poison

The 12 Most Dangerous Foods You're Buying

Amanda Meadows — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 11:00:03 +0000

True fact: Some of the most popular foods are simply unhealthy and pose higher risks of illness. Also true? Many of those unhealthy foods are in your kitchen right now. (See also: 11 Food Additives You're Probably Eating Everyday)

Steer clear of these 12 dangerous foods you're buying.

1. 5-Hour Energy and Other Energy Drinks

Many studies have concluded that massive amounts of caffeine paired with other synthetic substances such as aspartame are to blame for the huge health risks associate with this afternoon booster, including high blood pressure, heart attack, seizure, and death.

2. Soda Pop

This big part of everyday consumption for many, especially children, is dangerous on many fronts. Soda not only erodes tooth enamel, but common soda pop ingredients can increase risk for diabetes, fatty liver, high blood pressure, cancer, nerve disorders, hormonal imbalances, and more.

3. Microwave Popcorn

That faux-buttery flavor of microwave popcorn is definitely fake, but that is not where all the health risks originate. It's the chemicals lining the microwaveable bag, such as POOA, that are cause for concern. Not only can these chemicals cause cancer in adults, but they can also make children's vaccines less effective.

4. Caffeine Pills

As with 5-Hour Energy, too much caffeine is not as unhealthy in the short term as it is in the long term. For example, consumption of too much caffeine in adolescents can lead to drug use later in life.

5. Margarine

The truth emerged only recently after years of buying margarine that it does not lower your cholesterol, nor is it healthier than natural butter. In fact, margarine dramatically increases LDL levels. Time to go back to using real butter, olive oil, or grapeseed oil.

6. Aspartame

The negative buzz on artificial sweeteners only seems to persist, especially in the case of aspartame. In addition to low-level side effects like headaches, long-term consumption of aspartame can possibly cause cancer in both adults and prenatal children.

7. Food Dyes

While laws now require most manufacturers to categorize dyed foods as "adulterated," and places like Trader Joe's have promised to only use natural coloring (i.e. beets and greens), dye is still a problem. Three regularly used dyes can cause cancer, and four others can cause serious allergic reactions.

8. Alfalfa Sprouts

Alfalfa and other types of sprouts can be very difficult to clean and are generally eaten raw. This can lead to contracting really bad bacteria such as salmonella, listeria, and E. coli. Children, elderly, and those with weak immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts.

9. Cassava

The cassava root, also known as tapioca, is in a lot more foods than you may think. It can be dangerous if prepared incorrectly, activating its traces of deadly cyanide. Also? If you are allergic to latex, you may be allergic to cassava.

10. Hot Dogs

This is a tough one to hear, because America loves frankfurters. While processed meats are already risky, the additive sodium nitrate pushes hot dogs into cancer danger. In addition, hot dogs cause 17% of food-related asphyxiations among children under 10 years.

11. Raw Honey

Despite the benefits many raw food and homeopathic fans may tout, raw honey contains the legitimately harmful toxin grayanotoxin I, which can cause nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure, and fainting.

12. Ground Turkey

Ground turkey, while a sound alternative to beef and pork, has its downside too. Turkey tends to be the poultry with the most bacteria –– including listeria, salmonella, and E. coli. The only way to combat gross bugs is to buy organic (to avoid antibiotic-resistant salmonella) and always cook turkey to 180°F (to kill off all bacteria).

Any other dangerous foods to watch for? Please warn us in comments!

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This article is from Amanda Meadows of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Do plastic baby bottles cause diabetes and heart disease?

Andrea Karim — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:48:52 +0000

Me, I've been a big proponent of doing away with plastics for a while now. I'd like to feel vindicated, but today's issue of USA Today just sort of made me sad. Check out the slide show here.

A study was released today that some scientists believe implicates bisphenol A in the formation of diabetes and heart disease in humans. Results are preliminary, and more studies need to be done. And, of course, the FDA still says that plastics are more or less safe.

"Some scientists say the study — released today to coincide with a Food and Drug Administration meeting— shows that bisphenol A, or BPA, is too dangerous to allow in consumer products, especially those used by babies and pregnant women." USA Today

"Higher BPA exposure, reflected in higher urinaryconcentrations of BPA, may be associated with avoidable morbidityin the community-dwelling adult population. " JAMA

"Two weeks ago, the National Toxicology Program said it has "some concern" that BPA alters development of the brain and prostate gland in children and babies, both before and after birth." USA Today

A number of stores are removing products that contain bisphenol A from their shelves - Toys R Us and Walmart have both been pulling toys and plastic baby bottles since early summer.

The plastic industry is, of course, fighting every attempt to reduce or change the way we use plastic in our everyday lives. From fighting the plastic bag fees that are being instituted in my fair city of Seattle and elsewhere, the American Chemistry Council is doing their darndest to keep a lid on this possibly dangerous substance. To be fair, the Canadian plastics industry is no better.

Of course, I see the value of having plastics in our lives. I certainly wouldn't want to ride my motorcycle wearing a helmet made of tree bark and sheepskin. And it IS difficult to know if studies like this one are truly causal: it's possible that high levels of bisphenol A in humans with diabetes and heart attacks are linked, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the relationship is causal. Perhaps people with heart disease and diabetes eat more prepared (unhealthy) food from plastic packaging, hence the higher levels of the chemicals in their blood.

I don't like fear-mongering, but I'm also aware of an industry's deep-seated need to fight scientific evidence.

In any case, I have been limiting my exposure to products containing bisphenol A as much as I possibly can, and will continue to do so.

Six Wise has some good tips on how to avoid BPA in your life (following list is taken from Six Wise).

If you want to avoid products with BPA, keep in mind the following:

Plastic that contains BPA carries the #7 recycling symbol.
Most clear plastic baby bottles and child cups are made of BPA-containing plastic.
Dental sealant may leach BPA; this is being debated. You may want to avoid dental sealants on your children's baby teeth.

You can minimize your BPA exposure by:

Replacing plastic food and drink containers and utensils with glass, ceramic or metal varieties.
Purchasing glass baby bottles.
Using baby bottles and sippy cups made of polyethylene plastic (#1, #2, #4 recycling symbols) or polypropylene (#5) (these are usually colored, not clear, and should still not be heated).
Not using canned foods or foods wrapped in plastic.
Not letting children put plastic toys in their mouths.
Being careful with BPA-containing plastics, if you choose to use them. This means not exposing them to heat (microwave, dishwasher) or harsh detergents (bleach, etc.) and not letting food or beverages sit in the containers for too long.

This article is from Andrea Karim of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Bad, bad China: a round-up

Andrea Karim — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:12:54 +0000

Well, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I need to stop buying Chinese goods. This is a tough one for me, mostly because so much of the cheap stuff that I love to buy comes from China, and as my readers know, I really like China and would like to see the country succeed.

However, one headline after another is screaming to me that I need to seriously consider the source of what I am buying before I buy it. At the very least, you too should consider keeping an eye out for the following:

Poison poissons? From BBC.

"The FDA is not allowing the import of these Chinese farmed seafood products until the importers can prove that the seafood is free from harmful contaminants," Dr. David Acheson, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's assistant commissioner for food protection, said during an afternoon teleconference.

He identified the banned fish as catfish, basa (similar to catfish), shrimp, dace (similar to carp) and eel, which he said may contain chemicals that are potentially carcinogenic.

Want shiny teeth? Try anti-freeze. From CBS.com.

The New York Times reported today that approximately 900,000 tubes of tainted Chinese toothpaste has shown up in prisons, juvenile detention centers and hospitals in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, including some serving the general population.

It's been going on for a lot longer than you think! From SF Gate.

"The U.S. imports a lot of Chinese glycerin, and it is used in ingested products such as toothpaste," Mary Pendergast, then deputy commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration, wrote on Oct. 27, 1997. Learning how diethylene glycol, a syrupy poison used in some antifreeze, ended up in Haitian fever medicine might "prevent this tragedy from happening again," she wrote.

[emphasis mine]

China responds. From CNN.com via Itchmo.

Formaldehyde, illegal dyes, and industrial wax were found being used to make candy, pickles, crackers and seafood, it said, citing Han Yi, an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, which is responsible for food safety.

"These are not isolated cases," Han, director of the administration's quality control and inspection department, was quoted as saying.

Getting tired of all the bad news from China? Ha! From Newsinferno.

Defective tires have been added to an ever-growing list of dangerous Chinese imports. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ordered 450,000 tires recalled after Foreign Tire Sales, the New Jersey company that imported the tires, disclosed that they had been manufactured without a gum strip meant to keep the tread from separating. The tires, manufactured by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, have been blamed for at least two accidents, one of which was fatal.

Poison toys. Good times. From ABC News.

China by far leads the list of countries making products that are recalled in the United States, accounting for 65 percent of all the recalled products in this country this year, according to CPSC. In 2006, China accounted for 233 product recalls -- nearly double the rate from the previous year, with lead a recurring cause among the recalls.

It's the attack of the killer tomato paste! In Italy! From WineNews.com.

And, Coldiretti emphasized, among the arrivals from the Asian giant it is significant that tomato concentrate, which represents almost one third of imports (31%), has registered a record import increase of 150%. This is a particularly worrisome situation for Italy because it was unable to obtain a norm for the mandatory printing of the origins of a product on labels, thus the risk that non Italian goods will be sold as Italian made.

Ok, well, that last one isn't so bad. Yet.

This article is from Andrea Karim of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: