Currently viewing the category: "processed foods"

The Processed Food Digestion Experiment

By On · Add Comment · In digestive system, Gatorade, GI tract, Harvard University, M2A capsule, processed foods, Smartpill Capsule, whole foods

Interesting study coming out of Massachusetts, where a team of a Harvard gastroenterologist and a New York artist have collaborated to show us what it looks like when the human digestive system breaks down processed food.

M2A capsule

The video below was shot using the mouth-to-anus or M2A capsule, which contains a camera, light-emitting diodes and a transmitter. Using bluetooth technology it transmits images from the GI tract to a receiver pack worn by the subject. The study also took advantage of technology called the Smartpill Capsule that measured pressure, temperature and pH of the GI tract.

The team wanted to see if there were differences between the way the GI tract digests whole foods and processed foods. The whole foods consisted of homemade chicken stock with handmade noodles, hibiscus Gatorade, and pomegranate/cherry juice gummy bears. The processed foods included Top Ramen chicken, blue Gatorade and gummi bears.

The test was first run in June 2011 with one subject eating the whole foods and the other eating processed foods. The test was run a second time in September with the subjects switching the foods they ate. The pills were consumed right before the food. Watch the video to see the results. Fascinating…

It’s a Mistake, Spammit!

By On · Add Comment · In American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, American Meat Institute, canned foods, diabetes, Native Americans, processed foods, spam

spam-spam-spamYou’ve heard me say: eat at home. You’ve also heard me say: avoid canned, frozen and processed foods. And surely you’ve heard me say to shop on the outer edges of the supermarket, and avoid the aisles. Well here’s a study illustrating exactly why I preach what I do: Native Americans who regularly ate “spam” developed diabetes two times more than those who ate little or none.

The study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at 2,000 Native Americans from Arizona, Oklahoma and North and South Dakota to determine why this group had such a high rate of contracting diabetes. According to researchers, nearly half of all Native Americans develop diabetes by age 55.

Interestingly, spam (generic term for canned meat) seems to be a staple among many in this group. Because many Native Americans live in rural communities, they seek out food that has a long shelf life. Spam is actually subsidized by the government (I can’t make this stuff up).

The study group, whose average age was 35, was all diabetes-free at the beginning of the study. After the five years, researchers followed up and found that 243 of the people had developed diabetes; and they noticed that those who ate the most spam had the highest rate of developing the disease.

Although Spam is a brand-name commercial product, spam is any canned, processed meat. Canned meat is available freely to many Native Americans on reservations as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food assistance program.

The lead author of the study, Amanda Fretts, said that unprocessed meats did not have the same type of connection to diabetes–that is, people were equally likely to develop diabetes regardless of how much fresh hamburger or cuts of pork or beef they ate.

Despite the data, a causational link between processed meats and diabetes cannot be made. The researchers admit they have no explanation as to why processed meats should cause diabetes. Although spam is higher in sodium, there is no known connection there.

The American Meat Institute, which represents companies that process meat, are sure there’s been some sort of mistake. They have responded to these study results claiming that “processed meats are a safe and nutritious part of a balanced diet.”

Well, I’ll leave it to you to decide–did researchers flub these results and see something that wasn’t really there, or does processed food have effects on physiology that we don’t fully understand? Hmmm…tough call.

Leave Salt Alone

By On · Add Comment · In blood pressure, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), high fructose corn syrup, hypertension, MSG, processed foods, salt, salt sensitivity
You probably think from the title of this piece that I’m going to push the same old “salt is bad for you” junk. Well I’m not, cuz it just ain’t a fact. As much as we are being brainwashed into believing this myth, the science isn’t there to support it yet. So put this one right up there with “fat is bad for you” and “masturbation will give you hairy palms”.

Unfortunately, the powers that be keep jumping into the act. According to recent reports, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering tightening regulations on salt labeling, especially in processed foods. I’ve got no problem with this except that it doesn’t mean dink. It isn’t the salt in processed foods that’s bad for you, but the processing–that is, the chemicals and sythetic foods (MSG, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, hydrolysed soy bean product, and the like) and the all around poor quality of the food.
These regulations are based on the rationale that lowering salt intake decreases blood pressure in hypertensives—that’s true; it does. However, there is no conclusive evidence that lowered salt intake has beneficial effects in healthy people. This public health fallacy came about when researchers found that some people are salt sensitive. Salt sensitive people do have a dangerous increase in blood pressure when they eat too much salt (i.e. too much for them). Interestingly, public health officials found that it would be a lot easier, and less costly, to recommend salt reduction for all people rather than test the entire population for salt sensitivity. And thus the birth of the low dietary salt fallacy.
Now here’s what I want to get across to you: I couldn’t care less about whether people eat less salt or the government decides to tighten labelling. What I’ve got an issue with is the dissemination of false information. Why should we all direct our lives based on a non-truth? And why should I (or any other salt lover) be forced to eat bland food because of the uninformed public’s desire to be healthy? Get my point? I’m the first one to cheer healthiness…when it’s based on truth. But when somebody tries to feed me bullshot and tells me it’s caviar, I’m sorry, but that shot don’t fly. I’m happy to curb my habits when sound science shows them to be dangerous, but I just don’t like the taste of bland caviar. Now put that in you salt shaker and sprinkle it.
For more on the fallacies of lowered salt intake and lowered blood pressure, please read this great article from Scientific America.

Popcorn Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

By On · Add Comment · In bronchiolitis obliterans, diacetyl, flavoring, fumes, lung disease, microwavable, popcorn, processed foods

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times – processed foods can kill you. A popcorn fanatic in Colorado has developed lung disease recent news reports, possibly from eating way too much microwavable popcorn. The 53-year-old man loved his Orville Redenbacher so much he used to inhale the fumes after opening the piping hot package. Unbeknownst to him – or the rest of us – microwaveable popcorn contains a chemical used for processing, called diacetyl, which is suspected as causing lung damage.

Diacetyl, a naturally occurring compound that gives butter its flavor and is also found in cheese and wine, has been linked to lung damage in factory workers testing hundreds of bags of microwave popcorn per day and inhaling its fumes. It is approved by the FDA as a flavoring ingredient for processed foods. The levels of diacetyl fumes found in the afflicted man’s home were inordinately high – peak levels were similar to those measured in factories – presumably from the two bags or more that he nuked every day.
When are we going to figure out that processed foods are not superior to the real deal? Man can’t make it better than Mother Nature can – not now and probably never. Think about this for a minute – why put butter flavoring on foods, how about real butter? Duh! I’ll tell you why. Because we’ve been duped by the health and food sciences machine, and especially the media – that’s why. We’ve been sold so much nonsense over the last several decades like:
  • Red meat is bad for you

  • Salt is bad for you

  • Whole milk is bad for you

  • Cheese and butter are bad for you

  • Fat is bad for you

Gimme a break! Whole, natural foods are the only way to go. They have carried us through millions of years of evolution, but now they are bad for us? Hmmm. Why don’t we find the chemical responsible for the flavor of butter instead, isolate it, and then we can have the butter flavor without the fat. Yeah, that’s better. Oh, shoot – there’s only one problem. That chemical might cause lung damage.

Some specialists and special interest groups are claiming that there is no concrete evidence yet that diacetyl causes lung disease. But c’mon now, there have been several academic studies showing the link, and a few legal battles going the way of food-flavoring workers who have developed the lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans.

Here’s the take home message: Eat processed foods only occasionally, and not as a dietary staple. I discuss this principle in detail in my upcoming book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health. It’s a very basic concept but I think too many people just don’t know it, or they ignore it. Either way, this story is a wake-up call for those living off of processed junk food. Trust me when I say, the convenience of throwing a bag of popcorn (or any other processed food) in the microwave ain’t worth the risk, and I assure you it doesn’t taste better. So eat the real thing – you’ll start appreciating the difference soon enough.

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.