Bad Chemicals Still Permitted in Foods of the United States

Urgent Report: Bad Chemicals Countries Ban Are Still Permitted in US Foods:

Recent investigations point out the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) preference for the Food Industry and expose the frequent use of dangerous and cheap additives into the U.S. Food supply!

The Chicago Tribune performed an investigation about chemical ingredients the U. S. Government hand-in-hand with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are permitting to be added into the U.S. Food supply despite frequent bans of these bad chemicals in other countries!

The Change.org petition was launched online after Sarah Kavanagh, only 15 years old, from Mississippi, learned her favorite drink-Gatorade contained an emulsifier, brominated vegetable oil (or BVO), which is deemed illegal to use for a food additive in Canada, Nepal, India, the European Union, Japan and Brazil because of it's known connection to "reproductive and behavior problems."

Brominated vegetable oil - or BVO - is a food additive in the U.S. used to keep citrus flavoring from separating out in sports drinks and sodas, such as Gatorade, Fanta and Mountain Dew.

Controversy has surrounded the use of BVO a long time. As a food additive It's banned in Europe and Japan, but not in the U.S.

The FDA/U.S. agency claimed BVO as "generally recognized as safe," years ago, then the FDA reversed that ruling later. For now, pending more ongoing research, the FDA allows BVO to be used as a food additive in the U.S.

BVO contains bromine which is what prompts the Health concerns about it, as Bromine is an element found in brominated flame retardants. Only a few studies have been done on Bromine's safety issues. They support that bromine builds up in the body. (Pieces of it Add up & Add up in our bodies, and even worse-in our kid's bodies!)

BVO is not just an ingredient used in drinks; it's also a flame retardant, in a class of chemicals banned in the European Union and under close scrutiny even in the United States for building up in human tissue and breast milk.

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs), are also allowed in foam furniture cushions, some children's clothing, electronics, and quite a few other products. There have been many public calls for their removal from these products, particularly the ones that come in contact with children.

Additionally, there have been reports of people suffering skin and nerve problems as well as memory loss after drinking excessive amounts (more than 2 liters a day) of soda with BVO in it.

But wait a minute! Is Bromine the only nasty chemical in soda drinks? NO!

Aspartame is in most of them as well, and thousands of pages of research by medical doctors proved Aspartame in combination with Bromine are causing serious side effects in our nation's youth.

"In the U.S. money rules and industry wields a lot of influence and that's how it has been for a while," Michael Hansen states, senior scientist at the Consumers Union," But in Europe they pay attention to what their population wants. As you know the population should be concerned about new chemicals put into their food?"

Even though international food authorities decide on the side of caution when they evaluate food additives, new food products in the USA "simply need an OK from (supposed) experts hired by the manufacturers", as such are the skewed rules of the FDA. The FDA won't investigate most new additives until later, only "[if] health issues emerge."

The FDA's stated mission is supposedly "to protect public health by ensuring that foods are safe and properly labeled", but a report released by the non-profit food watchdog, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), showed the amount of food fraud and mislabeled ingredients is up by 60 percent this year.

When compared to their original Food Fraud Database they published in April 2012, the group found a worrisome surge in adulterated ingredients in most household products.

ABC News reports:
What are the most popular targets for unscrupulous food suppliers? Pomegranate juice is their favorite, which they often dilute with pear juice, grape or... added sugar, or just a weaker water and sugar combination.

Markus Lipp, senior director for Food Standards at an independent lab stated: "There have also been reports of completely "synthetic pomegranate juice" that didn't contain any traces of the real juice."

ABC News reported USP stated that ground foods and liquids are the easiest to tamper with:
• Olive oil: often diluted with cheaper oils
• Lemon juice: cheapened with water and sugar
• Tea: diluted with fillers like fern leaves and lawn grass
• Spices: like paprika or saffron adulterated with dangerous food colorings that mimic the colors
Syrup, coffee, honey, and Milk are listed by the USP as also being highly adulterated products.

Seafood is high on the list: Escolar is the number one fake as it's an oily fish that can cause stomach problems, which is frequently mislabeled as white tuna on purpose to deceive the buying public, and is usually found on sushi menus.

Kavanagh, who created the Online-Gatorade petition and following investigation, stated it "shows intense greed" when companies use 'chemical additives' and cheaper ingredients to dilute food products that could cause health problems.

Gatorade publicly stated "no changes are planned to its US drink formulation" irregardless of the over 200,000 signatures gathered calling for the ban.

What is a better way? Don't drink large amounts of beverages like soda pops that contain these chemicals. Better still, go one one step further and cut out all sugary drinks with these nasty, artificial chemicals in them!. Instead, make healthier choices, such as low-fat milk, water or glasses of 100-percent fruit juice. Read the labels!

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Top 7 High Protein Foods

Why is protein important?

Protein makes up every cell in your body; your nails, bones, skin and hair are practically all protein. But protein does even more than that, helping to create enzymes, hormones and other physiological chemicals needed for the proper functioning of your body. So you can probably see why it's important that you get the right amount of protein to function.

Another aspect of protein is that it cannot be stored in your body, like carbohydrates and fat, so once it runs low there are no reserves for your body to take from. Experts state you need at least 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Below are some excellent sources of protein.

1. Salted cod

The protein content of fresh cod is considerable (around 20g) but the salted cod is a real protein concentrate with a contribution of 75g per 100g. A small portion of salted cod is sufficient to meet your daily needs for protein.

2. Fresh tuna

Fresh tuna is another animal protein source that provides 21,5g of protein per 100g. Similar to those of other fish such as salmon, halibut or sea bass, these endless sources of protein can bring diversity to your dishes.

Chicken breast / turkey: both lean poultry hover around the same amount of protein content. They both have about 22g per 100g. The difference lies in the fat intake, which is lower in the case of turkey meat.

3. Beef

Lean beef protein is around 21g per 100g. If you're not sure whether to go for red meat or white, choose a combination of the two:

4. Beef liver

Beef again, but this time in the form of liver. This is a another great source of protein: 19,4g / 100g. A good option to add not only for proteins, but also for adding folic acid, iron and zinc to your diet.

5. Seafoods such as prawns

Seafood is always a good source of animal protein, and specifically the prawns coming in at 24g of protein with only 0.8 grams of fat and a tiny 100kcal per 100g of food. A perfect choice for dieters.

6. Soybeans

Protein is not just or the meat eaters. Soybeans are legume that have more protein and less carbohydrate. Among the vegetable protein content is 3 0g per 100g of product.

You can also choose products like Tofu or Quinoa as a vegetable protein source. And there are nuts such as almonds and pistachios which have 20 g of protein along with a healthy dose of omega 3.

7. Gelatine

Gelatine is the star regarding food protein percentage. 100g of gelatin containing no less than about 84g protein. There are plenty of commercial varieties of gelatin, so it's important to look at the packets nutritional information to choose the right option for you.

Always remember your caloric intake when choosing your protein and remember balance is key.

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Wild Salmon Vs Farm Raised Salmon

Many people don't know the difference between wild salmon and farm raised salmon. For example, when you go to the grocery store and see fresh wild salmon fillets it is usually not from the Pacific Ocean. The fillets came from the Atlantic Ocean where they have farms, that raise salmon that were wild at one point in time and were given special formulated feed in a fish farm. True wild salmon thrive out in the Pacific Ocean. They are born in a stream, swim out to the ocean, grow in the ocean, swim back to where they were hatched from, mate, lay eggs, and will shortly end up dying afterwords.

Atlantic Salmon are placed in a hatchery, grow, and feed in a restricted area, majority of the time they are turned into commercial food products and are exported across the world to other countries or in grocery stores. This Atlantic Ocean process of salmon hatchery is called aquaculture and is done in other countries and places like, The Great Lakes. In the United States the salmon farms make approximately is higher than 80 percent of the salmon that are on the market each day. Thirty percent comes from the traditional hatcheries and the other fifty percent are raised in aquaculture or open pen nets off shore. These farms can raise up to one million salmon a time. The farmed salmon are confined, fed a steady diet of special formulated protein food pellets, and when they eat it, they become fatter than wild salmon, with not much more omega-3 than expected, but actually less per every three ounces.

Farm raised salmon don't have as healthy amount of fatty acids as wild salmon does. Carcinogenic chemicals are found in farmed raised salmon and are purchased from U.S. Grocery stores have so much higher levels of PCB that pose an increased risk for cancer. The United States has banned PCB to be used in all items, but they persist in the environment and end up in animal fat. When the farmed salmon from U.S. Grocery stores were tested, their salmon that was farmed contained up to twice the fat of wild salmon. The test also found sixteen times the PCB compared to those found wild salmon, four times the levels in beef, and 3.4 times the levels found in other types of seafood.

Other studies have shown in Canada, Ireland, and Britain have found their results the same or similar. Diseases and parasites, which normally exist in extremely low levels in fish scattered around the oceans, could run rampant in a densely packed oceanic feedlots. There chances for survival, farmed fish are vaccinated, while as small fry, and later are given antibiotics or pesticides to avoid the infections. Sea lice, is another particular problem, in a study a fisherman brought two baby pink salmon covered with them. A bioligist later went around salmon farms examining more than seven hundred baby pink salmon and found out that seventy-eight percent were covered with a fatal load of sea lice while, juvenile salmon that she netted farther from the farms were largely lice-free.

Sea lice, in particular, are a problem. In a recent L.A. Times story, Alexandra Morton, an independent biologist and critic of salmon farms, is quoted as beginning to see sea lice in 2001 when a fisherman brought her two baby pink salmon covered with them. Examining more than 700 baby pink salmon around farms, she found that 78 percent were covered with a fatal load of sea lice while juvenile salmon she netted farther from the farms were largely lice-free. Well, there you have it unless you want cancer, want to eat a sick fish, or would you rather have healthy wild salmon that is not farm raised and is a cancer fighter, there is no contest eat wild salmon.

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Healthy Sushi Choices: Dining Debunked! Mind Over Munch

Salt, Sea Salt or No Salt?

Sea salt and table salt both contain sodium chloride. Sea salt also contains small amounts of magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate and calcium sulfate, which are nutritionally insignificant. Sea salt, kosher salt, monosodium glutamate, and seasoning salts are all treated the same way in your body.

You need to eat foods that contain iodine for your body to be able to make thyroid hormone. The best sources are iodized salt and seafood. Plants can be a good source, but only if they are grown on iodine-rich soil. A study in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism (September-October 2003) showed that vegetarians are at increased risk for iodine deficiency that causes low thyroid function. In this study, 25 percent of vegetarians and 80 percent of vegans had low blood levels of iodine, compared to only nine percent of people who eat both meat and vegetables. While iodized table salt is a good source of iodine, sea salt often is not. If you don't use table salt or eat ocean fish or kelp, get a blood test for iodine. If your iodine level is low, you need to eat more seafood or iodized salt, or take iodine pills.

Many people go on low salt diets because they think that it will improve their health, but a low-salt diet usually does not lower high blood pressure. The most healthy diet contains lots of whole grains, vegetables, seeds and nuts, and they all taste better with salt. You cannot exercise in the heat without taking extra salt.

If you want to reduce the amount of salt in your diet and fool your taste buds, try adding tart flavoring such as lemon juice or vinegar.






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