According to an article on Shape.com there are 13 ingredients that are banned in “many other developed countries” but are still allowed to be used in food in the United States of America (U.S.). A lot of the ingredients are in foods that are considered highly processed and for many of us these foods can be easily avoided. But some of the things that are allowed in the food in the U.S., but are not allowed in other countries are things that are not listed on the ingredient list when you purchase the product.
Two of the ingredients that are banned according to the list are Synthetic hormones (rBGH and rBST) and Arsenic. I am pretty confident that if you looked at a food product that listed arsenic as one of its ingredients you would not purchase it. But when it is not listed, but still could be present in the product that becomes very confusing and a health concern. The Synthetic hormones (rBGH and rBST) is not listed on the ingredient list of dairy products. The hormone is something that is injected into the cows to ensure they produce more milk than they naturally could and should. This hormone is something that was created in a lab making it genetically engineered. Because this hormone causes the cow to produce more than is natural the cows often end up with infections of their udders. When they end up with infections in the udders they have to be given antibiotics. You might have heard the theory about the more we use antibiotics, the more the things we use them against grow to be resistant. So we keep having to have stronger antibiotics. Also you might be interested to know that some milk has been documented as having pus from the infected udders in it. Just a few things to think about when purchasing milk.
Again, this is because of the hormone that is put into cows and is BANNED in some other countries, but allowed here in the United States.
And the arsenic I mentioned, according to the Shape article, is allowed in the chicken feed. It sounds as if it is just for coloring of their flesh. Which goes back to the first ingredient on the list in the article. The artificial coloring. Seems we want our food to be a certain color when we eat it.
I remember hearing about an experiment where people were fed a nice turkey dinner in a dimly lit room. They were enjoying the food. Then once the lights were turned on and they saw that all of the food was green some people actually got ill. The food was not green because it was bad, it was just green because it had been dyed green, but because it did not have “normal” coloring some people got ill. So it seems as if consumers prefer food that is pretty, even though some research is showing that dyes are not healthy. Some studies even report that dyes cause health issues.
Here is the list (copied from the article):
Ingredients: Coloring agents (blue 1, blue 2, yellow 5, and yellow 6)
Found In: Cake, candy, macaroni and cheese, medicines, sport drinks, soda, pet food, and cheese
Ingredient: Olestra (aka Olean)
Found In: Fat-free potato chips
Ingredient: Brominated vegetable oil (aka BVO)
Found In: Sports drinks and citrus-flavored sodas
Ingredient: Potassium bromate (aka brominated flour)
Found In: Rolls, wraps, flatbread, bread crumbs, and bagel chips
Ingredient: Azodicarbonamide
Found In: Breads, frozen dinners, boxed pasta mixes, and packaged baked goods
Ingredients: BHA and BHT
Found In: Cereal, nut mixes, gum, butter, meat, dehydrated potatoes, and beer
Ingredients: Synthetic hormones (rBGH and rBST)
Found In: Milk and dairy products
Ingredient: Arsenic
Found In: Poultry
Please keep in mind this is not a complete list of foods that these ingredients are found in. So if you are interesting in avoiding the ingredients check the labels of the food you purchase.
And check out the article, it states reasons as to WHY the food manufacturers use the ingredient.
Right now my avoid list consists of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), partially hydrogenated oils/trans fat, and Canola oil. In actuality Olestra too, but I haven’t seen that on an ingredient list in so long I don’t think of it as being on my avoid list. But I am going to be on the look out for the items on this list. I have recently been avoiding the dairy hormones, but I will have to work on the rest.
So, what do you think? Do you think you could eliminate some of these ingredients from your diet? Do you want to?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 