5 Ingredients to Avoid in Processed Foods
Although you should always be striving for a whole foods diet, being able to enjoy the foods you love can still be a part of your lifestyle.
Every time you go down a grocery store aisle, you may be choosing foods with additives that can be harmful to your health, especially if consumed excessively.
Thanks to legal loopholes, these substances found in our food have been classified as, “generally recognized a safe.” The loophole us that instead of the FDA determining which food chemicals are safe to consume, the manufacturers of those substances decide. They can conduct their own “studies” and TELL the FDA that what they’re using is fine.
The Environmental Working Group has incredible guides for consumers to cross check all of their food, household products, skincare products, and more based on emerging science about the dangers of these common substances to our health.
Canola Oil/ Sunflower Seed Oil
All seed and vegetable oils are inflammatory substances. As we know, inflammation is a key precursor to disease. Soybean, canola, palm, and corn oil are examples of vegetable oils—extracted from the seeds of those plants.
These oils are also known as "refined" oils because manufacturing involves using a chemical solvent to extract the oil from the plant or seed, which is then refined and deodorized to counteract the taste and smell of the chemical solvent. This refining process has serious oxidative stress repercussions which can lead to disease, however these oils also are high in omega 6 fatty acids which bring similar detrimental effects.
Researchers have discovered that when consumed in high amounts, omega-6s from refined seed oils can promote oxidative stress and chronic low-grade inflammation, which can lead to poor heart health outcomes.
Nitrates/Nitrites:
Manufacturers add nitrates and nitrites to foods such as cured sandwich meats, bacon, salami, or sausages to give them color and to prolong their shelf life. When added to processed food in this way, both nitrates and nitrites can form nitrosamines in the body, which can increase your risk of developing cancer.
Nitrates can also contaminate tap water from nitrogen-based fertilizers as well as livestock. So a hot tip when eating out at a restaurant is to always buy a bottle of sparkling or still and avoid drinking tap water in any country.
You may be familiar with the word nitrate because it is an anti-nutrient found in spinach and celery. However, there is no need to fear those vegetables because it is naturally occurring and they are paired with vitamins like Vitamin C which inhibit conversion into nitrosamines.
Check labels carefully and avoid products that list sodium or potassium nitrates/nitrites. In addition to lunch meat, some canned beans and vegetables with bacon, even packaged seafood, may contain these chemicals.
Gums:
Gums, thickeners, and stabilizers are used in food, vitamins, and beverages. Even though products that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and low-fat are great, what ends up happening is manufacturers choose to compensate to keep the product tasting good and that’s how these types of substances get into our food.
Types of gums including gellan gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, and carrageenan, are incredibly hard to digest leading to digestive health problems including indigestion, heart burn, acid reflux, and bloating. With any of my clients who suffer from painful, constant bloating, removing products with these ingredients has been found to help tremendously.
Artificial & Natural Flavor:
Many people now know to avoid artificial flavors because they are synthetic flavors that can come from petroleum and other inedible substances.
However, many people don’t realize that it is best to avoid anything with “natural“ flavor as well. Natural flavor is an umbrella term that the FDA allows manufacturers to use to either describe an actual natural flavor from a fruit, or any number of solvents and preservatives, there’s no way for the consumer to know which they are using; therefore, it is best to completely abstain.
Potassium Bromate:
Everyone loves fresh-baked bread, the smell is truly unreal. However, in a lot of commercial baked goods there lies an additive that is a contributor to serious health problems.
Potassium bromate is added to flour to strengthen the dough and allow it to rise.
In 1999 the International Agency for Research on Cancer determined that potassium bromate is a possible human carcinogen. 6 It is not allowed for use or is banned as a food additive in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and the European Union.
Potassium bromate also has the potential to disrupt the genetic material within cells. Upon entering the body, potassium bromate can be transformed into molecules called oxides and radicals that disrupt hormones and can cause a lot of damage to the body.
Checkout EWG’s list of companies that use potassium bromate.