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IMPORTANT READ: What the Media and Food Industry Won’t Tell You
For those of us who are food activists or are simply individuals who care about healthy food, the most important event of the year will be taking place over the next few months.
And it centers around the February 10th release of the The Food Babe Way by Vani Hari.
To me, this book represents something much greater than a guide on how to live a healthy lifestyle each day. This will be the biggest attack ever on the food industry and its despicable business practices.
Here are the hard facts. 41% of American citizens will get cancer and 21% of Americans will die from cancer. More than 2/3rds of American adults are obese or overweight, and 25% of American children are obese or overweight.
Here’s another truth. The food industry has A LOT to do with this. They serve us genetically-modified, artificially-preserved, pesticide-laden garbage — all disguised as food.
So, when Vani Hari’s book comes out, it is guaranteed that she will face enormous criticism. Why?
Because this book tells the truth about what is really going on and is a very serious threat to the food industry’s profits and its biggest brands.
As we’ve seen in national media outlets already, such as NPR and Business Week, Vani Hari gets portrayed as a fear mongerer and someone ill-qualified to discuss food subjects because she doesn’t have a nutrition or a medical degree.
Yet, what they won’t mention — and what you need to be aware of — is that many scientists share Vani’s concerns about many different ingredients.
Here are a few examples of food additives that she has fought against.
1) RACTOPAMINE – A controversial drug used widely as an animal feed additive in industrial factory farms, which accelerates weight gain and promotes feed efficiency and leanness in pigs, cattle, and turkeys. The drug mimics stress hormones and increases the rate at which the animals convert feed to muscle.
EVIDENCE/ CONCERN FROM SCIENTISTS
– Most of the 196 countries in the world have banned or restricted its use. Only the U.S. and 25 other major meat-producing nations allow ractopamine.
– Data from the European Food Safety Authority indicates that ractopamine causes elevated heart rates and heart-pounding sensations in humans.
– Sichuan Pork Trade Chamber of Commerce in China estimates that between 1998 and 2010, 1,700 people were poisoned from eating pork containing ractopamine.
– The Center for Food Safety filed a petition with FDA urging the agency to conduct comprehensive studies on the long-term effects of human consumption, immediate health impact on animals, and a thorough review of international standards.
2) AZODICARBONAMIDE (ADA) – A chemical substance approved for use as a whitening agent in cereal flour and as a dough conditioner in bread baking.
EVIDENCE/ CONCERN FROM SCIENTISTS
– ADA is banned in Europe and Australia. If you’re caught using it in Singapore, you’ll get fined $450,000 and be sentenced a prison term of 15 years.
– During bread making, ADA completely breaks down to form other chemicals, one of which is semicarbazide (SEM). At high levels, SEM has been shown to increase the incidence of tumors when fed to female mice.
– A second breakdown product, urethane, is a recognized carcinogen. When ADA is used at its maximum allowable level, it leads to slightly increased levels of urethane in bread that poses a small risk to humans.
– Senior Scientist Lisa Lefferts from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) issued a statement urging the FDA to ban ADA.
– The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has called on all manufacturers to immediately end its use in food and recommends that consumers take steps to avoid the industrial additive ADA in their food.
– The World Health Organization has linked ADA to respiratory issues, allergies and asthma.
3) ARTIFICIAL FOOD DYES – Food dyes that are synthesized mainly from raw materials obtained from petroleum.
There are 7 artificial colors permitted in food in the U.S.: FD&C Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue FCF); FD&C Blue No. 2 (Indigotine); FD&C Green No. 3 (Fast Green FCF); FD&C Red No. 3 (Erythrosine); FD&C Yellow No. 5 (Tartrazine); FD&C Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow); and FD&C Red No. 40 (Allura).
They have no nutritional value and are only used cosmetically to improve the appearance of food and drinks, yet there are safer alternatives available to food manufacturers.
EVIDENCE/CONCERN FROM SCIENTISTS
– Europe requires a warning label “consumption may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children” on products that contain most artificial dyes as an ingredient.
– In 1938, there were 15 artificial dyes approved for use in the U.S. Many of those have since been banned but 7 remain. For example, Red #3 was banned for use in cosmetics because animal studies linked the dye to cancer, but it is still allowed in food due to heavy food industry lobbying efforts.
– In 2007, a University of Southampton double-blind, placebo-controlled study found a link between hyperactivity in children who consumed some food dyes along with the preservative sodium benzoate.
– In 2008, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the FDA to ban artificial food dyes. In 2011, it urged the FDA to require front-of-package disclosures on packages of dyed foods.
4) CLASS IV CARAMEL COLORING – Class IV caramel coloring is a food coloring created in a laboratory with ammonium-containing and sulfite-containing compounds, which produce the byproduct 4-MeI.
There are four types of caramel coloring, and only the two made with ammonia compounds can contain 4-MeI (Class III and Class IV). Yet, any type of caramel color may be listed on the ingredient label as only “caramel color”, and the class is not typically disclosed.
It has no nutritional benefits and is only used cosmetically to improve the appearance of food and drinks, but there are safer alternatives available to food manufacturers.
EVIDENCE/CONCERN FROM SCIENTISTS
– Any food or drink that contains more than 29 micrograms of 4-MeI requires a cancer warning label in California (under Prop 65) that says, “WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer”.
– Some companies (e.g. Starbucks) use level IV caramel coloring in the U.S., but don’t use it in other countries in Europe. For instance, Starbucks uses beta carotene instead of caramel coloring in the U.K.
– A 2007 U.S government funded National Toxicology Program study found that feeding mice caramel coloring IV increased their risk of developing lung cancer and leukemia. The National Toxicology Program wrote that there is “clear evidence” of the carcinogenic activity of 4-MeI in male and female mice.
– The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies 4-MeI as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.
– In 2011, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the FDA to ban caramel coloring due to safety concerns and the cancer risk.
IN CONCLUSION
As you can tell from the evidence listed above, Vani Hari is very, very far from alone in her concern about specific food additives approved by the FDA.
Yet, don’t expect the mainstream media to mention this – many of them would rather take the easy way out than do any real investigation.
That’s why it is essential that you know that Vani has many deeply credentialed organizations and scientists who share her beliefs.
But there is something else that you need to know. When Vani gets attacked by the critics, they are really attacking all of us. Why?
In essence, they’re saying that the average American citizen doesn’t have the right or the intellectual capacity to question any food that our government has approved.
They want us to keep our mouths shut, continue to have 21% of us die from cancer, and maintain the corrupt food system as we know it today.
To me, this is completely unacceptable. And the publication of The Food Babe Way is our best hope yet to create meaningful change in the way that food companies operate and formulate products for our children.
We cannot let this golden opportunity pass us by.