The 5 Most Common & Harmful Ingredients Found in Food in the U.S.
The 5 Most Common & Harmful Ingredients Found in Food in the U.S.
August 12, 2024
Food is a physiologically indispensable necessity. It comes first in the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs for a reason. Thanks to food giving us energy, we are able to sustain life. When we consume food, we meticulously choose what we put into our bodies. We pick out the flavors like the spice level, salt quantity, type of cuisine, etc. Additionally, we take into consideration our allergies and our cravings, and opt to either eat by ourselves or with people we enjoy being around. The last thing on our minds is if our food is poisoning us, and the sad reality is that our food is indeed poisoning us. Okay, you are probably asking yourself now, “What ingredients should I look out for, and how do I know if a product is made with toxic ingredients?”
Reading is pivotal here, owing to the fact that the most transparency you will get will be by examining the nutritional facts and the ingredient list (typically located somewhere near the bottom of the nutritional facts). The rule of thumb is that if you can’t pronounce the ingredients or are not able to decipher them, then it’s probably a low-grade product that will cause more harm than good.
Here are the 5 most common-harmful ingredients found in food in the U.S., in no particular order:
Artificial Food Coloring
Artificial dyes are pretty much everywhere. They are hard to escape when they form part of popular drinks, candy, desserts, chips, you name it. Most common transgressors are Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5, and Green 3. If you weren't aware, in most cases, these dyes have no flavor because their only purpose is to add color.
Color additives were discovered back in the 1880s, except back then you could argue that dyes were even more malignant with the presence of arsenic, lead, and mercury.
Sciencenotes.org mentions that “the color of food changes the brain’s perception of both its odor and flavor.” One could assume that it’s a marketing tactic for corporations to make their food products more attractive to the public. Unperceived by many, synesthesia could be probable in this setting, and these businesses could be banking on stimulating one of your senses (sight) to then retroactively stimulate the other four (taste, smell, hearing, and touch). . The Cleveland Clinic says that synesthesia “causes sensory crossovers, such as tasting colors or feeling sounds.”
Food is a physiologically indispensable necessity. It comes first in the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs for a reason. Thanks to food giving us energy, we are able to sustain life. When we consume food, we meticulously choose what we put into our bodies. We pick out the flavors like the spice level, salt quantity, type of cuisine, etc. Additionally, we take into consideration our allergies and our cravings, and opt to either eat by ourselves or with people we enjoy being around. The last thing on our minds is if our food is poisoning us, and the sad reality is that our food is indeed poisoning us. Okay, you are probably asking yourself now, “What ingredients should I look out for, and how do I know if a product is made with toxic ingredients?”
Reading is pivotal here, owing to the fact that the most transparency you will get will be by examining the nutritional facts and the ingredient list (typically located somewhere near the bottom of the nutritional facts). The rule of thumb is that if you can’t pronounce the ingredients or are not able to decipher them, then it’s probably a low-grade product that will cause more harm than good.
Here are the 5 most common-harmful ingredients found in food in the U.S., in no particular order:
Artificial Food Coloring
Artificial dyes are pretty much everywhere. They are hard to escape when they form part of popular drinks, candy, desserts, chips, you name it. Most common transgressors are Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5, and Green 3. If you weren't aware, in most cases, these dyes have no flavor because their only purpose is to add color.
Color additives were discovered back in the 1880s, except back then you could argue that dyes were even more malignant with the presence of arsenic, lead, and mercury.
Sciencenotes.org mentions that “the color of food changes the brain’s perception of both its odor and flavor.” One could assume that it’s a marketing tactic for corporations to make their food products more attractive to the public. Unperceived by many, synesthesia could be probable in this setting, and these businesses could be banking on stimulating one of your senses (sight) to then retroactively stimulate the other four (taste, smell, hearing, and touch). . The Cleveland Clinic says that synesthesia “causes sensory crossovers, such as tasting colors or feeling sounds.”
Other ingredients that are creeping in our foods are food gums. There are so many types of food gums, but the most familiar you might have been exposed to are xanthan gum, guar gum, gellan gum, acacia gum (arabic gum), and locust bean gum. The main reason why companies include these gums is to thicken, stabilize, and emulsify their edible products. Indubitably, these food gums come with some uncomfortable side effects. Regularly eating food items with these gums could result in abdominal gas, loose stools, and mild gastrointestinal issues in general.
Your gluten-baked goods, dairy products, ice cream, and packaged food could very well contain these food gums to improve their texture and all-embracing appearance, but at what cost?
Artificial sweeteners have been linked with depression, digestive issues, and many other ill-related disorders. The USDA may claim that, when used in moderation, artificial sweeteners are completely safe, even insisting that they may be of some avail.
Other trustworthy entities, like the BMJ (British Medical Journal), a peer reviewed medical journal, found that high doses of artificial sweeteners, “increased the risk of cardiovascular problems such as strokes and coronary heart disease.”
Erythritol, not well-known by many other than food scientists, is an artificial sweetener that naturally arises in low amounts in vegetables and fruits. Apparently, this sugar alcohol is made inside our cells as part of our standard metabolism. Trouble comes when it becomes a customary sweetener. The National Institutes of Health attests that those “erythritol levels are typically more than 1,000-fold greater than levels found naturally in foods.”
Health damage doesn’t stop there; erythritol has also been linked to an elevated risk for blood clots. Did we mention that there’s like seven more sugar alcohols that are approved for consumption?
Not concerning at all…
Honestly, things get more messy because erythritol is considered a “sugar alcohol,” it’s exempt from being individually listed on Nutrition Facts labels. At the end of the day, there could be more than one sugar alcohol in a product, and we won’t know it.
Getting too much sodium nitrite based on suggestive research can cause illnesses like colorectal cancer, heart disease, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, and esophageal, ovarian, stomach, pancreatic, and thyroid cancers.
What is sodium nitrate’s function? You wonder. It’s a preservative incorporated in cured meat products, deli meat, bacon, beef jerky—you name it, it’s surely there.
Other ingredients that are creeping in our foods are food gums. There are so many types of food gums, but the most familiar you might have been exposed to are xanthan gum, guar gum, gellan gum, acacia gum (arabic gum), and locust bean gum. The main reason why companies include these gums is to thicken, stabilize, and emulsify their edible products. Indubitably, these food gums come with some uncomfortable side effects. Regularly eating food items with these gums could result in abdominal gas, loose stools, and mild gastrointestinal issues in general.
Your gluten-baked goods, dairy products, ice cream, and packaged food could very well contain these food gums to improve their texture and all-embracing appearance, but at what cost?
Artificial sweeteners have been linked with depression, digestive issues, and many other ill-related disorders. The USDA may claim that, when used in moderation, artificial sweeteners are completely safe, even insisting that they may be of some avail.
Other trustworthy entities, like the BMJ (British Medical Journal), a peer reviewed medical journal, found that high doses of artificial sweeteners, “increased the risk of cardiovascular problems such as strokes and coronary heart disease.”
Erythritol, not well-known by many other than food scientists, is an artificial sweetener that naturally arises in low amounts in vegetables and fruits. Apparently, this sugar alcohol is made inside our cells as part of our standard metabolism. Trouble comes when it becomes a customary sweetener. The National Institutes of Health attests that those “erythritol levels are typically more than 1,000-fold greater than levels found naturally in foods.”
Health damage doesn’t stop there; erythritol has also been linked to an elevated risk for blood clots. Did we mention that there’s like seven more sugar alcohols that are approved for consumption?
Not concerning at all…
Honestly, things get more messy because erythritol is considered a “sugar alcohol,” it’s exempt from being individually listed on Nutrition Facts labels. At the end of the day, there could be more than one sugar alcohol in a product, and we won’t know it.
Getting too much sodium nitrite based on suggestive research can cause illnesses like colorectal cancer, heart disease, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, and esophageal, ovarian, stomach, pancreatic, and thyroid cancers.
What is sodium nitrate’s function? You wonder. It’s a preservative incorporated in cured meat products, deli meat, bacon, beef jerky—you name it, it’s surely there.
However, the public may not be aware of the following: it's used as fertilizer as well as a component in glass and ceramics. Mind Blown by these informative revelations, it makes the idea of sodium nitrite even more alarming.
Hot dogs, America’s favorite processed meat, are the biggest culprit with the highest levels of nitrites, with WebMD finding that “the average hot dog has about 9 milligrams of nitrates in a 100-gram serving.” Information like this will make you think twice about eating a hot dog on the Fourth of July.
Last but not least, Carrageenan.
This sulfated polysaccharide comes from natural red seaweed, most commonly referred to as Irish moss. There’s no reason why something as natural as carrageenan can impose such a health risk, right?
Well, it does. Carrageenan has been in controversy since the 1960s. By 1981, two researchers wrote in the Cancer Detection and Prevention journal that, “[U]ndegraded carrageenan is still widely used throughout the world as a food additive. Its harmful effects in animals are almost certainly associated with its degradation during passage through the gastrointestinal tract. There is a need for extreme caution in the use of carrageenan or carrageenan-like products as food additives in our diet.”
However, the public may not be aware of the following: it's used as fertilizer as well as a component in glass and ceramics. Mind Blown by these informative revelations, it makes the idea of sodium nitrite even more alarming.
Hot dogs, America’s favorite processed meat, are the biggest culprit with the highest levels of nitrites, with WebMD finding that “the average hot dog has about 9 milligrams of nitrates in a 100-gram serving.” Information like this will make you think twice about eating a hot dog on the Fourth of July.
Last but not least, Carrageenan.
This sulfated polysaccharide comes from natural red seaweed, most commonly referred to as Irish moss. There’s no reason why something as natural as carrageenan can impose such a health risk, right?
Well, it does. Carrageenan has been in controversy since the 1960s. By 1981, two researchers wrote in the Cancer Detection and Prevention journal that, “[U]ndegraded carrageenan is still widely used throughout the world as a food additive. Its harmful effects in animals are almost certainly associated with its degradation during passage through the gastrointestinal tract. There is a need for extreme caution in the use of carrageenan or carrageenan-like products as food additives in our diet.”
We should point out that carrageenan adds no flavor or nutritional value to our beverages and food. Technically, carrageenan is a food gum, and its only function is to add texture.
Still doubting? Let us leave you with this, carrageenan is used in shoe polish.
Real, SIMPLE ingredients you can trust
We should point out that carrageenan adds no flavor or nutritional value to our beverages and food. Technically, carrageenan is a food gum, and its only function is to add texture.
Still doubting? Let us leave you with this, carrageenan is used in shoe polish.
Real, SIMPLE ingredients you can trust
The Takeaway
The Takeaway
Every ingredient with total assurance and no exaggeration listed in this article is NOT FOUND AT ALL in SIMPLE bars. We agree that it sounds too good to be true, but that’s because it’s in fact the truth. In conclusion, if the USDA claims that small consumption of these ingredients is relatively safe, but every product we buy has small amounts of these unsafe ingredients, at the end of the day we’re then consuming giant quantities that will deteriorate our health.
Learn more about our SIMPLE clean-ingredient products by clicking here.
Every ingredient with total assurance and no exaggeration listed in this article is NOT FOUND AT ALL in SIMPLE bars. We agree that it sounds too good to be true, but that’s because it’s in fact the truth. In conclusion, if the USDA claims that small consumption of these ingredients is relatively safe, but every product we buy has small amounts of these unsafe ingredients, at the end of the day we’re then consuming giant quantities that will deteriorate our health.
Learn more about our SIMPLE clean-ingredient products by clicking here.