5 Scary Things Found In Common Foods: Or, Why You Should Be Eating Fresh

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There’s a reason that people turn to farming their own food, and it’s not just because it tastes better than anything you can buy in the store. They also do it because they know that the mass-produced food you’ll find in stores and fast food restaurants simply isn’t always good for you; and worse than that, it might actually be doing you harm. It’s just that not many people know the dangerous ingredients that are lurking in their food. If you haven’t already made the jump to fresh food, you might want to after reading about the five dangerous, common ingredients outlined below!

Acesulfame Potassium

When the name of an ingredient sounds like a spell from Harry Potter, you know it can’t be good for you. You’ll find Acesulfame Potassium in many, many products, including soda drinks, candy, ice-cream, dairy products, alcoholic beverages...and around 5,000 more products across the world. It’s used as an artificial sweetener, replacing sugar. So what’s the problem? Well, while many companies are using this product, the might be doing so based on insufficient research. This dangerous ingredient, which is just about everywhere, has been linked to lung tumours and other issues, for example.

Dimethylpolysiloxane

We all know the appeal of fast food. It’s cheap, it’s convenient, and darn it, it can taste pretty good too. But if people knew the process that went into making it so cheap and convenient, maybe they’d think twice before they went to the drive-thru rather than cooking a delicious meal at home. Dimethylpolysiloxane, otherwise known as PDMS, can break down into the cancer-causing formaldehyde, as outlined at http://www.stoppoisoningus.org/dimethylpolysiloxane/. If you ever needed another reason to give up your fast food days for good, this might be it!

Beetles

If you saw a beetle walking across your bedroom floor, you’d freak out, so why put one in your mouth? You might be unknowingly doing that more than you think. As noted at https://www.wired.com/2015/09/cochineal-bug-feature/, these bugs are used in foods... not to add flavour, but colour. It all dates back centuries apparently. While there’s no real risk attached to eating these beetles, why do it? In the states, where red coloring from beetles is even more common, food manufacturers didn’t even have to tell their customers what they were eating until recently. Ouch!

Titanium Dioxide

Who cares how white their white food is? The makers of food, apparently, who add Titanium Dioxide to make things like mayonnaise, salad dressing, and icing looking whiter than white. We’d take the trade off having slightly duller foods but being safe: this ingredient sometimes comes tainted with lead and is all around bad news anyway.

Caramel

Caramel food coloring is everywhere, in more places than you’d expect. And while caramel is delicious, the coloring is just bad news. There’s nothing natural about it, and it’s been linked with lots of nasty illness and cancers. Eat fresh: it’s the only way you can be sure of what’s in the food!