Fast food I - "Your burger and fries, sir": "Sorry, you what?...I'm going to kill myse...huh, forgotten what I was going to say. Who said that?"...
So now we hear that Fast food is being linked with various mental health problems. Foods that lack so many vital nutrients, and so popular with the younger generation, may be responsible for encouraging the development of problems like "Attention Deficit Disorder, depression, Alzheimer's Disease and even Schizophrenia".
In the report "Changing Diets, Changing Minds" published recently by Sustain, a body campaigning for better quality food, in the UK, it was stated: "Food can have an immediate and lasting effect on mental health and behaviour because of the way it affects the structure and function of the brain."
It seems the major fast food brands just can't lose!...People might say "you'd have to be stupid to eat 'fast food' regularly"...and if you do eat them regularly you probably soon will be!...Which sort of guarantees a generation of future customers by now doesn't it?
Fast Food II - "Oh and here's your soft drink sir - would you like extra benzene with that?":
And they've also confirmed that when your soft drinks are left standing for a while - maybe on a nice warm shop shelf...the vitamin C (well the ascobic acid used as an anti-oxidant - don't get carried away with any idea that there might be enough to do you much good!) and the sodium benzoate (some kind of cheap presevative chemical) react together to create benzene...which has of course been long known to be highly carcinogenic (i.e. have cancer causing properties - thought I better clarify, in case you've been hitting the burgers lately!).
Indeed benezene is so nasty that the UK water system has to achieve water quality that has no more than 1 part-per-BILLION! In a series of monitoring experiments soft-drink samples were found to have up to almost 10 times this amount.
Admittedly the World Health Organization (WHO) has set an 'acceptable' level of 10ppb for benzene in water - which enables soft drink manufacturers to downplay the significance of the higher levels of benzene in their products than in UK tap-water. However some recent US studies have found benzene levels in soft drink MANY times higher than this.
The solutions that the manufacturers (who have long known about this potentially hazardous result of the liaison between VitC and sodium benzoate) have tried to come up with have been for instance - in the UK to try and reduce the quantity of sodium benzoate; whilst there are propositions in Australia to 'get rid of' the vitaminC!!!
Reality is that no level of benzene is actually acceptable - knowing as we do that this highly toxic chemical DOES cause cancer. But as Richard Laming, spokesperson for the British Soft Drinks Association, told beveragedaily.com: “We are fulfilling our obligation to keep levels as low as reasonably achievable.” He also confirmed that it was “not a surprise in the soft drinks industry” that ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate might react to create benzene.
'Over the pond' however - where it seems 'science' is increasingly coming in for short shrift - it appears that things are not so 'unsurprising'. The fact that some soft drinks have been found to have several times the upper WHO limit for benzene in drinking water may just be due to ignorance it is admitted!
Apparently, Kevin Keane, of the American Beverage Association, told beveragedaily.com that some drinks brands manufacturers may not even be aware that sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid could potentially form benzene. He stated:
“15 years ago it was under control, but this is a fast-growing industry. There are a lot of new companies, a lot of new brands and things have changed.” Obviously what has changed is that (1) there is less control and (2) there is less education! So you can happily profiteer by adding to the welter of pop-brands on the supermarket shelves - but you have no responsibility for making sure you understand what TOXINS your products could contain if inappropriately formulated! THAT'S OK THEN!!!!!
Hearteningly, Keane gave his assurance that for consumers there was no health risk involved (hmm, well I sure that makes everyone feel much better - here kids have another 'slug' of 'cola'...Uncle Kevin says its safe!).
We'd just finish off by saying - you can make a choice about what you eat, and what you drink...and they get plenty of media attention...especially when the chemicals in food and drink you eat are KNOWN to cause ill health.
But for now the 'stuff' you put on your body gets far less coveage - even though it is EQUALLY well known that MOST major body, skin, hair care and cosmetics brands contain MANY toxic chemicals...
If you are trying to live a healthier, better life - make sure you choose safer alternatives in ALL areas of your own, and your kids' lives!
Natural & Organic - Safer Personal Care and Cosmetics
This 'blog posted to Technorati tags: Family Business Friends Health and wellness Health Rants thoughts
So now we hear that Fast food is being linked with various mental health problems. Foods that lack so many vital nutrients, and so popular with the younger generation, may be responsible for encouraging the development of problems like "Attention Deficit Disorder, depression, Alzheimer's Disease and even Schizophrenia".
In the report "Changing Diets, Changing Minds" published recently by Sustain, a body campaigning for better quality food, in the UK, it was stated: "Food can have an immediate and lasting effect on mental health and behaviour because of the way it affects the structure and function of the brain."
It seems the major fast food brands just can't lose!...People might say "you'd have to be stupid to eat 'fast food' regularly"...and if you do eat them regularly you probably soon will be!...Which sort of guarantees a generation of future customers by now doesn't it?
Fast Food II - "Oh and here's your soft drink sir - would you like extra benzene with that?":
And they've also confirmed that when your soft drinks are left standing for a while - maybe on a nice warm shop shelf...the vitamin C (well the ascobic acid used as an anti-oxidant - don't get carried away with any idea that there might be enough to do you much good!) and the sodium benzoate (some kind of cheap presevative chemical) react together to create benzene...which has of course been long known to be highly carcinogenic (i.e. have cancer causing properties - thought I better clarify, in case you've been hitting the burgers lately!).
Indeed benezene is so nasty that the UK water system has to achieve water quality that has no more than 1 part-per-BILLION! In a series of monitoring experiments soft-drink samples were found to have up to almost 10 times this amount.
Admittedly the World Health Organization (WHO) has set an 'acceptable' level of 10ppb for benzene in water - which enables soft drink manufacturers to downplay the significance of the higher levels of benzene in their products than in UK tap-water. However some recent US studies have found benzene levels in soft drink MANY times higher than this.
The solutions that the manufacturers (who have long known about this potentially hazardous result of the liaison between VitC and sodium benzoate) have tried to come up with have been for instance - in the UK to try and reduce the quantity of sodium benzoate; whilst there are propositions in Australia to 'get rid of' the vitaminC!!!
Reality is that no level of benzene is actually acceptable - knowing as we do that this highly toxic chemical DOES cause cancer. But as Richard Laming, spokesperson for the British Soft Drinks Association, told beveragedaily.com: “We are fulfilling our obligation to keep levels as low as reasonably achievable.” He also confirmed that it was “not a surprise in the soft drinks industry” that ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate might react to create benzene.
'Over the pond' however - where it seems 'science' is increasingly coming in for short shrift - it appears that things are not so 'unsurprising'. The fact that some soft drinks have been found to have several times the upper WHO limit for benzene in drinking water may just be due to ignorance it is admitted!
Apparently, Kevin Keane, of the American Beverage Association, told beveragedaily.com that some drinks brands manufacturers may not even be aware that sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid could potentially form benzene. He stated:
“15 years ago it was under control, but this is a fast-growing industry. There are a lot of new companies, a lot of new brands and things have changed.” Obviously what has changed is that (1) there is less control and (2) there is less education! So you can happily profiteer by adding to the welter of pop-brands on the supermarket shelves - but you have no responsibility for making sure you understand what TOXINS your products could contain if inappropriately formulated! THAT'S OK THEN!!!!!
Hearteningly, Keane gave his assurance that for consumers there was no health risk involved (hmm, well I sure that makes everyone feel much better - here kids have another 'slug' of 'cola'...Uncle Kevin says its safe!).
We'd just finish off by saying - you can make a choice about what you eat, and what you drink...and they get plenty of media attention...especially when the chemicals in food and drink you eat are KNOWN to cause ill health.
But for now the 'stuff' you put on your body gets far less coveage - even though it is EQUALLY well known that MOST major body, skin, hair care and cosmetics brands contain MANY toxic chemicals...
If you are trying to live a healthier, better life - make sure you choose safer alternatives in ALL areas of your own, and your kids' lives!
Natural & Organic - Safer Personal Care and Cosmetics
This 'blog posted to Technorati tags: Family Business Friends Health and wellness Health Rants thoughts
posted by RandA at
3:35 PM
