 expressing disquiet about the risks of combining chemicals. According to the FSA, recommendations are currently being considered under its pesticide action plan, but it will be a while before we know how effectively these will be implemented.

While waiting for the authorities to pronounce on pesticides, the Soil Association believes that sufficient evidence already exists to make an informed choice about the food we eat. This is the precautionary principle; if there is a potential risk, why take it? We know that agrichemicals are potentially toxic and there is too little control over how they are used. We also know that they are not necessary.

Organic farming works. It is founded on the belief that a healthy soil yields healthy plants which are therefore robust enough to resist disease and attack by pests. For instance, because organic crops grow slowly, in a fertile and living soil, they have thicker cell walls providing a natural barrier to pests.

Compared to the 430 pesticides allowed in non-organic agriculture, only a tiny number (seven, of which five are restricted) are allowed by the Soil Association – and only then if organic methods are inadequate. Yet UK agriculture uses a massive 25,000 tonnes of pesticides each year.How much evidence do we need to show that organic food reduces our exposure to cancer-causing chemicals? A new study from Seattle analysed the urine of two groups of children and reported that those eating organic fruits and vegetables are more protected from pesticides than children eating non-organic produce.

Organic food not only has the potential to protect us against cancer by lowering the toxic burden from our polluted world but evidence suggests that the increased levels of antioxidants in organic food help combat the damage caused by carcinogenic chemicals. While government bodies sit on the fence, you can take your health into your own hands by choosing organic food.

Distribution of metals in the Linggi River Basin, Malaysia

Pollution inputs into the Linggi River Basin comprise domestic sewage, agroindustrial effluent (especially from rubber factories and palm-oil mills), and effluent from animal-husbandry activities.

Total metals were analysed at eight sampling stations located at three highly polluted sub-basins: Linggi, Simin and Kundor. Dissolved metals were analysed occasionally at 21 major tributaries.

The following concentrations were found (mg L-1; d.l., detection limit):

1. Na, 0.93-117.73;
2. K, 0.88-77.03;
3. Ca, 1.89-24.00;
4. Mg, 0.30-14.78;
5. Fe, 0.47-12.2;
6. Zn, 0.06-5.12;
7. Cu, d.l. -2.88
8. Mn, d.l.-0.18
9. Pb, Ni and Cr were not detectable in their dissolved or total forms.

Organic sewage inputs greatly increased the concentration of metal ions in reaches just downstream of discharge points. Ion concentrations generally decreased, but not substantially so, in the recovery reaches.

Various pollutants contributed differentially to the concentrations of specific metal ions; rubber-factory effluent contributed slightly lower amounts of these ions than did industrial, urban, or palm-oil-mill effluents.

No seasonal changes can be readily detected because of the influence of rainfall patterns, variable effluent discharges, and a complex combination of physical, chemical and biological processes occurring in the river.

The Danger of Using Reverse Osmosis Filters For Pure Drinking Water

The reverse osmosis water filter was an amazing invention. The majority of the water on this planet is salt-water, undrinkable. The correct reverse osmosis filter can remove the salt and make it drinkable.

That being said, reverse osmosis filters have been touted as the best purification system for home use and that is simply not true. If your source is dirty, salty or full of debris, then that may be the case, but, on its own, a reverse osmosis water filter does not make it safe to drink. Additional steps are needed to accomplish that task.

Let's look at how the reverse osmosis filter works:

A liquid under high pressure is forced through a porous membrane. Anything heavier or molecularly larger than the liquid is removed. Anything smaller or lighter passes through with the liquid.

Reverse osmosis filters are used in kidney dialysis machines to clean the blood. They are good at de-mineralizing for industrial applications that require it to prevent equipment corrosion and wear. And, as mentioned they can remove salt, which is heavier and molecularly denser or larger. Those things are great, but not enough to purify.

In order to purify, a reverse osmosis water filter must be followed by disinfection, carbon filtration and re-mineralization. You probably recognize that drinking bacteria filled water is unhealthy. It typically causes gastrointestinal illnesses, similar to the stomach flu. In most cases chlorine or some other chemical is used to kill bacteria.

Carbon filtration is necessary to remove the chlorine and other chemical contaminants. More than 2400 have been found in ground-water. All of them cause cancer. So, activated carbon granules are a step that cannot be skipped.

Re-mineralization is only necessary when a reverse osmosis filter or distillation is used. Drinking de-mineralized causes digestive disorders and is bad for your health. So, the "re" mineralization step is necessary to make the fluids healthy.

A reverse osmosis water filter for the home costs at least $10,000. It takes a long time to clean even a gallon of water. For every gallon that it cleans, as many as five become waste-water. Some people use the wastewater for plants or irrigation purposes, but most people realize that it isn't even good for the garden.

A reverse osmosis filter is easily torn and requires a lot of maintenance. They are prone to manufacturing defects, so they may not even do the job that they are supposed to do.

Reverse osmosis filters require electricity to work properly. It is needed to pressurize and pump. Thus, it increases electricity bills and adds to the natural resources used.

All in all, you may see that while a reverse osmosis water filter is great for some purposes, it is not the best choice for most of us. Treatment facilities make sure that what comes out of our tap is clear and bacteria free. We have to worry about chemicals, drugs, hormones, weed killers, bug sprays and other chemicals that a reverse osmosis filter will not remove. Those are the facts. The choice is yours.

National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB)

The National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB) Malaysia, formerly known as the National Pharmaceutical Control Laboratory, was set up in October 1978 under the quality control activity of Pharmacy and Supply Programme. This institution was established to implement quality control on pharmaceutical products. The infrastructure and facilities were designed to meet the requirements for testing and quality control activities.

Beginning 1985, NPCB was given the task of ensuring the quality, efficacy and safety of pharmaceuticals through the registration and licensing scheme. This is achieved through evaluation of scientific data and laboratory tests on all products before they are marketed. A system to monitor products in the market was set-up. Information on drugs to medical profession and consumer was made available through a drug information service.

The NPCB also handles courses and provides training to personnel from the ASEAN countries, for example from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mongolia and Vietnam.

In 1996, NPCB was given an international recognition by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a "WHO Collaborating Centre for Regulatory Control of Pharmaceuticals". This recognition is an acknowledgement from WHO for NPCB's contribution in the field of regulatory affairs.

The main activities of NPCB are:

1. To implement the drug and cosmetic registration scheme through evaluation of technical data, laboratory test, research and information from international bodies.
   To carry out analytical, pharmaceutical, microbiological, pharmacological and toxicological tests on drugs and cosmetic to ensure quality, efficacy and safety of the products.
   To enforce a quality control scheme on drugs in the market through random sampling and test.
2. To enforce a licensing scheme for manufacturer, importer, wholesaler including licensing scheme for clinical trial.
   To encourage and assist local manufacturer to upgrade the manufacturing standards to levels equivalent to the requirements of Good Manufacturing Practice as recommended by WHO.
3. To manage adverse drug reaction monitoring programme and participate in the WHO Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Programme.
   To manage the product recall scheme for the pharmaceutical products which are found to be substandard or dangerous to the consumer.
   To manage the collection and dissemination of drug information in line with the role as a national drug information centre.
4. To carry out research on methodology for the purpose of evaluating quality, efficacy and safety of drug and cosmetic.
5. To establish a reference standard system for local use and neighbouring countries through a scheme of co-operation among ASEAN countries.
6. To carry out training for pharmacist, professional and semi professional who are placed in this institution from time to time under local training scheme or international co-operation scheme.

The FDA is an agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services responsible for protecting and promoting the nation's public health. The FDA is headquartered in Rockville, MD with 223 field offices[2] supported by 13 laboratories located throughout the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. In recent years the agency began undertaking a large-scale effort to consolidate its DC-metro area operations from its main headquarters in Rockville and several fragmented office buildings in the vicinity to the former site of the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in the White Oak area of Silver Spring, MD. The first building, a Life Sciences Laboratory, was dedicated and opened with 104 employees on the campus in December 2003. The project is slated to be completed by 2013.

The agency is organized into the following major subdivisions, each focused on a major area of regulatory responsibility:

1. The Office of the Commissioner (OC)
2. The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)
3. The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)
4. The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)
5. The Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH)
6. The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM)
7. The National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR)
8. The Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA)
9. The Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI)
   

While all of the Centers are located around the Washington, D.C., area as part of the Headquarters divisions, ORA and OCI are primarily field offices, with their workforce spread across the country. ORA is considered the "eyes and ears" of the agency, conducting the vast majority of the field work the Agency. Consumer Safety Officers, more commonly called Investigators, are the individuals who inspect production and warehousing facilities, investigate complaints, illnesses, or outbreaks, and review documentation in the case of medical devices, drugs, biological products, and other items where it may be difficult to conduct a physical examination or take a physical sample of the product. The Office of Regulatory Affairs is divided into five regions, which are further divided into 13 districts. Districts are based roughly on the geographic divisions of the Judicial System. Each district comprises a main district office, and a number of Resident Posts, which are FDA offices located away from the district office to serve a particular geographic area. ORA also includes the Agency's network of laboratories, which analyze any physical samples taken. Though samples are usually food-related, some laboratories are equipped to analyze drugs, cosmetics, and radiation-emitting devices.

OCI was established in 2002 to help relieve ORA of the burden of pursuing and proving criminal cases. Unlike ORA Investigators, OCI Special Agents are armed, and are not focused on the technical aspects of whether a regulated product meets the standards under the law. Rather, OCI agents pursue and develop cases where criminal actions have occurred, such as fraudulent claims, or knowingly and willfully shipping known adulterated goods in interstate commerce. In many cases, OCI will pursue cases where Title 18 (18 USC XXXX) violations have occurred (e.g. conspiracy, false statements, wire fraud, mail fraud), in addition to prohibited acts as defined in Chapter III of the FD&C Act (21 USC XXX). OCI Special Agents often come from other criminal investigations backgrounds, and work closely with the FBI, US Assistant Attorney Generals, and even Interpol. OCI will receive cases from a variety of sources, including ORA, local agencies, and the FBI, and will work with ORA investigators to help develop the technical and science-based aspects of a case. OCI is a much smaller branch, comprising of about 200 agents nationwide.

The FDA frequently works in conjunction with other Federal agencies including the Department of Agriculture, Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs and Border Protection, and Consumer Product Safety Commission. Often local and state government agencies also work in cooperation with the FDA to provide regulatory inspections and enforcement action.

Hidden Hazards in Common Foods

Processed Meats

In 1994, the National Cancer Institute released a bulletin stating that hot dogs have been directly linked to childhood leukemia. Our school systems still serve hot dogs.

In nearly all processed meats are nitrates and nitrites. Both of these turn into nitrosamines during digestion. Nitrosamines are carcinogenic. There are two ways to turn this carcinogen into harmless chemicals:

1. Drink three or more cups of Green Tea with each meal.


2. Insure that your intestinal flora (probiotics such as acidophilus and bifidus) is adequate. Both of these methods will turn harmful toxins into harmless chemicals.


3. Take NAC (N. Acetyl Cysteine) with meals. This too turns carcinogens into harmless chemicals.
   

Additionally, processed meats contain cholesterol, however, cholesterol is not a problem; the problem is oxidized cholesterol; or rancid cholesterol. These are damaging to your cardiovascular system.

Oh, by the way. There's another way to protect yourself against nitrates and nitrites: don't eat them (or cut back).

Pickles and Salt Cured Foods

Yes, your favorite pickles, and anchovies, contain carcinogens. Your best defense is the same defense used above with processed meats.

NutraSweet (Equal, Aspartame)

The FDA has received more complaints about this artificial sweetener than from any other food additive they have ever passed. Complaints range from headaches, to stomach cramps, to muscle fatigue, and NutraSweet has been linked to neurological disorders such as Fibromyalgia and Alzheimer’s Disease.

At 85 degrees, all drinks containing NutraSweet undergo a transformation. The NutraSweet turns into formaldehyde.

Now for the scary news. No medical journal has reported this, however, industry magazines, such as Flying Safety and Navy Physiology have: at high altitudes, because NutraSweet contains 10% methanol, oxygen deprivation soon follows consumption of diet sodas, leading to dizziness, loss of vision, sudden memory loss, and even epileptic fits.

When the FDA passed NutraSweet, they banned a harmless sweetener, Stevia, which comes from a plant. It has been used for over 200 years with no side effects. Japan originally made their diet Coke with Stevia, until they decided to standardize with the rest of the world. Soon after the FDA banned Stevia, a grass roots effort started up demanding the FDA show proof that Stevia was harmful. Since the FDA had no research to prove it harmful, they dragged their feet a couple of years, and finally gave in before Congress began an investigation. You can now purchase Stevia in most health food stores.

If you want the full story on Aspartame, how it passed through the FDA and what it does to you, we suggest you get the movie, Sweet Misery.

Artificial Coloring

Research show that all artificial food coloring produce changes at the cellular level. Dr Andrew Weil’s books point to these artificial colors as an underlying cause of cancers.

Caramel Coloring

Caramel coloring is burnt sugar. Ask any biologist about burnt sugar, and he will tell you that it is a carcinogen. Additionally, scientists have used caramel coloring in lab experiments on mice to interfere with leukocyte action (white cells). In other words, caramel coloring is immunosuppressive. The FDA knows this and insures that anything containing caramel coloring must note this on the label. Just luckily, this immunosuppressive property of caramel coloring drops away when you quit ingesting it.

Milk

Did you know that if you take a calf’s mother’s milk, pasteurize it, and give it back to the calf, it will die?
It is estimated that upwards of 40% of Americans have some form of milk intolerance, either lactose intolerance or milk allergies. If you have either one of these problems (and you may not know because years of milk drinking have made you get used to the reaction), your immune system suffers with each glass of milk.
See also: The Myth of Pasteurization.

Homogenized Milk

If you drink non homogenized fat free milk, you have nothing to worry about. However if you drink even two percent, odds are, the milk is homogenized. Homogenization releases an enzyme (usually part of the milk itself and harmless) that attacks your arteries. When arteries are pitted by this enzyme, the so called "bad" cholesterol tries to repair the pits by laying down patches in the holes. Bad cholesterol isn’t. It is trying to save your life and stop you from bleeding to death, internally. Studies of heavy milk drinkers who are in high school, show arteries with walls covered by cholesterol and plaque. Researchers said that the arteries of these students compared easily to those of people in their sixties. (Try this for more information on The Cholesterol Myths.)

Fats

For years we’ve been told by the National Cancer Institute that fats are responsible for cancer. However, new research shows that only certain fats are responsible for cancer, and that others actually fight cancer. In the Middle East, women have a 40% less chance of breast cancer, and yet their diet is better than 50% fat. However, their fat comes from Olive Oil.

Dr Andrew Weil recommends only using Olive Oil in your diet. Some people think Canola Oil, since it is a monounsaturated oil, is a good choice. However, most Canola Oil is chemically processed, and residues from these chemicals end up in the oil. Cold pressed Canola Oil is much better, however, its cost, about $50 per gallon, is usually prohibitive. It is not recommended.

Cotton Seed Oil: the herbicides and pesticides we put on our food are regulated by the Department of Agriculture. Since cotton is not considered a food, there are no rules as to which herbicides or pesticides may be used on it.

Two oils that are highly recommended are Coconut Oil and Palm Oil.

Rancid oils are highly oxidizing and carcinogenic. It is believed that the greatest cause of cancer in pets comes from rancid oils. Most people purchase large bags of dog and cat foods, open them, and keep them open till they are finished. As a human, we wouldn’t eat a bag of potato chips left open over night, but we will serve our animals food from a bag that has been left open for weeks. To avoid rancid oils in your food, keep your olive oil refrigerated. And if you bake using whole wheats or prefer brown rice to processed white rice, because these unprocessed foods contain natural oils, they too must be refrigerated.

Partially Hydrogenated Oils: in Europe, there is a movement to outlaw the use of partially hydrogenated oils, sometimes referred to as transfatty oils. These "man made" oils have been directly connected to skin cancer. Additionally, because their structure is so close to that of cholesterol, they take the place of cholesterol in the body. Where does the body use cholesterol? Your cell membranes contain cholesterol, as well as most of your brain. In your cell membranes, cholesterol forms the hydrophobic bond that keeps us from melting when we are wet. It is theorized, because transfatty oils have a long shelf life, that when they invade your body’s cells, they make the cell membrane nearly impermeable, not allowing toxins out or nutrition in. Additionally, Dr Johanna Budwig from Germany has been telling us since the fifties that these oils are responsible for most heart disease and cancers, and she reversed these two diseases using a simple recipe of flax oil and cottage cheese. Our cell membranes need the Essential Fatty Acids found in flax and fish oils. They are essential, not optional.

Budwig’s Recipe: three tablespoons of flax oil mixed with cottage cheese. According to her research, the flax oil must be bound to protein in order to become water soluble. However, this recipe tastes, to most Americans, terrible. You can modify this recipe the way I do, by adding a bit more cottage cheese, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, chopped celery, red pepper, and carrots, and a little kelp powder (a salt substitute with many minerals) or Celtic Sea Salt® Brand. Dr Budwig recommends eating this at least once a day (twice a day is optimal), if you have cancer, heart disease or an immune system disorder (the oils are not called essential because they are optional, they are essential), and at least once a week for prevention. (For more on Budwig and Omegasentials, a product that was designed from Budwig's research, check out: Johanna Budwig Revisited.)

A wonderful book to read is Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill. At the top of the list is Hemp oil, followed closely by Flax oil. Hemp oil, as you probably know, comes from the Hemp (marijuana) plant. Because our government doesn’t allow live hemp seeds imported into America, the seeds are first denatured. This gives us doubt as to the quality of Hemp oil and its contents.

Back to Partially Hydrogenated Oils: these are artificially saturated oils. In other words, the package might say, "No Cholesterol" but the truth is, this stuff is artificial cholesterol. The food industry loves these oils because of this, and because saturated fats (artificial or not) are flavor enhancers. Additionally, these oils have a long shelf life. So, while most of Europe is trying to outlaw these dangerous oils, our country’s food industry is escalating their use. To avoid partially hydrogenated oils, you must learn to read labels. They are found in most cocoas, nearly all baked goods, margarines, shortenings, non dairy coffee creamers, nearly all cookies and crackers, breads, nearly all junk foods including the microwavable popcorns, and most tortillas.

Partially Hydrogenated Oils are a leading cause of Type 2 Diabetes (non-insulin dependant) and heart disease. They change the proteins in our bodies in such a way as to reject insulin. The pancreas creates the insulin, but the body can't use it. Our diets are high in sugars, so the pancreas creates more and more insulin. The pancreas becomes overworked. Because the pancreas produces enzymes that eat cancers, is it any wonder that people with diabetes have much greater chances of getting cancer than those without?

American Heart Association Finally Gives In
October of 1998 will go down in history! For the past 20 years the American Heart Association has slapped its seal of approval on products containing Partially Hydrogenated Oils: breads, cereals, margarine. They ignored all the research that consistently connected these oils to heart disease (and numerous other diseases) opting to take donations and grants from those companies poisoning our food supply with these dangerous oils. It had to happen. The truth will out. The American Heart Association is now warning us (thought not too loudly) to keep consumption of these oils to a minimum. This is a major victory for every American.

Processed Sugar

Did you know that processed sugar is immunosuppressive? Many studies have proven this. The book, Sugar Blues discusses the actual biological response the body goes through after ingesting processed sugars, demonstrating his thesis that processed sugar is a drug, and not a food.

Please note, all sugars are immuno-suppressive, but processed are the worst:

The sugar from one can of soda pop can suppress your immune system for up to 6 full hours.

To make a long process short, within minutes of ingesting sugar, your blood sugar levels rise. The body, wishing to maintain homeostasis (a state of balance) does everything in its power to reduce this level of sugar. Though the human body can do many things at once, when it must focus its efforts on one process, other processes suffer. To use the example from above, when the pancreas is producing insulin, it is not producing enzymes to fight cancer.Additionally, the World Health Organization now reports that Type 2 Diabetes is at epidemic proportions in countries where sugar and starches are consumed regularly (nearly all baked goods contain partially hydrogenated oils in the form of "vegetable shortening"). This type of diabetes is not caused by the pancreas not making insulin, but by the body’s inability to use insulin. We’ve over sugared ourselves… literally to death.

What is the best sugar? None really, but if you must have sugar, try a nutritional sugar, such as Sucanat (dehydrated cane juice), maple syrup (contains glyconutrients not found elsewhere), and honey (the only alkalizing sugar). The best sugar substitute is stevia. Personally, we treat all man made sweeteners as if they were poison (and some just might be).

Now here is something that every oncologist learns in medical school, though most seem to forget when they begin their practice: cancer needs sugar to grow. In the fifties, Dr Otto Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering the metabolic action of cancers. He discovered that the process is anaerobic, or without oxygen. In other words, cancer metabolizes through a process of fermentation. Fermentation requires sugar. When a cancer patient ingests sugars (and starches and carbohydrates), it is the cancer that pulls the sugars from the blood stream. Cancer kills by starving the rest of the body.

Now, you may think this is a lot of hooey, probably because the American Cancer Society gives out cookies and Ensure™, or doctors give away cookies after chemotherapy, but researchers at the University of Minnesota are now testing a "smart bomb" based upon Warburg's research. A chemotherapeutic agent is wrapped in a coating that makes it harmless to the body until it finds a spot in the body where there is no oxygen. The only spot in a human body with no oxygen is a cancer site. Once in the oxygen free environment, the chemotherapy is released. (Note: we learned about this in 1994, but have yet to hear any updates.)

Additionally, you may have heard that apricot pits contain cyanide. However, some researchers knew that the cyanide was coated with sugars. This too acts as a smart bomb. The cancer needs the sugar. When these little smart bombs arrive at the cancer site, the cancer eats away at the sugar releasing the cyanide.

Note: apricot pits do NOT actually contain cyanide. They contain nitriloside. Cancer cells contain beta-glucosidase, an enzyme. When they meet, they create cyanide. See also: Laetrile.

Why don’t we all know about this? Well, some of us do. The Sloan Kettering Cancer Center knew about this. One of their public relations people, Ralf Moss, who’s job was to write up for the public the research conducted there, quit his job when research on apricot pits was suppressed. He now writes about the Cancer Industry, his latest book being Questioning Chemotherapy: A Critique of the Use of Toxic Drugs in the Treatment of Cancer . You see, the medicine made from these peach pits is called Laetrile.

Danger of Hydrogenated Oils

If the label contains the words hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, do not let your family eat it. If the label contains the words hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, do not let your friends eat it. If the label contains the words hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, get it out of your family's kitchen. Read labels and avoid these substances like they are poisons ... which they are.

Poisons in Our Diet

Why not consume partially hydrogenated fats or oils? Because by the definition of "poison," partially hydrogenated fats and oils are poisons. Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines "poison" as "any substance which, when relatively small amounts are ingested ... has chemical action that may cause damage to structure or disturbance of function, producing symptomatology, illness, or death." (1) Partially hydrogenated oils do not exist in nature. Partially hydrogenated fats and oils are processed versions of naturally occurring fats and oils. In nature, most dietary fats and oils exist in a structural form which is called the "cis" form. When these natural cis form fats are processed by bubbling hydrogen gas through them at high temperatures, they become partially hydrogenated which changes their structure to the "trans" form. The natural cis fat has a bend and the processed trans fat is a straight molecule. See figure 1. This difference in cis and trans shapes is of major significance. When eaten, fats and oils are incorporated into cell membranes altering the composition of these delicate structures. When they interact with normal fat metabolism, they disturb function in a most deleterious manner. Hence, these substances meet the definition of a poison." Trans fats interfere with important, normal functions by inhibiting enzymes which are necessary for the body's normal metabolism of fats and they keep doing it for a long time.

When you eat normal cis fats, the body metabolizes half of them in 18 days. When you eat trans fats the body requires 51 days to metabolize half of them. This means that half of the trans fats you eat today will still be inhibiting essential enzyme systems in your body 51 days from now.(2)

A Major Source of Chronic Disease

Many essential functions in our bodies depend on three categories of hormones called prostaglandins (PGs) which are produced from fats in our diets. The three families can be called the PG 1, PG 2, and PG 3 families. In a general sense, the PG and PG 3 families are good PGs and the PG 2 family are bad PGs. This is because in our society most of the ill effects of chronic disease are caused by or aggravated by the PG 2 family. This includes heart attacks and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory conditions including autoimmune diseases. The PG 2 family is derived directly from naturally occurring fat found in red meat, shellfish, and dairy products. PG 2 family reactions include: increasing blood clotting, (3) increasing blood pressure, (4) increasing cholesterol and causing other heart attack risk factors to be made worse. (3) PG 2 family substances increase inflammatory activity which leads to tissue destruction associated with everything from trauma to autoimmune diseases. (5, 6, 7) PG 2 family chemicals also cause a decrease in natural killer cells which are necessary for our body to fight off cancer. Because of this fact, tumors increase in size under the influence of PG 2. (8, 9) The naturally occurring PG I and PG 3 families counteract the bad effects of the PG 2 family. The PG I and PG 3 families decrease blood clotting, (10, I 1, 12) decrease blood pressure, (3, 10) decrease cholesterol, (13, 14, 15) decrease inflammation, (6, 7, 16) and increase natural killer cell activity which is necessary to fight tumors. (3, 17). Trans fats block PG I and PG 3 production, and by default, PG 2 substances are produced unopposed. The PG 2 imbalance created by the consumption of partially hydrogenated fats contributes to the production of chronic disease which is the enigma of our modern society.

There are dozens of references in scientific literature documenting the ill effects of trans fatty acids especially in relation to heart disease. (3, 18, 19). If you have difficulty in convincing someone of the value of avoiding trans fats, the extensive references now available in the scientific literature are helpful.

The Dangers of Cell Phone Radiation

While the dangers of using a cell phone are well known, many simply choose to ignore the risk or simply do not fully understand the extent to which they are damaging their health by being constantly connected through mobile devices.

Cell Phone Radiation Exposure

One widely held myth is that a cell phone user can protect themselves from the radio waves emitted from their device by simply using a headset. However, studies show that this offers little to no protection - environmental microwave radiation pollution cannot be blocked out by holding your cell phone farther away from the body.

Cell phones, satellites, cell phone towers and radio towers all emit radiation on the exact same frequency as a microwave oven. This electrical pollution is in your home, your car, your workplace, your shopping mall - anywhere that these devices are present, they are emitting radiation.

Moreover, you can't simply escape their effects by trying to avoid using a cell phone yourself, or even by making your workplace a radio-wave free environment. Because satellites and cell phone towers emit these waves and are present in our society in such huge amounts, the pollution is widespread.

Conclusive Studies?

It is true that much of the evidence pointing to cell phone radiation is inconclusive, suggestive or could be construed as circumstantial. However, this is because it is difficult and even unethical to perform the testing on humans.

Scientists classify electromagnetic waves as either "ionizing" or "non-ionizing". Ionizing radiation such as x-ray waves and atomic radiation, is known to cause cancer. Non-ionizing radiation - such as microwave radiation - has been believed to be safe until recently.

Many tests have been performed on animal subjects and the results are frightening. In one Swedish study, Neurosurgeon Leif Salford exposed young laboratory rats to cell phone radiation. The animals were later dissected to examine their brains for traces of albumin, a normal component of blood that does not usually cross the brain barrier. In 18 years of testing, these scientists have consistently found traces of albumin in the rat brain tissue. What does this mean? Simply put, the microwave and cell phone waves affected blood vessels and allowed a substance not normally present in the brain access to the organ.

In fact, even a one-time exposure to cell phone radiation, for only two minutes, showed that albumin was able to leak into the brain. Experts believe that this proves that reducing the amount of exposure does not prevent the damage from occurring.

Why is This Radiation Only Now Becoming a Problem?

Some skeptics are weary of these studies, claiming that if we've lived peacefully with radio and TV towers for this long, surely they must be safe.

In fact, researchers Örjan Hallberg and Olle Johansson beg to differ. Co-authors of the paper titled Cancer Trends During the 20th Century, they found that in the United States, Sweden and dozens of other countries, mortality rates for skin melanoma and for bladder, prostate, colon, breast and lung cancers closely paralleled the degree of public exposure to radio waves during the past hundred years.

Many others believe that the problem is the sheer amount of radiation we are now exposed to. As more and more satellites, cell phone towers and wireless networks pop up, it becomes harder to dismiss reported cases of microwave sensitivity as sheer coincidence.

In short, it is prudent to believe that cell phone radiation does indeed pose a danger to our health until studies can conclusively show that it is safe. There is simply too much evidence pointing to a serious health risk for us to simply discount the threat.

Finding the hidden sugars

Recently I picked up a popular health bar from a wooden bin at a well-known coffee chain. The bars were labelled in mock handwritten calligraphy to look as if they were baked by a local little old lady. The bar itself practically screamed ‘health food’. The salesperson assured me it was a low-fat, healthy snack.

Then I looked at the label. Here are the real ingredients in that health bar: Sugar (sucrose), rolled oats, dextrose (another sugar), wheat flakes, rice, dried lemon (sulfited), soybeans, fructose (and another), corn syrup (yet another), partially hydrogenated peanut and soybean oil (industrially processed fat), non-fat milk, almonds, malt (more sugar), sorbitol (and yet more) and flavouring.

If you buy that as a health bar, you must be willing to buy almost anything. So, how can you protect yourself, and your family, against unwanted sugar in your diet?
Get label-conscious. By law, a manufacturer has to list the ingredients on a product by weight. Whatever ingredient is listed first is the predominant ingredient in the product. In the case of the above ‘health’ bar, it's a no-brainer, you're eating sugar and processed fats in a warm, fuzzy wrapper.

But food manufacturers are tricky. They know that people are reading labels to find out how much sugar is in the product. So they mix in a small amount of lots of different sugars. That way, no single kind of sugar is the main ingredient by weight. Add them all up, and sugar outweighs anything else in the recipe.

Here are some of the many 'disguises' of sugar:

1. honey,
2. dextrose,
3. fructose,
4. corn syrup,
5. high-fructose corn syrup,
6. sorbitol,
7. fruit juice concentrate,
8. galactose,
9. lactose,
10. polydextrose,
11. mannitol,
12. sorbitol,
13. xylitol,
14. maltodextrin and
15. turbinado sugar.
    

In the past few years, we've been so busy looking at the fat content of our foods that we haven't noticed that a lot of those fat calories have been replaced with equally unhealthy alternatives. Sugar, and ingredients that convert to sugar quickly in the body, raise insulin levels quickly too. Chronically elevated insulin leads to insulin resistance, obesity and, in many cases, diabetes. Is it any wonder that 1.4 million people in the UK now have this awkward and sometimes life-threatening condition?

If you think you don't eat a lot of sugar, it's time to take another look at labels on processed foods. You’ll probably be surprised. The 'real' health food is the kind that you prepare and cook yourself from fresh, preferably organic, ingredients. For an energy giving snack, you’re better off eating a piece of cheddar and an apple or a handful of raw nuts and seeds than a sugary, fatty, over-processed time-bomb in a pretty rustic wrapper.

Beware of Hidden Salt

26/01/2004
The Stroke Association warned today against the hidden dangers from the high levels of salt in processed food, saying it increased the risk of having a stroke.

Salt's major impact on stroke is through raising blood pressure. There is mounting evidence that a high-salt diet can lead to higher blood pressure, the single most important risk factor for strokes.

'Strokes could drop by 13% if people reduced their daily salt intake by 3 g,' explained Margaret Goose, Chief Executive of The Stroke Association.

'In support of National Salt Awareness Day on 28th January, we're saying that an even greater reduction inreducing salt intake by only 3 g a dayof 9 g a day-which is equivalent to just over half a teaspoon-could reduce the risk of having a stroke' nearly two teaspoons-could reduce the number of stroke patients by about a third and prevent around 20,500 deaths a year from the condition in the UK.'commented Margaret Goose, Chief Executive of The Stroke Association.

But it's not just a case of reducing the amount of salt you add to food.People in the UK eat on average more than twice the amount of salt needed, with about three-quarters of this coming from processed food. Cutting down on processed foods and other foods high in salt, and eating more fresh products, could dramatically reduce a person's risk of developing a stroke in later life.

Salt's major impact on stroke is through its effect on blood pressure. There is mounting evidence that a high-salt diet can lead to higher blood pressure, the single most important cause of strokes. It may also increase the risk of stroke in other ways.

'Most people don't realise that food such as bread, biscuits and cereal contain large amounts of salt, as do soups and ready-made meals,' said Margaret Goose. 'This "hidden salt" means that people might be unaware of the amount of salt they are actually eating, and the risks they are taking of they are putting themselves at from suffering a stroke as a result'.

Ways to reduce your salt intake include:·

1. Don't add salt to food-try using flavourings such asadding fresh garlic, herbs or spices instead·
2. Check labels on processed food for their salt content; most foods are labeled by the amount of sodium (which is contained in salt) per 100g. Levels of 0.5 g of sodium or more per 100g are high, whilst 0.1 g per 100 g is low·
3. Check labels for flavour enhancers and preservatives that contain sodium, such as monosodium glutamate and sodium bicarbonate, in savory products·
4. Avoid stock cubes, gravy granules and soya sauce, all products high in salt·
5. Include fresh foods in the diet, particularly fruit and vegetables, which are low in salt.

White Bread . . . The Awful Truth

Can white bread cause bodily damage and end lives prematurely? Here are some facts about white bread, and you be the judge.

The Swiss government has been aware of the dangers of eating white bread for decades and in order to get its populace to stop eating it, Switzerland has placed a tax on the purchase of white bread. The tax money is given to bakers to reduce the price of whole wheat bread to encourage people to switch.

The Canadian government passed a law prohibiting the “enrichment” of white bread with synthetic vitamins. Bread must contain the original vitamins found in the grain, not imitations.

White bread is “dead” bread. Nobody is telling us the truth about this and so called “enriched” flour. Why is the color of white bread so white when the flour taken from wheat is not? It’s because the flour used to make white bread is chemically bleached, just like you bleach your clothes. So when you are eating white bread, you are also eating residual chemical bleach.Flour mills use different chemical bleaches, all of which are pretty bad.

Here are a few of them:

1. oxide of nitrogen,
2. chlorine,
3. chloride,
4. nitrosyl and
5. benzoyl peroxide

mixed with various chemical salts. One bleaching agent, chloride oxide, combined with whatever proteins are still left in the flour, produces alloxan. Alloxon is a poison and has been used to produce diabetes in laboratory animals. Chlorine oxide destroys the vital wheat germ oil. It will also shorten the flour’s shelf life.

Good Nutrition: You Won’t Find It In White Bread!

In the process of making flour white, half of the good unsaturated fatty acids, that are high in food value, are lost in the milling process alone, and virtually all the vitamin E is lost with the removal of wheat germ and bran. As a result, the remaining flour in the white bread you buy, contains only poor quality proteins and fattening starch.But that is not the whole story as to the loss of nutrients. About 50% of all calcium, 70% of phosphorus, 80% iron, 98% magnesium, 75% manganese, 50% potassium, and 65% of copper is destroyed. If that is not bad enough, about 80% thiamin, 60% of riboflavin, 75% of niacin, 50% of pantothenic acid, and about 50% of Pyridoxine is also lost.

Scientific Study Has Confirmed What The Swiss Have Known For Years

These horrific numbers are the results of a study run by the University of California, College of Agriculture. It is obvious, from what we have learned, that white bread should be avoided like the plague. Whole wheat, rye, and grain breads made with whole wheat flour is a better way to go. Let alone adults, feeding white bread to children aught to be a crime! I have tried shopping for bread in supper markets and have given up after reading the labels, walking away in disgust. I now buy my bread in a health food store. It was either that or give up eating bread altogether. For a more healthful way of life, always read the labels and never buy foods that contain artificial flavors, colors, bleached flour, preservatives, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.

Remember, it is not only how long you live, it’s how healthy you live.

Preservatives and Additives

This is the age of science. A fabricated custom-made reality, competing with the natural, organic world man from which has lived for thousands of years. Yet the living, human cell has been incapable in keeping up with our ever-changing times. The small print on your Twinkies reads more like rocket fuel than food for human consumption with unpronounceable test tube names labeling chemicals manufactured in the cauldrons of industry. There is no doubt that the Twinkie-drug has been a successful experiment in taste-bud delight, their bright plastic husks found in dumps all over the planet. But are there side effects? And if so, do they outweigh the benefits that Twinkies are providing for the millions who have come to depend upon their relief from the drudgery of daily living?
The human body consists of billions of microscopic living cells, composed of perfectly, balanced quantities of water and organic substances. If you have eaten the standard North American Diet for years, without serious harm to your health, it is due to your body's outstanding resistance. Yet genetic weaknesses may be hidden by youth. The cumulative effect of toxins will increase the risk of becoming a host to disease or premature death. Unfortunately, resistance to disease diminishes as the abuse continues. Disease is like heating a pot of water. When the water becomes too hot, it quickly boils over. The biochemistry of the body will absorb toxins only to a point. There is a boiling point—illness!
We live like no other generation before us. A giant experiment of toxic ingestion. In this game, the stakes are high, it can cost your life. We may consider our way of eating as normal, but the modern diet is about as normal as a test tube of chemicals. The body’s chemistry is recreated by ingesting countless food additives and environmental contaminants.
The toxins in your body have been accumulating since birth and are imbedded in every cell structure and organ. But do not despair, there is an answer. Toxins disrupt the natural chemistry of your body. Remove the harmful elements in your diet, replacing them with health-filled foods, and a wonderful new metamorphosis will occur. God has created the body to be irrepressibly healthy!
Chemicals which have the power to produce mutations through chromosome damage are called mutagens. They cause disruptions of the genetic code which are responsible for over 15,000 inheritable, genetic disorders. Sadly, they may have a drastic consequence to our grandchildren.
The food industry aims at making products look and taste appealing without thought to the products' nutritional value. Loaded with chemical additives and designed to be addictive, processed food is manufactured first for profit.
All great chefs will tell you that the tangy flavor of lemon juice is a must in enhancing and lifting the taste of fish. In fact, lemon juice is widely used to compliment a variety of popular dishes. But to cut cost and for the sake of convenience, manufacturers have replaced lemon juice with 2-methyl-3-(pisopropylphenyl)-propionaldehyde. An unpronounceable name to add to the estimated three thousand chemical additives which we consume.
Your body has become a chemical depository. Sulfur is used to keep dried fruit fresh. Formaldehyde which is used to retard corpse decomposition is added to disinfect frozen vegetables. The blue shimmer on the surface of luncheon meat is the result of sodium nitrate. Sodium nitrate is commonly used in the preservation of ham, bacon, sausage and bologna to keep meat looking red, when normally, it would have decomposed into an unappealing gray. In the stomach, sodium nitrate is converted into nitrous acid which is suspected of inciting stomach cancer. Germany and Norway have banned the use of this powerful toxin.
Feed for raising chickens contains arsenic to stimulate growth, increase egg-production and give the chicken a yellowed skin. Aluminum compounds are added to baking powder, aspirin, antacids, beer, table salt and antiperspirants. It also leaches into our food and water through cookware, soft drink cans and aluminum foil. It has been discovered in high concentrations in the brain of Alzheimer's patients and is suspected in contributing to this most hideous disease.
Potatoes may seem untouched by chemicals but because of their bad habit of sprouting, they are coated with the chemical inhibitor, maleic hydrazide, which has resulted in cancer in laboratory animals.
Ice cream producers use propylene glycol, the same substance in antifreeze and paint remover. Carboxymethylcellulose is a stabilizer, used in ice cream, salad dressing, cheese spreads and chocolate milk. It has produced tumors in 80% of rats injected. Yet, the FDA flatly denies it as a carcinogen, for the reason that when it was given to the rats orally, it didn’t cause cancer.
For 50 years, producers have added brominated oils to bottled fruit juice to maintain a look of freshness—even after 6 months of storage. Unfortunately, brominated oils have side effects. They produce changes in heart tissue, enlargement of the thyroid, kidney damage, decrease in liver metabolism and cause withered testicles. Canada, Holland, and Germany have banned brominated oils in the production of bottled drinks, yet they can still be imported from other countries.
New food additives are believed to be met with stringent testing. But due to unreliable testing methods, lack of qualified technicians, expensive analysis equipment, budget cuts and government lobbying by food conglomerates, additives that are marginally carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic stay in use.
The fetus cannot deal with foreign chemicals. Whatever toxic substances the mother eats flow largely unimpeded into the fetus. Unlike an adult, the fetus lacks protective, detoxifying systems. Teratogens are toxins which harm fetal development. Certain food additives are considered mildly teratogenic.
What toxicology testing cannot accurately predict is the long-term combined effect of 3,000 additives and environmental toxins on children, the elderly, newborn, the fetus, and people with cancer. The combined effect of these toxins on humans is unknown.
The processed food industry loads fat, sugar and salt into their products because they are cheap. They use chemicals to change these cheap, raw materials into brightly-colored, tasty products with a long shelf life. Food producers buy the cheapest raw materials, manufacture the product as quickly as possible, then sell it for the highest price. Good business sense, but, what is lost in the manufacturing is quality.
Before cyclamate was banned, it was used to sweeten drinks such as Cool-Aid which contained 28.5% of this substance. It was discovered that 30% of humans converted as much as 40% of the cyclamates ingested into Cyclohexylamine which produces chromosome damage in animals, a high rate of still-born young, and birth defects. It was then banned. Lipton donated its artificially sweetened product to mental hospitals and prisons in Ohio where it was accepted without question. It seems as if food companies will do just about anything to enhance the taste and textures of their products. The aim is to increase the pleasure of eating even if it means compromising nutritional value.

MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE

A common example of the thousands of chemicals used in our new high-tech foods is monosodium glutamate. MSG is like glutamic acid, an amino acid that is used in the function of the brain. Dr. John W. Olany of the University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, decided to test MSG by injecting it into infant mice. After the MSG injection, nerve cells, especially in the hypothalamus, became dramatically swollen. Within several hours, these cells died. It was discovered that the enzymes which help to metabolize MSG in adults do not exist in infants. It is suspected that instead of the nutrient glutamic acid, MSG is carried to the brain, causing a dangerous excess. When his report was published, Gerber, Beech-Nut, and Heinz took monosodium glutamate out of their baby foods., Naive mothers fed MSG to their babies believing that these trustworthy companies would never put something harmful into their baby’s foods.
At present, the average consumer eats over one gram of MSG per day. When pregnant women eat MSG, it crosses the placenta. MSG fed to growing rats, reduced their growth rate by 16%. The effect on the human fetus is still unknown!

FOOD COLORING

Synthetic color adds nothing to nutritional value. Numerous colors have been banned after twenty years on the market, only to discover that they were carcinogenic.
All certified food colors in use today are of a class of chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are universally suspect as carcinogenic. The FDA argues that food coloring is safe because it causes cancer only when injected into rats, not when they are feeding on it. Therefore, the FDA gives manufacturers the freedom to use food coloring at their discretion. Children are attracted to bright colors. Fruit loops, gum balls, popsicles and fruit drinks are mostly color and sugar. The food industry is making millions on selling chemical substances that have zero value to life.
On the Island of Nauru lived a small group of healthy and happy Polynesians. These people were left undisturbed until it was discovered that part of the island contained huge quantities of bird dung, containing valuable phosphates that can be used in fertilizer. The native islanders grew wealthy by selling this resource and with their new-found money supply they imported foods from the industrialized nations. The flavor of the North American diet cost them 1/3 of the Naurauns developing diabetes.

EARTH ADDITIVES

The Great Lakes is the largest body of fresh water in the world. A global treasure. People living by the Great Lakes have at least 30 contaminants stored in their body fat such as mercury, dioxin, and PCBs. According to Dr. Andrew Gilman, Manager of the Great Lakes Health Effects Center, health problems from contaminants around the lakes are affecting some residents. The most susceptible to these poisons are the elderly, new-born, children, fetuses and those in ill health. Women who drink water from the Great Lakes had a significantly higher rate of mouth and thyroid cancer.
I know what you’re thinking. How can all this be true, in light of the fact that many seem to live in generally, good health? I mean, if everything that we eat, drink and breathe are loaded with poisons, how can the world be full of seemingly healthy people? It would be appropriate right now to bow your head in humility and awe at the wondrous body that God has created for you. Truly, it seems able to endure overwhelmingly hostile conditions and still survive. But God’s best is not survival, only keeping one step ahead of illness. He wants you to experience the fullness of all His blessings, physical and spiritual. Everything which God makes sparkles with Life.

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Dyes, bleaches, antioxidants, preservatives, chemical flavors, buffers, noxious sprays, alkalizers, acidifiers, deodorants, moisteners, drying agents, expanders, modifiers, emulsifiers, stabilizers, thickeners, clarifiers, disinfectants, defoliants, fungicides, neutralizers, anticaking and antifoaming agents, hydrolyzers, hydrogenators, herbicides, pesticides, synthetic hormones, antibiotics, steroids and four thousand other drugs that just make your mouth water with anticipation.
They find their way into the human food chain and become the raw materials for every cell of your body. They disrupt the natural chemistry resulting in cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, allergies, diverticulitis, emphysema, stomach ulcers, premature aging, impotence, hypoglycemia and arthritis. These countless diseases exist because chemically-synthesized substances disrupt the bio-chemistry of hundreds of billions of microscopic living cells which make up the body.
The life of most cells is short; new cells are constantly being made to replace dead ones. The raw materials for this rebuilding come from the blood stream. When it contains toxins, the process of rebuilding cells is disrupted. Resistance to disease diminishes. If you have a genetic weakness and continue to eat processed foods, the cumulative effect of toxins will increase the risk of becoming a host to disease or premature death.
Thank God, the Good Shepherd that He is still in the business of leading His sheep to green pastures and still waters.