Archive for the ‘processed food’ tag
Twinkies Deconstructed
Steve Ettlinger is like most Americans and eats processed foods. When his daughter asked him what polysorbate 60 was, he decided it was time to find out.
was the result.Steve takes you though the whole jungle of food ingredients that are added to processed foods, and explains why. As the title belies, he deconstructs the ingredients of the common Twinkie.
You too can find out what polysorbate 60 really is, when you read it on the label, and a whole host of other dubious looking things too.
Sodium Levels in Processed Food
There have been some huge spikes in the sodium content of some processed foods. A 2008 study published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) shows that the average sodium content of over 500 processed and restaurant foods stayed around the same between 2005 and 2008.
On the other hand over 100 products increased sodium content by 5% or more and nearly 30 products increased by 30% or more.
Hardee’s French Fries tripled the amount of sodium in those three years; Walmart Cream Cheese almost doubled.
Sodium content in over 110 products declined in the same period.
The American Medical Association has asked the food industry to try and reduce sodium content by 50% over ten years. It is estimated that alone could saveup to 150,000 lives annually, or 1.5 million over ten years!
Only about 10% of the salt in processed foods is there naturally on average. The rest (90%) is added by the manufacturers. Most is common salt, but there is also MSG, and Sodium Nitrite.
Processed Food
Another good reason to avoid processed food?
A lack of magnesium.
It’s lost in the processes used in refining.
A diet low in magnesium has been linked to asthma and other respiratory ailments. One recent study found that four out of ten asthma sufferers had a magnesium deficient diet.
To get more magnesium in your diet, eat more leaf green vegetables, beans, and prunes, and of course, cut back on processed foodstuffs.
