|
Everyday food
The
most important element for keeping us healthy is food. It produces
matter and energy for a good functioning and growth of the human
body. From time to time, medical statistics describe an important
group of diseases such as the diseases of the 20th
century. Their causes or factors are poor or abusive nourishment.
Why should the nourishment be the cause for some diseases, since
it is the basis of our life?
Modern times have also brought up an important
business for producers and traders of food and more comfort for the
consumer. If ten years ago, most of
the food was the result of home-made production, nowadays the
percentage has changed: most of the food are bought from shops and
are half-cooked products. In order to be able to stay
in the market, industrial food producers must sell "high
quality products" - design, flavour, taste and higher
validity are important features. But in order to do so, food is
prepared by using food additives (colours, emulsifiers,
anti-oxidants, stabilizers, preservatives, flavours, etc.). They
are written down on the packing (if there is any) in codes: E 954
(for saccharine), E 330 (citric acid), E 250 and E 251 (nitrites,
nitrates from sausages), etc. These additives are used only if
agreed by the Ministry of Health and they seem harmless, but in
time, they influence our health. For instance, saccharine was used
(it is still being used in Romania) as sweetener for different
hypo-callories products. It has been considered harmless to the
body for many years, but last research have proved it may produce
cancer. Therefore, many Western countries have stopped using it
for food production.
What are they? Most of them are chemical substances
of synthesis, which are not natural, vegetal or animal and they must
not be used for our nourishment. Human body, biochemically speaking,
has no normal means of assimilation of
these substances. The substances are obtained by lab chemical
reactions, they lack in vital energy that all natural products
have. From that point of view, we can say that food additives are
"dead" substances. Moreover, by "borrowing"
natural means of transforming and eliminating them, we use our own
reserve of energy.
Which are their properties? For instance, food
colours are substances of synthesis whose molecules have the
property of fixing on fats or cellulose fibers from food. The most
harmful are those who fix on fats, because once they got there, they
fix on the adipose tissue, colour it and later on, they may create
certain health problems. Preservatives are chemical substances which
do not allow the development of small organisms, by obstructing
vital ensymes or by destroying cell membrane. Although they cannot
be perceived, we have no guarantee that these phenomena, have
negative results (in time). The last few years, our market has been
filled with all kinds of fruits who ripe in a totally different
season. Normally, fruits (autumn fruits) may be kept for a long
time, but any sign of aging and degradation becomes obvious. They
look like they have just been harvested. The explanation is that
after harvest, they are treated with substances which stop their
aging. But the biological clock still ticks, energies change and
fruits become dead vegetables
- like a tasty piece of plastic. If these substances remained
into the skin, there would be no problem at all. But they are
absorbed through the kernel and enter
our body. We know that these substances, if used in reasonable
amounts, have no toxic effect (or at least, not instantly); but we
do not know their effect at a molecular level and what kind of
unknown disease they may produce.
A very interesting find is the margarine. It is
not a natural product. It is produced from vegetal oils and it is
subject to a warm hydrogenation - the nickel is the accelerator.
The result of that process is the white paste whose chemical
structure differs from the basic characteristics which make oil
healthier than animal fats: the lack of saturation (a double link
in the fat molecule of the vegetal oil, who lacks in case of
animal fats). Therefore, the difference between margarine and
animal fats is mainly of origin, since human body makes the same
effort to assimilate both of them.
I do not know when and how we are going to find
out how harmful all food additives are. Therefore, we should start
by consuming less red meat, beautiful pre-ripen fruits, canned
food or half-cooked food as well as, less "lucky finds",
and we will surely be healthier.
by Robert Gergely
Chemist
|
