Could Fruit Juices Be a Safe Alternative To Soda?

March 26, 2012

Natural News

Scott Morefield

As significant percentages of parents wisely abandon HFCS and sugar-filled sodas as a viable beverage option for their children, corporations are capitalizing on the health-conscious trend by pushing fruit juices as a healthy alternative. Most parents who buy juices think they are making a wise choice, often because of the outlandish health claims juice makers put on the labels. In reality, however, parents should be not only be paying close attention to the murky ingredient list that lurks behind that bright, colorful, attractive front label, but should also reconsider feeding their children processed fruit juice altogether.

Some ingredients to watch out for

Sodium Benzoate- has been shown to destroy the mitochondrial DNA of yeast cells and, according to Professor Peter Piper of Sheffield University, could do the same to human cells in the long-term. Additionally, two recent British government funded studies have found that sodium benzoate adversely affects child behavior. If that weren’t enough, benzene, a known carcinogen, occurs when sodium benzoate combines with ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and the preservative potassium benzoate.

Natural Flavors- or basically any combination of molecules a chemist can derive from ‘natural’ sources to make their food taste or look a certain way. Often the sources of these flavors have nothing to do with the type of juice advertised on the label.

Carmine(also called Crimson Lake, Cochineal, Natural Red #4, C.I. 75470, E120) – or powdered scaleinsectbodies boiled in ammonia and processed as a food additive, is certainly an example of something that comes from a ‘natural’ source that has nothing to do with what is on the label. Crushed beetles anyone?

Food Dyes- such as Red #40, have been linked to hyperactivity and other behavioral problems. Many companies use petroleum-derived food coloring over real juice to save money.

Maltodextrin- is the starch-like substance some manufacturers add to fruit juices so they can make a ‘high-fiber’ claim on the label. Why keep the natural fiber in juice when you can apparently save money by adding a cheap chemically refined sugar, made from GM corn, that has been shown to promote weight gain?

Sugar/Fructose- The adverse health consequences of sugar are well known. What many parents don’t realize, however, is that children can consume as much or more sugar in fruit drinks than in sodas and junk food.

Hidden surprises

Ingredients that aren’t supposed to be ingredients- such as lead (85 percent of child-marketed beverages contain significant lead levels) and the toxic fungicide carbendazim, recently found in 15 percent of orange juice samples tested by the FDA. Carbendazim is illegal in the US, but not in several countries that export fruit here. Additionally, non-organic fruit is laced with a cornucopia of toxic pesticides and chemicals that is not only bad for bugs, but humans as well.

Parents do their children no favors by substituting one junk beverage for another. Sweet drinks, whether sodas or fruit juices, have been solidly linked to childhood obesity. In 2005,Pediatricsreported that already-heavy preschoolers who consume a sweet beverage just once or twice a day doubled their risk of becoming seriously obese just one year later. The study found no difference between fruit juices and sugar-filled Kool-aid.

The corporations that peddle this propaganda are happy to reformat, repackage, relabel, rename, and remarket their poison, just so long as unsuspecting parents keep buying it and feeding it to their children. Things will not change significantly until the majority of consumers start reading the ingredients list on the back of the label instead of the propaganda on the front.

learn more at Natural News

Are Food Dyes Really Safe?

February 4th, 2011

Health.com

YES: Extensive research confirms it.
Joseph Borzelleca, PhD, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine

• Lab tests prove they’re harmless.
Each of the nine man-made dyes used in food went through 5 to 10 years of laboratory and animal testing before receiving Food and Drug Administration approval. There has never been a confirmed health issue related to food coloring in the United States, except for rare cases of allergic reactions.

• The amount used is small.
To determine how much dye is safe to use, toxicologists take the highest dose that did not cause any adverse effect in animal tests and divide it by 100. The resulting number is the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI)—the amount any human can ingest every day for a lifetime without experiencing problems. Most foods containing dyes have only a tiny fraction of the ADI.

• The FDA monitors food carefully.
If they get a complaint, they investigate. If they believe an ingredient is causing the problem, they may issue a recall and even ban it.

NO: They have known health risks.
Michael Jacobson, PhD, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest

• Some may be linked to cancer.
Red 3 was shown to cause thyroid cancer in one animal study and has been banned from cosmetics and externally-applied drugs, but it is still permitted in food. Though there is no proof that the dye causes cancer in humans, there’s reason to avoid it.

• They may worsen ADHD symptoms.
That’s according to an analysis of 15 studies conducted at Columbia University and Harvard University. Two later studies commissioned by the British government found that children were more hyperactive when they ingested a drink containing food dyes equal to that in two to four 56-gram bags of candy (56 grams equals roughly 2 ounces).

• Europe is taking action.
Last July, the European Union passed a law requiring most foods containing dye to display a warning label stating that the additives “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”

The takeaway:
The strongest suggestion of harm is in kids with ADHD, so if your child has the disorder, talk to your doctor about whether your family should avoid dyes. Otherwise, there’s no solid proof that they’re unsafe—but it’s never a bad idea to cut back on processed foods.

Click here for the full report from Health.com

Unsafe Food Dyes

December 30, 2009

AOL Parent Dish

By Jennifer Schonborn

Yoplait Trix Wildberry Blue Yogurt is colored with Blue 1 and Red 40. Kraft’s Macaroni & Cheese contains Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. Pepsi and Coke use caramel color. If you and your kids are consuming prepackaged and processed food, chances are you’re eating and drinking food coloring, be it natural (pigments derived from plants or animals) or artificial (synthesized in a lab). Any food dye that is used in the U.S. has had to pass muster with the FDA, but some of our approved dyes have been outright banned in Europe. So are these added colorings truly safe?
VERDICT …

Artificial Colorings: Two British studies have found that artificial food dyes, in tandem with the preservative sodium benzoate, cause hyperactivity and other behavior problems in many children. And studies have suggested that Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 3, and Yellow 6 all can cause cancer. Artificial food dyes have been blacklisted in the U.K. and parts of Europe, but not here. In the U.K, a McDonald’s strawberry sundae gets its color from strawberries, while in the U.S. the sundae’s color is from Red 40. Be on the safe side and avoid artificial colorings altogether.

Beta-Carotene: Beta-carotene, which the body converts to Vitamin A, is used to give an orange-yellow tint to such foods as margarine, breakfast cereals, and some beverages. It is a natural compound often derived from algae, and is safe when used as a coloring.

Annatto: Sourced from the red seed of a tropical tree, annatto commonly appears in butter and cheeses to make them yellow/orange. It’s considered an antioxidant, so it helps rid the body of damaging free radicals and also aids immune function. It’s safe to consume.

Caramel Color: Used in cola and many other foods including canned meats and baked goods, caramel color comes from carbohydrates that are heated until you have what basically amounts to burnt sugar. A study has suggested that the caramel color in cola may cause an elevation in blood pressure, due to the advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, present in heated carbs. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to reduce consumption of this natural coloring by cutting back on cola — doing so will also help your family drop some unwanted pounds.

Click here for the full report