The Stuff inside Food

[buddymyfriend]

Macdonalds disclaimer:

Percentage Daily values are based on a 2,000 Calorie diet. Your Daily values may be higher or lower depending on your Calorie needs.

Please note that the ingredient disclosures contained in this section relate to the menu items available at McDonald's Restaurants in Canada only. Availability of product and sizes may vary by region. Ingredients and nutritional information for McDonald's regional and test products are not included. The lists in this guide are also subject to some variation depending on local supplier and the season of the year. However, any differences would be slight, since all products served at McDonald's - and provided by our suppliers - meet McDonald's strict specifications and standards of quality.

From time to time, McDonald's reviews the recipes of its menu items and makes changes to the recipes in an effort to efficiently serve you great tasting food at good value. During any test period of a new recipe, and also during the phase-in period of a new product, featuring a new recipe, some restaurants may continue to offer the product based on the previous recipe and other restaurants may offer the product based on the new recipe.

It's the last paragraph that worries me, so what they can do is use any kind of ingredients and not tell us what's in it!?!?! Kinda scary if ya ask me!

[Breukelen advocaat]

The overall worst thing in many foods is Gluten, which is in wheat, barley, rye and their derivatives- and hardly anybody realizes it. Up to 40 percent of people have a sensitivity to this, and it is poison to them. This will be common knowledge one day, but in the meantime many people are getting all kinds of illnesse, including cancers, as a result of it.

[stinkyattic]

Oh yeah, ciliac disease?
That's NOT fun from what I hear from my friend who has it.
And they put gluten ingredients into so many foods that she has a right bitch of a time going out to restaurants and ordering anything besides basically salad with oil and vinegar.

[highjinx]

god! what isnt bad for you these days!
i think ill be a rebel and eat whatever food i want! :dance:

[Breukelen advocaat]

Oh yeah, ciliac disease?
That's NOT fun from what I hear from my friend who has it.
And they put gluten ingredients into so many foods that she has a right bitch of a time going out to restaurants and ordering anything besides basically salad with oil and vinegar.

Well, I'm glad to hear that people are becoming aware of this. I have Celiac, and didn't find out what was wrong with me until 2005.

There are restaurants that cater to people with Celiac Disease. P.F Changs, Outback Steakhouse, and other restaurants have gluten-free menus.

The rate of Celiac Disease, an inherited autoimmune disease, which is Gluten Intolerance, is about 1 in 100 people in the U.S. The rate of Gluten Sensitivity is more like 1 in 3, and there is very little knowledge of this - even by doctors and specialists.

In the summer of 2008, all products that contain gluten will be required by the FDA to say so on the packaging. This is going to help those with gluten sensitivity and intolerance.

Someday, everybody will be tested for these conditions. You can get genetic tests for it, through the mail. It's expensive, but some insurance plans will pay for it.

[Gothen]

At this point, I'm looking for the worst possible shit I could put into my body.

Cheers.

[highjinx]

At this point, I'm looking for the worst possible shit I could put into my body.

Cheers.

lol :thumbsup:

[benagain]

I may be completely retarted here, but isn't gluten the stuff that is formed when you over mix dough? Ex: overmixing pizza dough will collapse and you're left with hard chewey nasty dough due to too much gluten. I can't remember the specifics of how it works with the yeast and proteins, but I hear it mentioned on food tv all the time in regards to making anything from bread to pancakes. Just wondering the difference, if any from the gluten mentioned above.

Ohh and processed foods are bad. period. I still eat mcdonalds, but only every now and then. When possible, I try to eat as fresh as possible, but when you're on a budget, it's hard to stay away from the processed shit. If you have a farm or a good sized garden, then more power to you!

[Breukelen advocaat]

I may be completely retarted here, but isn't gluten the stuff that is formed when you over mix dough? Ex: overmixing pizza dough will collapse and you're left with hard chewey nasty dough due to too much gluten. I can't remember the specifics of how it works with the yeast and proteins, but I hear it mentioned on food tv all the time in regards to making anything from bread to pancakes. Just wondering the difference, if any from the gluten mentioned above.

Ohh and processed foods are bad. period. I still eat mcdonalds, but only every now and then. When possible, I try to eat as fresh as possible, but when you're on a budget, it's hard to stay away from the processed shit. If you have a farm or a good sized garden, then more power to you!

Yes, that's pretty much what gluten is - but it's not a "natural" food for humans because it comes from wheat, barley, rye and their derivitives. Our ancient ancestors did not eat this stuff - and it was first introduced to Middle and Northern Europe by the Romans, and then spread during the Germanic tribes travels through Europe. Because the climate was harsh in many parts of Europe, strains of wheat with even more gluten were developed.

There is even a theory that the Plague would never have been as bad as it was in Europe if the people hadn't been eating Wheat products as the staple of their diets. The far East didn't suffer massive problems from the Plague at that time, and they didn't generally eat wheat products. Their immune systems were not compromised by gluten, and they survived.

I just found this website, a British Celiac (they spell it "coelic"):
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com...ion/gluten.htm

[birdgirl73]

Sabron, youâ??ve been the victim of some social folklore, and now youâ??re further spreading that folklore by passing on a good bit of inaccurate information to others.

Mr. Devious has accurately questioned your grub worm statistic. Grub worms arenâ??t anywhere near as big as cattle. Thereâ??d have to be large, industrial grub worm farms in order to supply 40% of McDonaldsâ?? beef supply. That 40% figure is neither practical nor credible. Everyone should worry a lot more about the saturated fat content of McDonalds beef rather than about grub worms, which, if they were used, would provide much healthier protein.

The fruit fly maggot statistic is probably accurate. Fruit flies are miniscule, and they do like to hang around fruit and tomatoes. Iâ??m sure maggots as well as the actual fly bodies do get into cans. Good thing the canners are required by law to use stringent sterilization procedures. Insects provide healthy protein, and plenty of cultures eat bugs routinely.

Read here about cochineal dye. Itâ??s derived from the insect but that doesnâ??t mean the actual whole beetles are used for red coloring in foods: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal

I donâ??t know what bright white chemical youâ??re talking about in frosting or paint, but there are plenty of food-safe chemicals that are used in industry, too. (And plenty of unsafe ones as well. Keep reading.)

The red coloring in ham, cold cuts, hot dogs, etc., isnâ??t from sodium ascorbate, which is vitamin C. Itâ??s actually from myoglobin, a protein which carries oxygen to the muscles of all animals, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_meat, and often from carbon monoxide gas, of all things, which reacts with the myoglobin to cause a bright red color and slow down the natural oxidation that would occur in meat and make it turn brownish gray. Hereâ??s some info about the use of CO gas in meats: http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/CFA_...20in%20meat%22

Once the red color is achieved, a carcinogenic preservative called sodium nitrite helps to maintain that redness after the meat is packaged and processed, making it look fresher. Hereâ??s some info on both sodium ascorbate and sodium nitrite:
http://www.greatvistachemicals.com/v...rbic-acid.html
Sodium nitrite has been strongly linked with pancreatic and other types of cancer: http://www.organicconsumers.org/food...meat050305.cfm

Most knowledgeable people know that gelatin is derived from the bones and cartilage of animals, and vegetarians, whoâ??re an intelligent bunch, keenly aware of what theyâ??re eating, are well aware of this fact. Most glues are derived from animal bones and connective tissue, too. If youâ??ve ever cooked with beef or chicken bones, youâ??ll see first-hand how gelatin forms.

Propylene glycol alginate is derived from algae and used widely as a thickener and stabilizer in foods. http://www.fao.org/docrep/W6355E/w6355e0u.htm
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_223a.html This chemical doesnâ??t cause the foaminess in beer, as you stated. It simply helps the beer maintain any foam that occurs. Read here, and youâ??ll see that it should probably be the least of our worries when it comes to ingredients in beer: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4942262.stm

Finally, canthaxanthin is indeed a food additive, but itâ??s responsible for pink coloration. Itâ??s fed to salmon to give it that nice pink color. In animal feed in the U.S., itâ??s used to help ensure pink meat and also as an antibiotic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canthaxanthin

The yellow fat you see in chickens is because of both carotin, a naturally occurring pigment in animal blood and plasma, and xanthophyll. Both carotin and xanthophyll are lipochrome pigments. Xanthophyll is also why the yolks of chicken eggs are yellow. Chickens get xanthophyll, just as we do, through a diet of yellow foods. Chicken feed is largely made of corn, hence the yellow fat color. If they ate a squash-heavy diet, their fat would be yellow, too. Human fat, by the way, is yellowish, too, for the same reasons.
Hereâ??s some info on these pigments: http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/77/2/...icken%20fat%22

Forgive the length of this post, but as a medical student whoâ??s hard at work in a biochemistry class right now, I felt it was important to set the record straight with more accurate information.