Why One Should Avoid Artificial Preservatives in Food and Cooking

Why should we avoid artificial preservatives in food and cooking?

Before we talk more about this topic, I think we should know first what the artificial preservatives are. They are used to be added to processed foods to enhance color, texture or flavor, facilitate food preparation or increase shelf life. They don't have nutritive value to the product at all. Artificial preservatives can be found in almost our food except the fresh food we eat, from the canned foods, frozen food, butter, margarine, prepared meats, etc in many kinds of product names.

What is the affect for our body so we should avoid them when we consume the kind of food that contains artificial preservatives? They are not usable and must be detoxified, or removed from the body. The best defense against them is to avoid processed food. We know this is impossible, but there is three examples of the worst offenders to watch out for when looking through our food labels. They are artificial color, Mono-sodium Glutamate (MSG), and Sodium or Potassium nitrate. Why are they dangerous?

It has been known that from numerous studies have shown artificial colors to be responsible for a number of symptoms, like hyperactivity in children, interference in fertility and birth defects, liver and kidney damage, interference in brain function and learning disabilities, etc. Mono-sodium Glutamate (MSG) is a food additive used as a flavor enhancer. It is known as an "excitotoxin," a substance that artificially excites, and can damage the nervous system and brain. Sodium or Potassium nitrate is used to deter the growth of botulism. It is used in the preservation and flavoring of meat products, like ham, bacon, sausage, and is also used in certain types of cheese. The various forms of nitrates have the ability to alter the blood, making it less able to carry oxygen to the cells. In severe cases, this alteration of the blood can lead to death.

From the short explanation above, we know how very dangerous they are for our health if we consume the food that contains those artificial preservatives frequently. If we have known how very danger they are, we should avoid to consume them. We know it is impossible because most of the food that we find at the supermarket/grocery stores or even at many places, like our favorite restaurant might use them. So, it is better we begin from ourselves. In our daily/weekly list grocery shopping, we prefer to consume the fresh products more than processed food. If we are used to buy the frozen vegetables, or any other kind of frozen food, or buy the canned food, it is better we start to buy the fresh vegetables, and other fresh food. By consuming them most, we have taken a right step to keep our body prevented from the danger stuffs. If it sounds good, why don't we start right now? Fresh meats, vegetables, fruits, pepper, salt, gralic, onion, etc are the examples of the kinds of fresh food we should consume more if we care of our body to stay healthy. Drink a lot of water instead of drinking soda is one of the solutions to keep our body healthy.

By choosing the right and healthy food for our daily consume, we have been so wise to keep our life happy because we will stay away from many diseases.(*)

Published at Helium, March 18, 2008