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All processed / packaged food is unhealthy and usually harmful no matter how it is marketed to us. This especially applies to food that people consider healthy such as digestive biscuits, cookies with added protein, instant oats, zero sugar jams, atta noodles, sugar free sweeteners, zero calorie soft drinks etc.
Processed foods have a large number of chemicals which you would never find in natural food. Natural food refers to whole grains, fruits, root vegetables, leafy vegetables, lentils (dal), chana, unprocessed non veg food, milk etc that has been eaten by our ancestors since thousands of years.
Chemicals in processed foods serve the purpose of sometimes replacing sugar / acting as a sweetener (marketed as healthier than sugar which is false), preserving the shelf life of food, getting a food item to a certain consistency and stability (due to it being an unnatural food in the first place we have to put chemicals to stabilise it), enhancing flavours and colours etc. Many of these chemicals are known to be harmful especially in the long run.
The next time you look at your ex-favorite (you’re going to give up eating such food after reading this post!) boxed / packaged treats look out for these additives in the ingredient list.
🚫 1) Artificial Sweeteners / Fat substitutes
Artificial sweeteners include acesulfame potassium, aspartame, saccharin, sugar alcohols, high fructose corn syrup, sucralose etc. These are now found in almost all processed foods especially those labelled labelled zero sugar or low calorie which are marketed as healthy.
However, artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame, saccharin and sucralose are linked to glucose intolerance which is the precursor to diabetes. Further, consumption of artificially sweetened soft drinks by pregnant women is linked to premature delivery and incidence of asthma in the child.
Olestra (also called Olean) has zero calories and is used as a fat substitute in potato / corn chips and french fries. Olestra in large quantities is also linked with stomach upset / diarrhea. Further usage of such fat substitutes leads to low absorption of fat soluble vitamins - A, D, E and K.
🚫 2) Chemical Preservatives
Have you ever wondered how processed meat, potato chips, biscuits, chocolates, ready to cook meals, packaged soups, canned fruits etc. can survive for many months.
Preservatives (mostly laboratory made chemicals) such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA, E320), butylated hydroxytoulene (BHT, E321), propyl gallate (E310), nitrates and sulfites make this possible.
While these inhibit the growth of bacteria in food, side effects (especially in large quantities) include - asthma attacks and respiratory difficulties, rashes, irritation to the digestive system and hyperactivity in kids.
🚫 3) Flavor Enhancers
Flavor enhancers give food a distinct flavor to food without adding any flavor of their own.
A commonly used flavor enhancers is MSG (Monosodium glutamate) - found in chinese food, potato chips, ready to cook meals and gravies, salad dressings, salted snacks, burgers, fried chicken, french fries and fruit juices. MSG was most recently found in high quantities in noodles in India.
MSG is known to cause headaches and dizziness (due to its effect on brain neurons), numbness / stiffness in the face and nausea.
🚫 4) Chemical stabilizers / oxidizing agents
Since processed food doesn’t naturally exist, a key part of making them is the use of chemical stabilizers to arrive at a desired consistency / quality level in terms of look and feel.
Potassium bromate (E924) is an oxidizing agent used to speeden up process of making bread and to improve elasticity and strength of flour. This was used extensively by bread manufacturers for many years before 2016 when FSSAI banned its usage in India due to research indicating that it is a carcinogenic (i.e. causes cancer). Potassium bromate is also banned in EU, Brazil, China but is still not banned in USA.
This indicates that there are a large number of additives where research is inconclusive that are currently being used by food manufacturers!
🚫 5) Artificial colourants
Various colourants are used in bakery products, sauces, chocolates, restaurant food, ice creams, cold drinks and other processed food just to make food attractive to the eye - these are mostly chemically synthesized in laboratories.
Tartrazine (E102) is a commonly used food colourant of lemon yellow colour derived from coal tar which is banned in Austria and Norway but not in India, US and UK. This has been linked to asthma, rash, DNA damage (though non conclusively due to contradicting research).
Further, research indicates that Tartrazine along with other colourants such as quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124), allura red (E129) and sodium benzoate (E211) which is a preservative, causes hyperactivity in children.