Ingredients You Should Avoid

Written by: James Travis
Written on: February 15, 2006
Last updated: March 5, 2006

One of the most important decisions that you will ever make is what to put in your body. Not only is this decision important, but it is one that you must make multiple times per day. The point of this article is not to scare you, but to help you make informed decisions about what you feed your body.

The sad truth is that there are some foods on the market today that simply are not safe for people to consume. To make matters worse, some of these ingredients are used in-place of safer natural ingredients simply because the less-safe ones last longer and are easier to manufacture and/or transport. Now I am not going to point fingers at any specific company or organization, in fact it is my belief that most if not all of these people are honest and hardworking individuals who themselves are in the dark about the dangers of these ingredients… However it is also my belief that a list of unsafe ingredients must be published so that consumers can choose for themselves what they feel they should be putting into their bodies and what simply shouldn’t have any business being on a meal table.

One extra thing you have to watch out for: Some ingredients on a food package are listed using alternate “scientific names”. So I will list both the common name and scientific names for each ingredient, because it is very easy to be fooled by an alternate name for an ingredient. Also it is not uncommon for an ingredient to have more than one scientific name. Be sure to always read the ingredients on a food package very carefully, along with any other notices and warnings. You will be surprised how much you can learn about a product simply by reading the fine-print on a label.

Here now is the list of food ingredients that you should never eat. Common names listed first with the scientific names in parenthesis, followed by a description of why the ingredient should be avoided and ending with sources. Be sure to write down the names for each ingredient and bring them with you the next time you go shopping at the grocery store; you will probably also want to check these ingredients against food which you already have in your house.

• NutraSweet, Equal (aspartame, phenylalanine, neotame)¹
  An artificial sweetener that has been linked to a whole host of physical problems and also affects mental function in certain cases. Symptoms range from chronic fatigue, to cancer and death.
  
• MSG (monosodium glutamate, carrageenan, glutamic acid, autolyzed yeast, calcium caseinate, gelatin, hydrolyzed protein, sodium caseinate, yeast extract) ²
  A neurotoxin which causes all manner of brain damage and disorders from asthma to migraine headaches, seizures and death.
  
• Splenda (sucralose)³
  Another artificial sweetener that is actually a chlorocarbon which is known to cause organ damage, including shrinkage of the thymus which will undermine the human immune system. It also has been known to cause swelling of the liver and kidneys as well as calcification of the kidneys.
  
• TBHQ (tert-butylhydroquinone)⁴
  An antioxidant, which unfortunately has also been shown to cause stomach tumors and damage to DNA.
  
• Sulfites (no other names known)⁵
  A Sulfur-based chemical usually sprayed on foods to avoid spoilage. Can cause severe allergic reactions requiring hospitalization and can lead to death if not treated. Symptoms can mimic asthma attacks.
  
• HFCS (high fructose corn syrup)⁶
  Not to be confused with normal “corn syrup” which is safe, HFCS is yet another artificially produced sweetener which has been linked both to obesity and diabetes.
  
• SomerSweet, Sweet One, Sunett (acesulfame, acesulfame-K, AceK, acetoacetamide)⁷
  Yes another artificial sweetener. This one affects the thyroid and has been shown to cause tumors in as short as three months. Also, as you may have been able to determine by the chemical name, this ingredient may also trigger a reaction in people who are allergic to Sulfa drugs.

This is by no means a comprehensive or complete list. It’s not possible to keep up with all the new chemical ingredients and name-changing dance that goes on every single day. The best advice I can give is to use your brains and listen to your body. If you eat something and feel strange or experience pain afterwards, don’t eat it. Whenever I consumed certain foods, I would have pain within an hour after eating it (whether I knew I had eaten it or not). Only afterward by carefully examining the ingredients of the foods was I able to figure out the cause.

As I stated earlier, it is not my intention with this article to frighten anyone, I simply believe that people need to be more educated and aware about what they feed their bodies. Our bodies can not be balanced if we feed them toxic and unhealthy substances. In several cases, the companies or groups that produce these ingredients with issued counter-statements claiming that these ingredients are safe. All I can say is what I have already said; you must use your own intelligence and above all, listen to your body.

The reference links below link to other sites which are not owned by ChallengeNet Incorporated. ChallengNet Incoporated and its' officials cannot be held liable or responsible for the content of any of these external sites.

¹Sweet Poison, Aspartame Consumer Safety Network

²Truth In Labelling.org, The Merck drug and chemical index

³Mercola.com, Splenda Exposed

⁴INCHEM

⁵Food and Drug Administration

⁶The Weston A. Price Foundation

⁷Toxicity Information Center, United States Public Health Service, United States National Toxicology Program