Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Bad Things Embedded in Good Food

Food is an essential part of our daily lives, and it’s what gives us the energy we need to survive. Of course there are good food for you, while there are bad as well. Many people in the U.S. are obese, but many people are fit too. The cause of obesity is due to the over-consumption of bad food and lack of exercise. But what’s considered bad food? There are obvious answers to this question such as cookies, doughnuts, chips, hamburgers, and French fries. What people aren’t aware of is that almost every food that exists has something slightly bad in them.

Something popular that is present in many foods is hydrogenated oil. Hydrogenated oil is found in almost all processed food like soups, crackers, pasta, rice mixes, some cereals, frozen pizzas, pot pies, fried foods, and even sliced bread. Forcing hydrogen gas into oil at high pressure makes hydrogenated oil. It’s oil in which the fundamental fatty acids have been transformed to a different chemical form. Hydrogenated oil won’t go rancid as fast as untreated oil so its shelf stable. It’s used for pastries and frying because it has a high melting point. Examples of hydrogenated oil are margarine and Crisco. Originally, these products were produced and advocated as being healthier than conventional oils. But ironically, scientists in the 1990s found that these products have deleterious health effects. The fatty acids in oils are unsaturated fats, which have been certain to reduce cholesterol. It actually increases the level of bad cholesterol, LDL, and decreases the level of good cholesterol, HDL. In the production of hydrogenated oil, the healthy fats are converted into a new type of fatty acid, known as trans fat. Medical professionals have determined that trans fat is definitely harmful to one’s health. The consumption of hydrogenated oil has been known to give rise to coronary disease, diabetes, and obesity. Knowing that hydrogenated oils cause heart and cholesterol problems, why does the food industry continue to use it in all of their food products? Another problematic thing is what are people supposed to eat? Although, the food administrators have provided nutrition facts and ingredients to help people know what they’re consuming. So the best suggestion for people is to read the back of products and find out what they’re actually consuming. Unfortunately, this doesn’t solve everything because another problem arises from bacteria-infected foods.

Typically, people adjust their diet to become healthy by consuming fruits, vegetables, and proteins. Surprisingly, these produces have caused disease outbreaks, according to the article “When Bad Things Come From ‘Good’ Food”. Since September, the bacteria found in spinach, lettuce, and tomatoes have made many people sick, and three were killed. Now how are people supposed to trust the supermarkets and buy food? People already have to be cautious about what healthy foods to consume, but now they have to worry about purchasing infected foods? Isn’t this too much to worry about when consuming food? Other bad things that are present in food are flavor enhancers, also known as glutamic acid or MSG (monosodium glutamate). If there’s a high level of glutamates in the bloodstream, glutamate could go into the brain and cause the neurons to go wrong. Physical and psychological problems may result, and there may even be permanent damage. This is found in tomatoes, aged cheese and mushrooms, seaweed sauce, and frozen or canned foods to conceal any foul tastes. The article, “Diseases Attributed to Food Additives” provides plentiful and useful information about the chemicals present in different types of food.

After doing additional research, it’s apparent that there are more bad chemicals in food than what is typically known. Many people are becoming obese due to excessive consumption of hydrogenated oil. Ironically, people are trying to eat healthy by consuming vegetables, but many produce sold at supermarkets are infected with bacteria. This is a paradoxical situation because people are attempting to improve their health, but there happens to be other external factors that interfere. Food is so important to the human body, but it could be harmful and cause tragic damage as well. Will the food industry do something else to eliminate the bad chemicals and bacteria present in food? Or will people continue on the road to obesity and get sick?

3 comments:

Arisa said...

I found it interesting in your post that good food also can be bad for us. I took nutrition class during my freshman year and I learned from professor applegate that hydrogenated oil is bad for us. However she did not mention anything about bacteria in food, so I am wondering if she talks about this in class. I like your conclusion, I think food industries do not care about our health, they are making a profit. so we have to be responsible for our health. well actually, I don't know who is responsible for health and safety... because there is food safety government to protect us from bad food.

Rachel said...

Your post was well written and researched, and it brought up many issues regarding the health affects of processed foods. I'm not sure, however, that I agree with your statement "What people aren't aware of is that almost every food that exists has something slightly bad in them."

I think that perhaps every food category has had instances of contaminated or "bad" items, but I feel that if you are careful, you can avoid bad foods and instead reap their multiple health benefits. It is scary that there are still instances of food contamination today, but they are much fewer and far between than they were a few decades ago.

It is also important to note that many more people die from badly prepared or improperly stored foods than from foods infected with bacteria during harvest or processing. I think there are a lot of precautions the individual can take, such as shopping at farmers' markets, learning about where the food you eat comes from and what growing methods are used, as well as staying away from products containing unhealthy chemicals, fats, or preservatives.

I also don't think that it's entirely up to the food industry to protect us from bad foods; I think we need to demand good quality foods and protest bad foods by not buying them. If we refuse to buy goods containing trans fats or excessive levels of sodium or MSG, the food industry (which, like Arisa said, is mainly concerned with profit) will notice and make appropriate changes. This, however, depends on many of us taking action against unhealthy foods.

Sorry to ramble; I could talk about food day and night. I think your post is important in that it does decry some major problems with food today. There certainly ought to be changes in the processed and prepackaged food world, and we might also want to look at the accountability of large-scale farms and packing plants. But I think we also need to remember that there is a lot of good food out there, and it is possible to find it and live a relatively healthy lifestyle.

(Did you happen to look at irradiation as a means of killing bacteria? I'm not sure that I fully agree with it, but there is increasing evidence that it makes produce safer from a bacterial standpoint without any detrimental effects for the consumer.)

Christopher Schaberg said...

You've given your reader some key 'things' (literally substances) to think about and be suspicious of when it comes to food.

I wonder if the category of "food" is even useful now that we are in an age of incredible industrial production, packaging, and consumption? I mean, are we even eating 'food' or are we consuming items and objects that serve very specific purposes? For instance, I sit on my front porch everyday and watch people go to Habit Burger, Jamba Juice, and Seattle's Best coffee and then return to what are presumably their jobs, satiated or fixed for a few more hours of work. In this case, it seems like these things are not really about eating as much as they are about getting one through a workday. Food seems so tied to work in our contemporary moment. Of course the obverse of this is leisure and sociality, and so-called 'food' works in this way, too. But I wonder where you can find instances of people really respecting and taking their time to have food—fresh vegetables, fresh herbs and carefully dried spices, local meats and wine—and eat it. I noticed this in France when I was visiting my aunt a few years ago. But it is really hard to see in our culture, don't you think? Sorry, this was a tangent, but basically it was inspired by your focus on these constructed food products that we think we have to navigate when it comes to food. What if, as Rachel suggests, we simply didn't buy these things because they made no sense to us as 'food'? This is a very engaging subject you've written about, Ashley.