The types of foods with unique ingredients

Frozen/Room-Temperature Food Items

Meat/No-meat Egg & Cheese Croissant Sandwiches – Some ingredients include enriched enriched bleached flour i.e., flour from wheat or barley that was bleached with chlorine dioxide, or nitrogen dioxide, or calcium peroxide, or azodicarbonamide, or benzoyl peroxide along with b-complex vitamins; isolated soy products i.e., soy products that were rinsed with alcohol or water to separate soy from fats and proteins; and maltodextrin which is a complex sugar (polysaccharide) that is obtained by partial hydrolysis from the starch present in vegetables.

Some other types of frozen and non-frozen ready-to-eat food items may not have these specific ingredients. The point is that bleaching of the flour is not good for health as it removes the outermost layer of the wheat kernel which is called the ‘bran‘. Generally speaking, wheat bran has an handful of nutrients and also contributes to the daily fiber requirement (depending on the amount of unrefined-wheat products consumed). In addition to removing the wheat bran, the refining process also uses dangerous chemicals such as chlorine dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, benzoyl peroxide which causes the wheat endosperm (and the wheat germ) to age quickly. This type of aging is supposed to help the what flour to be used in various types of baking processes.

Frozen Waffles (Buttermilk or Blueberry or any other flavor) – These waffles are less complex in terms of the nature of ingredients. Some of the ingredients include enriched wheat flour, eggs, sodium acid pyrophosphate (SAPP) i.e., a complex amalgamation of sodium cations and pyrophosphate anion. It is also called disodium pyrophosphate and is used in the process of leavening when added to bakery items such as breads or waffles or pancakes. Disodium pyrophosphate is not safe if good manufacturing practices (GMPs) are not adhered to; it causes irritation to the eyes, mucous membranes, and the skin if there is an overdose.

Toaster Strudel with Cream Cheese & Strawberry (or any other flavor) – The ingredients for the toaster strudel start with enriched bleached flour, modified whey i.e., which has some sugars or other types of saccharides after the milk has been strained; tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) which is used solely or in conjunction with butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and propyl gallate. TBHQ is considered to be an antioxidant and prevents food products that contain iron from any type of discoloration. TBHQ has been known to cause tumors in animal studies and it is also associated with enlarged liver, convulsions, and paralysis.

Soft Flour Tortillas – These are generally kept at room temperature until the packet is opened. There are many ingredients and some of them are unique such as fumaric acid i.e., which is an intermediate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle) and is added to maintain the level of acidity. Fumaric acid causes a handful of gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, stomach pain, kidney problems, and also immune system problems; Calcium propionate which in small doses prevents mold and bacterial growth on the bread and other bakery products. Calcium propionate is produced when calcium hydroxide is used to neutralize propionic acid. Propionic acid is an irritant to the eye membranes and in some cases also leads to blindness; Sorbic acid which is also used to prevent mold and bacterial infection of the food and skincare products is known to cause adverse reactions when exposed to the eyes, the skin, and the respiratory system. People with eczema and certain other diseases in other parts of the body will face adverse effects due to sorbic acid consumption or exposure.

Classic White Bread – Even though bread has been there as a source of food for hundreds of years before the 21st century, there are certain ingredients that are unique and not good for health. Some of them include DATEM which stands for Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Monoglycerides. DATEM can come from plant-based sources such as soy bean and it is generally a white powder. It is used for giving a smooth texture to bread and acts as an emulsifier too. DATEM is linked with heart fibrosis and overgrowth of the adrenal glands in addition to increasing the porosity of the intestines causing the ‘leaky gut syndrome’; Ammonium sulfate is a common ingredient in various bakery products in addition to white bread. It is also used in several fertilizers worldwide, consequently, exposure to ammonium sulfate either as an aerosol or via the gastrointestinal tract have led to breathing problems and acute enteritis. GMPs need to be followed while trying to make bakery products that contain ammonium sulfate; Calcium sulfate is an allergen that causes irritation of the eyes, respiratory tract, nose bleeding, etc. Calcium sulfate has the ability to take moisture as a result of which it is better not to restrict the amount of water or glycerin after taking more than the permissible level of calcium sulfate.

Premium Meats Honey Ham – This type of meat, which is pre-cooked is tightly packed and sold in many grocery stores such as Walmart, Kroger, Jewel-Osco, etc. Unique ingredients you need to be careful about include sodium erythorbate which is a sodium salt associated with erythorbate aka. erythorbic acid. Even though, sodium erythorbate has the potential to convert to vitamin C, it increases the acidity in the gastrointestinal tract and leads to kidney stones or gout. People who have previously had kidney stones or gout, need to eschew pre-cooked meats that contain sodium erythorbate; Sodium nitrite is another unique ingredient that is linked to cause various types of cancers, and also increased acidic levels in the body. Sodium nitrite as well as nitrate convert to nitrosamines that are very dangerous to the body. People who are at risk of getting certain cancers including colorectal cancers, need to be mindful before purchasing and eating meats that contain sodium nitrite.

Even though, there are these many unique ingredients in your food (whether it is breakfast, or lunch, or dinner), not all unique ingredients are safe. When talking about safety, I am paying more attention to certain chronic diseases such as cancers, type I and type II diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, etc. Let’s choose any type of cancer to start with. The U.S. National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health states cancer to be a type of diseases in which the body’s own cells start reproducing abnormally eventually also start damaging the neighboring tissues and organs. Since high school, students are taught that the body’s cells (I am referring to the somatic cells) reproduce by a process called mitosis which has the following phases prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. This process is an ordered process, i.e., there is no modification of any kind until the new cell is produced.

In cancers, the process of mitosis is disrupted, consequently, more and more cells are produced within a short period of time. These cells are called “malignant cells” and sometimes re-grow even after removal by chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or surgery. Medical research in the 20th-21st centuries have outlined that most types of cancer are gene-based, i.e., cancer results due to a complex interplay between three types of genes namely the proto-oncogenes, the tumor-suppressor genes, and the genes that repair erred DNA strands.

Some chemicals that are added to foods for the sake of preserving the food item over-the-counter may possibly contribute to the development of any type of cancer. Initially, when benzoyl peroxide was used with acetone (apart from the use for bleaching wheat in finely-processed food products), it led to the development of cancer in animal studies. The International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization as well as the Cancer Council of New South Wales, Australia, both acknowledge and agree that nitrates and nitrites are carcinogenic.

Among the number of ways by which medical research can progress to find a cure or prevent cancer (among other diseases), it is imperative to focus on the biological aspects, behavioral risk factors, as well as genetic risk factors that affect an individual who already has been diagnosed with cancer, or is at the verge of being diagnosed with any cancer. Beyond this stage is where medical and healthcare researchers focus on the levels of toxicity the pharmacological agents introduce in the body of a cancer patient who may have consumed a lot of nitrates or nitrites from any processed meats (beef, pork, etc.).