In foods of healthy nutrition, toxins are not less than in the rest of the food …
The production of food products in the developed countries has long turned into a dirty business. Instead of normal food, they sell sets of chemicals packed in beautiful wrappers. The same is true for “healthy” meals …
10 toxic substances hidden in vitamins, food additives and healthy foods
I’m just amazed at how foolish people are about what they use. If something is sold, like herbs, vitamins, especially active foods or food additives, they somehow believe that such a group of products is automatically safe. Yes, the production of natural products has a truly remarkable safety record, especially when compared with the number of deaths from pharmaceuticals, but it turns out that hidden toxins are used everywhere in this industry.
I’m talking about this, because For over 10 years I have been engaged in investigative journalism in the health industry. Natural News, perhaps the most widely read news site on natural health in the world, it is read by about a million people a month. I visited countless trade shows, spent hundreds of interviews and spent tens of thousands of dollars on laboratory research, and everything to determine what is in these products? I fully advocate for products containing organic substances and certified organic food production, behind which is the certificate of quality of organic food production and packaging material USDA.
On the one hand, looking around, you can see honest producers of natural products, a company with a high level of integration, like Nature’s Path and Dr. Bronner’s. But in this market there is also an alarming number of fraudsters, scammers and charlatans, whose production interests, in the first place, for profit in connection with the boom for food additives. Honestly, some foods are just dangerous to your health. And my role as a journalist, teach you to distinguish good quality products from toxic products. After all, in the long run, I want you to be healthy, energetic, intelligent and active, enjoy life and improve the quality of your life.
What’s written next can be shocking, and after reading this, you’ll probably throw away most of the food from your refrigerator and pantry. Few are ready to reveal the truth about which we are talking here. So…
1) Maltodextrin (from GM maize). Let’s start with a large one: choosing a natural product, you saw “maltodextrin” in the list of ingredients, so there is every chance that maltodextrin in this product is derived from GM maize, Monsanto. Virtually all maltodextrin, used in the natural products industry, is genetically modified. In addition, certified organic products USDA, they do not use genetically modified maltodextrin. And it turns out that in products without GMOs and corn substitutes, tapioca maltodextrin is obtained just from GM corn, and as you can see, tapioca / maltodextrin starch is found in many certified organic “non-containing” GM products. So, avoid corn maltodextrin, unless it is in a certified organic USDA product.
2) Vitamin C / ascorbic acid (from GM corn). Here is another sensation that will open many eyes: almost all the “vitamin C”, sold throughout America, is derived from GM corn. And this means that most of the supplements that are sold on Whole Foods, vitamins on Amazon.com, tablets in the pharmacy, and in particular products in the grocery store (practically) are all made from genetically modified vitamin C, or as it is also called “ascorbic acid “, So that almost 100% of ascorbic acid used in the industry of natural products, obtained from GMOs.
To find vitamin C without GMO, you need to go far beyond the United States. Within America, there is no chain of supply of certified organic products that do not contain GMOs in ascorbic acid (at least as far as I know). It is useless to look for batches that do not contain GMOs in ascorbic acid in US industries, because all plants use a substance derived from GM corn. Therefore, there is no doubt that all cheap “vitamin C”, sold at retail, is made from genetically modified corn.
3) Extraction with hexane of protein, soy and rice. Almost 100% of the “natural” soy and rice proteins sold in the US are produced in China, where the hexane extraction method is used. Indeed, the brown rice protein, like soy protein, is used in almost all so-called “protein bars”. Here is a list of protein bars that currently use soy protein.
Hexane is an explosive chemical that is extremely hazardous to the environment. However, its signs can be found in protein products. Naturally, to obtain certified organic proteins, extraction with hexane is not allowed, so it is necessary to purchase certified organic proteins, and not simply, a “natural product” (which literally means nothing). Extraction by hexane, by the way, is also used in the production of textured vegetable protein (TVP). And you can learn more about TVP here.
4) The content of high levels of aluminum in products for detoxification. For example, the manufacturer of the popular liquid product for detoxification, Adya Clarity, intentionally and deliberately deceived consumers by making the wrong label of the product, not to mention the 1200 g / t aluminum contained in it. The FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, seized some products and conducted its own laboratory tests that confirmed the high level of aluminum content, and also revealed numerous labeling violations.
Adya Clarity is just one of many so-called products for detoxification, containing an alarming level of aluminum and other metals. The use of such a product for the purpose of “detoxifying” the body can cause harm to your health. That once again proves: it is not necessary to always trust the natural products sold through the Internet where the manufacturer can ignore the laws of marking and make false advertising theses in order to sell the product. Buyers should beware when it comes to metals in products for detoxification, supposedly promising, magical results.
5) Lead and arsenic in Chinese medicinal herbs. China is the most polluted country on the planet (today), however, fruits, vegetables and herbs grown in China are exported to Europe and North America for their use in natural products. A high content of lead and arsenic is now and then found in food, additives and plant products from China. I am not even surprised by the figure of 1 g / t, by the way, of heavy metals, like lead and mercury. Even positive tests for aluminum content at a higher level, up to 150 g / t, in organically grown foods, are no longer such a big problem. But when the content of lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium reaches a high level of saturation (or are in inorganic form), such products for consumers are a potential source of poisoning with heavy metals. Surprisingly, many small and medium-sized companies importing and retailing products from China do not conduct any tests for metals. I know this because I talked with people who do this.
6) Minerals, inorganic origin in cheap vitamins. Do you use metal shavings and call it the body’s nutrients? Most people do not even know that most of the cheap vitamins that are sold today are made of metal shavings. Calcium in cheap vitamins – often just crushed shells, and magnesium is often sold as a cheap magnesium oxide, which is completely useless for body cells. So, when buying mineral supplements, you simply spend money on the wind, unless these minerals are in the right form, for example magnesium orotate or malate.
Mineral additives often show signs of substances such as barium and lead, but they are usually at the lower level (g / t), and are not a real problem. But the best source of all minerals, oddly enough, will be fresh vegetables and fruits. And if you want to satiate the body with minerals, then eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible and drink their juice. Your body wants “organic” minerals from food of vegetable origin, and not inorganic minerals of rocks.
7) Carrageenan? Cornucopia Institute, a group of high-nutrition activists, which we have supported for a long time, recently published a warning about carrageenans in food. Cornucopia claims that carrageenan causes “inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, including the risk of developing colon cancer, in studies on laboratory animals.” Here is what is reported in the report:
Because carrageenan contributes to gastrointestinal inflammation, Cornucopia encourages people who are concerned about the symptoms of the gastrointestinal tract (irritable bowel syndrome, mucosal colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic diarrhea, etc.), completely remove carrageenan from the diet, not whether it is one of the factors that cause these symptoms.
Personally, I have never had any problems with this, given that carrageenan is derived from algae. Almond milk Blue Diamond contains a large amount of carrageenan, and I drank it when there was no time to prepare almond milk myself, but no problems arose. So, based on my personal experience, I do not consider carrageenan a dangerous ingredient, but I understand that on some it can have quite a different effect and cause trouble for people whose digestive system is more sensitive to me. It should be noted that I definitely do not consider carrageenan, as dangerous as aspartame, GMO or glutamate sodium.
8) Acrylamides. Acrylamides are chemical substances that cause cancer, they are formed when high-temperature processing of foods containing carbohydrates. In fried chips, for example, there is acrylamide. And it is not necessary to indicate it on the label, because technically it is not an “ingredient”. These are chemicals produced during cooking or frying. Note that acrylamide increases the risk of kidney cancer by 59%.
The Office of the FDA published an extensive guide to the level of acrylamide in food, in which french fries – the highest rate. But it is also present in prune juice and even in breakfast cereals. In a package with organic chips there can be as much acrylamide as in a bag with ordinary chips. That’s why fried chips should be eaten with care, but it is better not to eat them at all. Sometimes I eat chips, but in limited quantities and must use chlorella to counteract acrylamides with them.
It is interesting that vitamin C blocks acrylamides, and they can not harm the body. But if there is a GMO in vitamin C, then you might want to reconsider this strategy. Citrus juices, rose hips or even powdered dried berries kamu-kama will be a much better option for natural vitamin C. So, consuming fried foods of any kind, make sure that together with it you consume vitamin C, astaxanthin and chlorella before and after taking.
9) Hidden glutamate sodium / yeast extract. Glutamate sodium in a latent form is a big problem for the whole industry of natural products. Take any vegetarian hamburger, but what will you find there? Yeast extract, a latent form of MSG (sodium glutamate). The yeast extract is incredibly common in the food industry, because on the label it looks better than MSG. Most people have long avoided products with MSG, but yeast extract is missed. Therefore, manufacturers do not miss this opportunity and put it almost everywhere: in canned soups, sauces, chips, frozen food for cooking in the microwave, but especially a lot of them in vegetarian products. Most “vegetarian products” are stuffed with so many chemicals and additives that I’ll never dare touch them.
Remember: if the label has the word “vegetarian”, it does not mean that we are talking about healthy food. MSG in latent form is labeled as “autolysed yeast extract” or “Torul yeast”, or even “hydrolyzed vegetable protein”.
10) Fluoride compounds in green tea. Green tea is known for its high content of fluoride compounds. It is believed that green tea is phenomenally good for health, it reduces the level of “bad” cholesterol and can even prevent the risk of cancer or neurological disorders. Probably, this is one of the healthiest drinks that you have ever drunk. Only here tea leaves, from which make green tea, absorb a huge amount of fluoride from the soil. And if there is fluoride in the soil, then in green tea it will be surprisingly high concentration, sometimes up to 25 g / t.
Although fluoride compounds in green tea are not dangerous for their health, governments around the world do not stop contaminating water sources with synthetic, chemical fluorine, thereby creating a high risk of fluorosis. And what will happen, in addition to green tea with its fluoride compounds, the contribution to fluoride supplies makes connections in tap water, and this is a catastrophe: fragility of bones, discoloration of the teeth and even cancer.
And one more “small secret” of the industry of natural products. Most importers, packers, suppliers and sellers of natural products trust laboratory research from manufacturers and exporters! Thus, a typical American company that sells, for example, a pomegranate powder on the Internet, could never conduct its own tests for lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and aluminum. They simply accept the results of laboratory tests provided by the manufacturer, and treat them as an absolute fact. Which is extremely stupid. Manufacturers and exporters knowingly falsify laboratory tests in order to blast the importers, recipe developers and retailers. Laboratory tests can easily be faked or simply bought in your home country. And then these products are easily sold and exported. The FDA does not regularly check the imported raw materials for heavy metals.
The good news: I know that all more or less expensive stores like Natural News, Mercola, Gary Null, etc., regularly check their raw materials for the content of foreign substances. I’m sure Gaia herbs regularly test all their batches, and also that Vitacost, before switching to other hands a few years ago, conducted its own laboratory tests, as they said, a test on the spot. But I also know small retailers who do not test anything at all, and are much more interested in sales than in what actually is in these jars. I also know that under “organic” products, products that do not have a corresponding certificate are blown out! Absolutely irresponsible practice, which must be stopped. (Be sure to check the product for the USDA quality certificate, if they do not have such a logo, then it’s not a fact that they are organic).
Be carefull. Ask the results of laboratory tests, especially on products from China.