This may come as a shocking description of things like chocolate, crisps, milkshakes, fizzy drinks etc, but my aim isn’t to shock, rather inform people of what these things really are. Cigarette packets have clear warnings about their effects, as should most of the junk food and snacks that are consumed in this country at obscene rates a year. Not everyone can be versed in the intricacies of nutritional therapy, but is it asking too much to exercise caution and read the labels on the products we buy to feed ourselves and our children? The Concise Oxford Dictionary’s definition of Junk is « discarded articles, rubbish, anything regarded as little value, a slang term for narcotic drugs » a fitting description of the highly addictive, poisonous substances they are, why should we feed our children and ourselves these things.
Now lets see the effects of just 10 of the hundreds of additives that are in ourselves and our children’s snack foods, so you are better informed the next time you go to increase the profit margins of companies whose only concern is money and power, and never consider the sometimes irreversible damage they are doing to ourselves and our children. If it’s a suspected carcinogenic, it means there are definitely studies out there which confirm these suspicions and if it’s banned in baby food, it doesn’t make it safe for you.
Aspartame – This sugar substitute is 200 times sweeter than sugar, banned in babies food, it enhances the stimulatory effect of flavourings such as Monosodium Glutamate, adversely effects nervous system and is a suspected carcinogenic (cancer causing agent).
Xylitol – A sugar substitute (bulk sweetener) found in some chewing gums. It is toxic to the brain, liver, and urinary passages in high doses and can cause diarrhoea.
Monosodium Glutamate – This is an all purpose seasoning used to enhance the flavours of food – it is a well known neurotoxin (toxin affecting the brain) found in crisps, seasonings and many take away foods.
E100 Curcumin – A food colouring for creamy yellow colouring – Used in sweets, fish fingers and yoghurts and linked to possible gene damage.
E110 Sunset Yellow – A yellow food colouring – Used in jams, cakes, ice-creams and yoghurts to name a few and is a suspected carcinogen that can induce an allergy to sunlight, which would be detrimental to melanin dominant individuals who need sunlight.