A Chemical Feast

Ethel Renwick, in her book "Let's Try Real Food," tells us that the food industry's use of additives is not in the interest of the nation's nutritional needs, but for increased sales and profits to themselves. Synthetic chemicals are much cheaper substitutes for flavors and colors than real fruits and vegetables, and that the profit of synthetic foods made from chemicals is enormous.

Additives lengthen shelf life, they make processed food taste and look better, they prevent spoiling and even mask deterioration. Companies producing food would rather add vitamins to low-grade food than help malnourished people get better jobs so they can buy more nutritious food. Additives allow a manufacturer to put LESS of the natural ingredient into their product. Dr. Carlton Fredericks explains that the vast majority of food additives have no counterpart in nature, therefore are not automatically compatible with the body. The U.S. permits any number of additives in our foods which are banned in Europe.

What surprises me the most is the source from which these additives are made. Of the 2,764 classifications of food additives, 1,876 are derived from coal-tar. The same dyes that are used for clothing are also used in food. Dr. Feingold gave examples of what is involved in making imitation flavors. Artificial pineapple flavor takes 17 compounds, and imitation coffee flavor takes from 200-300! These additives are not real food at all! Why not eat pure food... REAL FOOD?

It certainly has become a habit, one we don't even think about when we roam the grocery store aisles, to pick up a box of artificially flavored pudding, or a box of sugary cereal, which might contain between 30%-50% sugar. These cereals should be labeled "imitation cereal" and should be sold in the candy aisle!!! I was shocked to learn that peanut butter (the hydrogenated version), which we generally think of as wholesome and nutritious, is actually 22% Crisco! Chemists went to work on peanut butter, adding emulsifiers to keep the oil mixed throughout, then they added sugar to make it sweet to please the crowd of sugar-cravers they had created, and finally the hydrogenated oil to make it spread easily. A lady by the name of Mrs. Desmond describes it as "peanut flavored cold cream!" She suggests that if the industry wanted to make a product with less than 90% peanuts, it should be called Peanut-flavored cream" or something like that. She actually won her case, so that now peanut butter has to contain at least 90% peanuts. As part of our avoidance of products containing hydrogenated oils, we made the switch to 100% natural peanut butter (yep, the kind you have to stir first and store in the fridge.)

This book was written in 1973, and at that time it was estimated we were eating 10 pounds of additives other than sugar, salt, corn syrup, and dextrose. I wonder what that figure actually is today?