Day 11 - What's in the food you're eating?

Okay, so just about everyone knows that eating fast food is not a good way to maintain health. I’ve always known that fast food is not good for me, but it just tastes so good sometimes! And when you’re in a time crunch, that drive through is just so convenient!

Anyway, yesterday at work we got curious as to what exactly is in these fast foods. We chose well known McDonald’s and Googled their ingredient list (which is well hidden if you go directly to the McDonald’s website to find this information). What we came across was surprising. Although I knew it wouldn’t be good, it was a lot worse than I had expected. Below is just ONE item on their list… I’ve bolded all the ingredients you probably don’t want to have in your diet and then I’ve broken them down and explained why each of these is not good for your health!

Remember: ingredients are always listed in descending order of predominance by weight!

Big Mac Sauce:

Soybean Oil, Pickle Relish (Diced Pickles, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate [Preservative], Spice Extractives, Polysorbate 80), Distilled Vinegar, Water, Egg Yolks, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Onion Powder, Mustard Seed, Salt, Spices, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Mustard Bran, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Vegetable Protein (Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy and Wheat), Caramel Color, Extractives of Paprika, Soy Lecithin, Turmeric (Color), Calcium Disodium EDTA (Protect Flavor).

Soybean Oil – vegetable oil extracted from the seeds of the soybean. Soy has been in the news a lot recently. First it was thought to have health benefits, but further research has shown soy to be a trigger for food intolerance. Soy also contains “phytoestrogens” which have been shown to promote breast cancer cell growth in animals. Phytoestrogens may also play a role in influencing testosterone levels in men. Soy is also high in “purines,” the culprit behind a form of arthritis known as gout. Soybean oil is also made up of 85% “good” fats and 15% “bad.” (Why would you eat bad fats at all if you didn’t need to?) Not only that, more than half of all soybean crops in the US are genetically modified.

High Fructose Corn Syrup – this is sugar and more sugar (glucose and fructose). Sugar causes obesity and disease. HFCS is NOT processed by the body the same way more natural forms of sugar are. (There is a commercial here in the US that tries to tell people otherwise… makes me so angry!) Without going into too much biochemistry, there is no chemical bond between the glucose and fructose in HFCS and thus it is absorbed much more rapidly into your blood stream. Fructose goes straight to the liver and triggers “lipogensis” (production of triglycerides and cholesterol). Glucose triggers a huge spike in insulin (the hormone that tells your body to store fat). HFCS contains toxins such as mercury that are not regulated/monitored by the FDA. Basically, HFCS is an anti-nutrient. (Read more here: http://drhyman.com/blog/conditions/5-reasons-high-fructose-corn-syrup-will-kill-you/)

Corn Syrup – is a food syrup made from the starch of maize and contains maltose. Okay, so this is just more sugar… That makes THREE different kinds of sugar McDonalds has used just to make some pickle relish!

Potassium Sorbate – prevents mold growth/food spoilage. It is a known skin, eye, and respiratory irritant. Any food additive can cause an allergic or intolerance reaction due to these substances triggering an exaggerated immune response by the body. Potassium sorbate and other additives may be a trigger to migraines. Consuming too much potassium (from any source) can lead to hyperkalemia (too much potassium in the blood) which can lead to heart arrhythmias.

Polysorbate 80 – is an emulsifier. It is known to cause intolerance reactions in some people, especially those diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.

Propylene glycol alginate – is an emulsifier, stabilizer, and thickener. It is derived from alginic acid esterified and combined with propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is used in antifreeze and airport runway de-icers!

Sodium benzoate – food preservative, produced by mixing sodium hydroxide with benzoic acid. Nobody really knows if this compound is harmful or not, and studies have shown there may be a link between sodium benzoate and damage to mitochondrial DNA as well as ADHD (hyperactivity). Also, if you combine sodium benzoate, potassium benzoate (another preservative) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) you get benzene, a known carcinogen.

Vegetable Protein (Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy, and Wheat) – used as a flavor enhancer. Whenever you see the words “hydrolyzed” or “autolyzed,” think MSG. MSG is a known trigger of headaches and increases appetite. As well, if you are MSG-intolerant you can develop increased heart rate, nausea, chest pain, and feelings of pressure in your face. This vegetable protein also contains soy, which as we already went over. As well, in 2010 (and I think 2011 too), hydrolyzed vegetable protein was recalled due to contamination with bacteria that caused a number of deaths.

Caramel color – basically burnt sugar. As always, the research is inconclusive, but suggests this compound is immunosuppressive and carcinogenic.

Soy lecithin – another emulsifier. Extracted from soybeans using hexane. Hey, that’s the third time soy has been listed in this ingredient list!

Calcium Disodium EDTA – prevents spoilage from the air. First off, EDTA is used to dissolve limescale, which kind of makes me wonder what it’s doing in my food… A paper published in the May/June 2006 issue of Environmental Engineering Science found EDTA to be a persistant organic pollutant. Calcium disodium EDTA is used in chelation therapy to remove heavy metals from the body and has a number of side effects including vitamin malabsorption, low blood sugar/blood pressure/blood calcium, seizures, and kidney failure. (http://www.livestrong.com/article/220542-dangers-of-calcium-disodium-edta/)

If you think this is bad, look at the rest of the ingredients in McDonald’s products: http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/ingredientslist.pdf

There is even high fructose corn syrup in their buns!

Moral of the story – read your labels/ingredient list!