My Mum is so against processed foods. She has never allowed any frozen or tinned foods in the house - apart from frozen peas. She is very suspicious when it comes to what has gone into a product for it to maintain itself without perishing. You don’t have to dig in very deep to learn that they add smells into packets to entice us, they add preservatives and E numbers, they don’t even have to declare an ingredient if it is under a specific small percentage.

I’m certainly not impressed by many companies who have recently created new adverts telling us that they now don’t add that nasty colour or ingredient that has just been proven to be harmful – especially as they know what they have been putting into our food all along. So it was ok to do for years and years and reap of the profits but now it must be changed because some scientist has proved that your product contains a harmful substance?…that we feed to our kids, that we eat, that we share with people?!!

We are not told the whole truth when it comes to our food, and when we are, it’s often when the problem is out of control. We need to wisen up and take control of what we eat and how we cook or treat our food. Here are just a few articles to illustrate my point.

BSE – A British inquiry into BSE concluded that the epidemic was caused by cattle, who are normally herbivores, being fed the remains of other cattle in the form of meat and bone meal (MBM), which caused the infectious agent to spread.

Remember the Bernard Matthews scandal – Bernard Matthews faces illegal imports inquiry - Februaly 2007 article by The Times.

In addition, the packaging our food is sold to us in has also proven to be harmful – Plastics chemical linked to health problems. 

And I believe that microwaves are not good for you. There are proven studies that say so and also many that say this isn’t true. Read this report on Microwaves by Curezone and make your own mind up.

You and only you are in full control of what you put into your body. Make a choice.

I am at the point where I have taken control. I am taking measures to make myself more self sufficient – well as much as I can anyway. Most of the food I use is in it’s natural form so it’s as unprocessed as possible – at least I know what’s in it. Very few of my meals take longer then 30 minutes to prepare and most of them are of a high nutritional value. I try as much as possible to ensure half of my plate is raw – eg salads, vegetables etc. I try to cook as much as I can just using a fire hob or oven. I also have a great Steamer which is in my opinion probably the best way to cook food. We should keep our vegetables light and not cook the hell out of them.

We as consumers have a choice. We can choose where we want to spend our money and to know where our food comes from and exactly what is in it.

My dream is to own a garden so that I can grow my own fruit/vegetables/herbs. I’m working towards it.  Jamie Oliver has inspired me from his Jamie at Home series!

Scientists have developed a fast new method to identify food additives that act as “xenoestrogens” — substances with estrogen-like effects that are stirring international health concerns.

They used the method in a large-scale screening, and discovered two additives with previously unrecognized xenoestrogen effects.

Xenoestrogens have been linked to a range of human health effects, including reduced sperm counts in men and increased risk of breast cancer in women.

The scientists used the new method to search a food additive database of 1,500 substances, and verified that the method could identify xenoestrogens. In the course of that work, they identified two previous unrecognized xenoestrogens — propyl gallate, a preservative used to prevent fats and oils from spoiling, and 4-hexylresorcinol, which is used to prevent discoloration in shrimp and other shellfish.

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

I’ve written about the dangers of endocrine disruptors such as bisphenol A, PFOA and phthalates many times. I like to consider xenoestrogens fake estrogens but their name literally means “foreign estrogens.” Either way they are synthetic chemicals that mimic natural estrogens, and have been linked to a wide range of human health effects.

There are so many of them, and they’re used in so many common consumer products that trying to avoid them may seem like a fruitless struggle.

For example, you come in contact with hormone disrupting chemicals through:

* Pasteurized dairy, which commonly contains bovine growth hormones
* Soy products, which are loaded with hormone like substances
* Plastics – many of which contain bisphenol A
* Personal care products that contain phthalates
* Cooking with Teflon-coated pots and pans

Now you can add certain food additives to the list – and some very common food additives at that.

Hormone-Mimicking Food Additives Recently Discovered

In the U.S., more than 3,000 substances can be added to foods for the purpose of preservation, coloring, texture, flavor and more. While each of these substances is legal to use, whether or not they are entirely safe for long-term consumption – by themselves or in combination – is a different story altogether.

The analysis published in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology actually found not just two, but 31 potential estrogen-mimicking food additives during their search.

Of those, propyl gallate was found to act as an antagonist, and 4-hexylresorcinol as a potent transactivator. Antagonists block the binding of an agent at a receptor molecule, and transactivators increase the rate of gene expression. In conclusion the authors’ state:

“Some caution should be issued for the use of propyl gallate and 4-hexylresorcinol as food additives.”

However, I don’t think we’ll see any of them removed from the market any time soon. Propyl gallate, for example, has been used since 1948 as a preservative to stabilize cosmetics, food packaging materials, and foods containing oils and fats. It can also be found in:

* Hair products
* Adhesives and lubricants
* Processed meat products and potato products
* Chicken soup base
* Chewing gum and candy
* Dried milk
* Baked goods, and more

Propyl gallate is frequently used in conjunction with BHA and BHT, which come with their own set of health hazards. These two additives also keep fats and oils from going rancid and are commonly used in processed food products such as cereals and potato chips, even though some studies have found they too, cause cancer in rats.

The other food additive mentioned above, 4-hexylresorcinol, is commonly used as an anti-browning agent in shrimp and other shellfish.

But it’s also used as a starting material to produce synthetic catecholamines, which have important physiological effects as neurotransmitters and hormones (such as epinephrine, adrenaline, norepinephrine, and dopamine).

Additionally, you can find it in common consumer products such as:

* Pharmaceutical acne treatments
* Anti-dandruff shampoo
* Sunscreen lotions
* Antiseptic mouthwashes
* Skin wound cleansers
* Throat lozenges

Potential Health Dangers of Propyl Gallate

In addition to being an endocrine disrupter based on this latest analysis, the results in a previous study by the National Toxicology Program (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) showed that propyl gallate caused various types of cancer and other health problems in rats, including:

* Thyroid tumors in male rats
* Rare brain tumors in low-dose females
* Prostate inflammation
* Mostly benign tumors of the preputial gland (glands that produce pheromones)
* Pancreatic tumors
* Adrenal gland tumors in low-dose males

As you can see, in some instances the health effect only showed up in the low-dose groups but not in the high-dose groups, and only in either males or females – a perfect example of just how little anyone really knows about how these types of chemicals might affect your body, or the body of an infant, for example.

Potential Health Hazards of Common Anti-Browning Agent

The anti-browning agent 4-Hexylresorcinol is applied to shrimp and other crustacean seafood to prevent the development of black spots which may occur naturally.

A toxicology study by the School of Biological Sciences, University of Surrey, England, discovered that 260 mg/kg was lethal to all cats used in the study. Granted, that is a very high dose; however, based on their data, the researchers also concluded that 4-Hexylresorcinol was carcinogenic in both the 13-week and 2-year studies, and also caused a high incidence of nephropathy in mice (an autoimmune disease that affects your kidneys).

A 1984 study determined the probable lethal dose for humans to be anything above 500 mg/kg.

How to Protect Your Family

If you have children xenoestrogens are clearly something you will want to avoid. Here are some measures you can take to protect you and your children from common toxic substances that could cause them to go into puberty more than a decade before they were designed to:

* Store your food in glass containers whenever possible, as it is the most inert container you can use.
* Only use natural cleaning products in your home. Most health food stores will have these available or you can search online for them.
* Buy and eat, as much as possible, organic foods, especially mik which is frequently contaminated with bovine growth hormone.
* Avoid processed foods.
* Avoid artificial food additives of all kind, including artificial sweeteners and MSG.
* Avoid all varieties of unfermented soy.
* Switch to natural brands of toiletries, including shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants and cosmetics. Same sources as above for these, either your local health food store or you can search online.
* Review Our Stolen Future, probably the best resource on this topic

Check out this great post on Z Recommends: Z Report on BPA: Infant Formulas.

BPA is everywhere. If we want to protect our kids, we have to tell the manufacturers to take it out! I encourage you to write letters, talk to friends, get active!!