The average American child views perhaps 40,000 television commercials
per year, many whetting their appetite for “junk” food. Kids
are probably thinking taste, and maybe the toy that comes with the food.
Moms and dads are probably thinking cost and convenience.
We were not taught to think the nutritional quality of food was really
all that important. We don’t judge what we put in our mouths with
the same discrimination as, say, what supplies we have for the first day
of school, or what suit of clothes we wear for an important business meeting.
But now, evidence of years of a processed, convenience food diet surrounds
us. Many kids in school are overweight and increasingly, they are sick.
Some schools offer “peanut free” tables because so many students
are allergic to that classic “kid food.” Other students can’t
eat bread, another classic “kid food.” What’s happening?
A combination of social and economic changes in the last 80 years or so
has dramatically changed human nutrition. Several patterns reveal themselves
when you take a good look at what makes up a few of our favorite kid foods:
One of Britain’s biggest newspapers,
The Guardian, got an idea to look at what goes into a strawberry milkshake.
At home, you would likely use strawberries, cream, sugar or honey, and
a tad bit of vanilla extract. Just four ingredients.
The Guardian plucked their shake from the menu of an unnamed “big fast food company.”
They found not a single strawberry or ounce of milk. Their article was
59 Ingredients in a Fast Food Strawberry Milkshake.1
“The phrase “artificial strawberry flavour” offers little
hint of the scientific wizardry that can make a highly processed food
taste like a strawberry: milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, sweet whey, high-fructose
corn syrup, guar gum, monoglycerides and diglycerides, cellulose gum,
sodium phosphate, carrageenan, citric acid, E129 and artificial strawberry flavour.
“And what does that “artificial strawberry flavour” contain?
“Just these few yummy chemicals: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl
valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate,
butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential
oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl
heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate,
ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphrenyl-
2-butanone (10% solution in alcohol), ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl
butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate,
methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate,
methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint
essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris
butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, undecalactone, vanillin and
So that’s 40 chemicals for strawberry flavor and 19 more for, well,
the milkshake part of it.
Let’s randomly pluck out a chemical from the “milkshake”
http://www.ukfoodguide.net/e129.htm we read:
E129 – Allura Red AC, FD&C Red 40
“Orange-red colour used in sweets, drinks and condiments, medications
and cosmetics, A red synthetic azo dye introduced in the early eighties
to replace Amaranth,
E123, in the United States of America where
E123 is prohibited.
“May have slightly less allergy/intolerance reaction by aspirin intolerant
people and asthmatics than most of the azo dyes, although those with skin
sensitivities should be careful. Allura red has also been connected with
cancer in mice.
“Not recommended for consumption by children.
“Banned in Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden,
Austria and Norway.”
Not recommended for children? But still legal to be in the product.
At the very popular theme park in Hershey, Pennsylvania USA, kids can buy
a wide variety of “Flavor Burst Syrups” to put on their soft-serve
vanilla ice cream:2
Butterscotch – Water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, E405 propylene
glycol alginate, E412 guar gum, E413 tragacanth, E414 acacia, E415 xanthan
gum, modified corn starch, E150 caramel color, E331 sodium citrate, artificial
flavor, E211 sodium benzoate, E202 potassium sorbate (as a preservative),
E129 FD&C Red #40, E133 FD&C Blue #1.
Black Cherry – Water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, E330 citric
acid, E405 proplylene glycol alginate, E412 guar gum, E413 tragacanth,
E414 acacia, E415 xanthan gum. Modified corn starch, E150 caramel color,
E331 sodium citrate, artificial flavor, E211 sodium benzoate, E202 potassium
sorbate (as a preservative), E129 FD&C Red #40, E133 FD&C Blue #1.
Raspberry – Water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, E330 citric
acid, E405 propylene glycol alginate, E412 guar gum, E413 tragacanth,
E414 acacia, E415 xanthan gum, E1442 modified corn starch, artificial
flavor, E150 caramel color, preservative (E211 sodium Benzoate), E129
FD&C Red #40, E133 FD&C Blue #1.
Strawberry – Water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, E330 citric
acid, E405 propylene glycol alginate, E412 guar gum, E413 tragacanth,
E414 acacia, E415 xanthan gum, modified corn starch, E296 malic acid,
E211 sodium benzoate & E202 potassium sorbate (as preservatives),
natural & artificial flavors, E129 FD&C Red #40, E133 FD&C Blue #1.
Blueberry – Water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, E330 citric
acid, E405 propylene glycol alginate, E412 guar gum, E413 tragacanth,
E414 acacia, E415 xanthan gum, E1442 modified corn starch, natural &
artificial flavors, preservatives (E211 sodium benzoate, E202 potassium
sorbate) E129 FD&C Red #40, E133 FD&C Blue #1.
Tropical Orange – Water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, E330 citric
acid, E405 propylene glycol alginate, E412 guar gum, E413 tragacanth,
E414 gum acacia, E415 xanthan gum, E1442 modified corn starch, natural
& artificial flavors, preservatives (E211 sodium benzoate),EL10, FD&C
Consumer groups in Great Britain have been gaining traction in efforts
to remove unhealthy additives from food.
As reported in the British newspaper, The Guardian, May 8, 2007:
“Sainsbury’s will next month become the first major supermarket
chain to ban artificial colours and flavourings from its own-label soft
drinks … The chain says the ban is the result of “overwhelming”
demand from parents…”4
Then in September, 2007, the British “Southampton/McCann Study”
landed with a big splash worldwide. A team of researchers demonstrated
that common preservatives, like sodium benzoate, and common food colorings,
made from petroleum, do indeed cause hyperactivity in kids.
In February, 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced a stunning
reversal of its long standing position that additives had no effect on
“…[the Southampton/McCann study] was a carefully conducted
study in which the investigators went to great lengths to eliminate bias
and to rigorously measure outcomes … the overall findings of the
study are clear and require that even we skeptics, who have long doubted
parental claims of the effects of various foods on the behavior of their
children, admit we might have been wrong.”
And so begins a pattern - there’s lots of “stuff” on
the grocery store shelf that may not be recommended for good health but
is legally there. And there are lots of government agencies, industry-funded
groups, and mainstream medicine organizations who are slow to accept what
seems obvious to so many parents - children's health is very much
linked to the food and chemicals they ingest.
Real food elements have given way to sweeteners and laboratory flavors
which give taste to otherwise bland processed food, or prolong shelf life,
or make distribution easier. Industry claims these elements are safe;
scientists and consumer watchdog groups often argue otherwise. It is very
telling that consumer pressure, more than government initiative, is leading
the charge for removal of food additives in Britain and trans fats in
the United States.
Most baby boomers ate lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a kid,
and “peanut-free” tables at school were unheard of.
The subject of allergic reactions seems to have kicked into high gear about
1995. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends delaying the introduction
of peanuts until a child is 3 years of age, especially if there is a family
history of food allergies.
Medical journals explain that a severe peanut allergy kills either by laryngospasm
(instantaneous swelling and closing of the vocal cords) or by anaphylactic
shock, which sets in minutes or hours after exposure and is usually associated
with a catastrophic drop in blood pressure.
But medical journals have been unable to explain why kids increasingly
seem to have allergies to peanuts.
We do have a theory put forth by some parents and medical practitioners
that the problem is not so much an allergy as it is a toxic reaction.
Almonds and walnuts have strong, hard shells that protect them, and like
most nuts, they grow on trees. But the peanut is actually a legume that
grows underground. It has a soft and porous skin. When the environment
surrounding the peanut becomes warm, humid and wet, as it does in most
regions of the U.S. where peanuts are commonly grown, a fungal growth
occurs. Thus the crops are often heavily sprayed with pesticides. That’s
the first whammy to a child’s immune system. The second is the mold.
Peanuts contain high amounts of mold, which produce one of the most deadly
carcinogens known to man: Aflatoxin.
Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring mycotoxin produced by two types of mold:
Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Aspergillus flavus is
common and widespread in nature. Aflatoxin can contaminate virtually any
grain, fruit or vegetable that has been stored in conditions permitting
the growth of mold. Peanuts seem to be especially vulnerable.
The mold occurs in soil, decaying vegetation, hay, and grains undergoing
microbiological deterioration and invades all types of organic substrates
whenever and wherever the conditions are favorable for its growth. Favorable
conditions include high moisture content and high temperature.
Light green = Aspergillus flavus
Dark green = Aspergillus parasiticus
In 1993 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified
AFB1 and mixtures of aflatoxins as Group 1 carcinogens - potent substances
that can cause cancer in humans. It manifests as liver cancer.
Chinese medicine sheds light on the toxic reaction theory:
“What few consider is that antibiotics, originally derived from mold,
are very similar to mold in their fundamental nature. According to the
principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, mold and antibiotics are both
very cold and damp. Therefore, there is a fundamental relationship between
mold allergy and antibiotic allergies. A person with one of these allergies
is almost certain to have both of these allergies, whether or not they
register on allergy tests. Antibiotic use and abuse are the predominant
causes of mold allergy. People who truly understand allergies know that
there is a direct relationship between toxicity and allergy. A toxic load
that overwhelms the body typically becomes an allergy. Allergy is a logical
response of the body to a toxic situation. The message to reduce or avoid
toxins makes sense, and this is the message allergies try to communicate.”5
Anecdotal evidence is that the Maranatha brand of peanut butter does not cause the allergic
reaction because it comes from organic Valencia peanuts grown in the dry
soil of New Mexico. The company claims their products are virtually free of mold.
If you don’t have a child with allergies, how do peanuts rank as
kid food? They are an inexpensive source of tasty protein. Peanuts are
a good source of potassium, magnesium, zinc and selenium, all important
minerals. They also supply B vitamins, vitamin E and fibre. Studies have
shown that peanuts contain resveratrol, the antioxidant that produces
red wine’s heart-protective effects.
The downside? Peanuts tend to contain a lot of mold. Peanuts are a heavily
pesticided crop. They are relatively high in omega-6 compared to omega-3
fatty acids and most kids already eat too many foods high in
omega-6. Most conventional brands of peanut butters contain
hydrogenated oils and emulsifiers - and lots of
Other nuts are made into butters and can usually be substituted for peanut
butter. Almond and cashew butter for example have a much better omega
6:3 fatty acid ratio.
What you are likely to find in a box of breakfast cereals is a bunch of
Cereal makers first create a slurry of the grains and then put them in
a machine called an extruder. The grains are forced out of a little hole
at high temperature and pressure. Depending on the shape of the hole,
the grains are made into little o’s, flakes, animal shapes, or shreds
(as in Shredded Wheat or Triscuits), or they are puffed (as in puffed
rice). A blade slices off each little flake or shape, which is then carried
past a nozzle and sprayed with a coating of oil and sugar to seal off
the cereal from the ravages of milk and to give it crunch.6
Paul Stitt worked at Quaker Foods decades ago where he saw with his own
eyes a company study on rats which died quickly eating Puffed Wheat.
“I came across a little flyer that the company has published in 1942.
It contained a report on a study in which four sets of rats were given
special diets. … The rats which received the whole wheat lived
more than a year on the diet. The rats who got nothing but water and vitamins
lived for about eight weeks, and the animals on white sugar and water
lived for a month. But Quaker’s own laboratory study showed that
rats given vitamin, water and all the Puffed Wheat they wanted died in
two weeks. It wasn’t a matter of the rats dying of malnutrition;
results like these suggested that there was something actually toxic about
the Puffed Wheat itself. Proteins are very similar to certain toxins in
molecular structure, and the puffing process of putting the grain under
1500 pounds-per-square-inch of pressure, and then releasing it, may produce
chemical changes which turn a nutritious grain into a poisonous substance.
“I was shocked, so I showed the report to Dr. Clark, who shared my
concern. His predecessor, Dr. Graham, had published the report, and begged
the company not to continue producing Puffed Wheat.”7
But the cereal had made the company $9 million the previous year so it
wasn’t about to disappear from the shelf. As Stitt points out, we
have known however about the animal toxicity of extruded cereals since
at least the 1940s when Quaker performed this unpublished rat study.
Another unpublished experiment was carried out in the 1960s. Sally Fallon
of the Weston A. Price Foundation relates the details:
“Researchers at Ann Arbor University were given 18 laboratory rats.
They were divided into three groups: one group received corn flakes and
water; a second group was given the cardboard box that the corn flakes
came in and water; the control group received rat chow and water. The
rats in the control group remained in good health throughout the experiment.
The rats eating the box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition.
But the rats receiving the corn flakes and water died before the rats
that were eating the box! (The last corn flake rat died the day the first
box rat died.) But before death, the corn flake rats developed schizophrenic
behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions.
The startling conclusion of this study is that there was more nourishment
in the box than there was in the corn flakes.”8
Just about all dry cereals that come in boxes are extruded cereals.
Good source of fiber? Well, federal guidelines recommend women get 28 grams
of fiber per day. Look at the label on the box and you find that Special
K serves up less than 1 gram of fiber. You would be doing well to find
a cereal with 4-6 grams of fiber per serving.
And of course cereals have long been criticized for their high
sugar content. A diet high in sugar contributes to insulin resistance and
Fast Food Chicken
McDonalds introduced McNuggets in 1983 and they became wildly popular with
kids. One would think that chicken McNuggets are made primarily of chicken, right?
Nope. A McDonald’s Chicken McNugget is 56% corn. There is more corn
than chicken in a McNugget.
The ingredients, as stated by the McDonalds corporation, are:9
Michael Pollen, author of the
Omnivore’s Dilemma, dissected the McNugget this way:
“Of the thirty-eight ingredients it takes to make a McNugget, I counted
thirteen that can be derived from corn:
“A couple of other plants take part in the nugget: There’s
some wheat in the batter, and on any given day the hydrogenated oil could
come from soybeans, canola, or cotton rather than corn, depending on the
market price and availability.
“According to the (ingredients) handout, McNuggets also contain several
completely synthetic ingredients, quasiedible substances that ultimately
come not from a corn or soybean field but from a petroleum refinery or
chemical plant. These chemicals are what make modern processed food possible,
by keeping the organic materials in them from going bad or looking strange
after months in the freezer or on the road. Listed first are the “leavening
agents”: sodium aluminum phosphate, mono-calcium phosphate, sodium
acid pyrophosphate, and calcium lactate. These are antioxidants added
to keep the various animal and vegetable fats involved in a nugget from
“Then there are “anti-foaming agents” like dimethylpolysiloxene,
added to the cooking oil to keep the starches from binding to air molecules,
so as to produce foam during the fry. The problem is evidently grave enough
to warrant adding a toxic chemical to the food: According to the Handbook
of Food Additives, dimethylpolysiloxene is a suspected carcinogen and
an established mutagen, tumorigen, and reproductive effector; it’s
“But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is
tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum
that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box
it comes in to “help preserve freshness.” According to A Consumer’s
Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid)
the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in our food: It can comprise
no more than 0.02 percent of the oil in a nugget. Which is probably just
as well, considering that ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause ‘nausea,
vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse.’
Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill.”10
Let’s take a second look at some of those ingredients.
• McNuggets are fried in hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable
oils, making for a concoction of very unhealthy trans fats.
• “Spices” is a loosely regulated term that can include
dangerous substances like MSG, the excitotoxin known as “the Chinese
restaurant headache.” Neither the labels nor company website clarifies
whether MSG is used; Dr. Joseph Mercola and others say it is plentiful
in a number of McDonald’s products.
• Dextrose, from corn, is a sugar.
• The “enriched flour” in the breading has been stripped
of so much fiber and bran that the body registers this highly processed
carb as sugar.
• Sodium aluminum phosphate is a type of acid used in the baking
powder. If you are looking to avoid Alzheimers tomorrow by not ingesting
aluminum today, this would be on your Do Not Eat list.
All that, and 510 calories for a 10-piece serving of McNuggets.
And oh yes, you’ll get a sauce for dipping with your McNuggets. Depending
upon which one you choose, you will be adding to your calories and the
list of ingested ingredients:
• red 40, yellow 5, or yellow 6
• corn syrup solids
high fructose corn syrup
In 2003, a federal judge weighed in on McNuggets after two obese New York
teenagers sued McDonalds. Judge Robert Sweet dismissed the suit saying
it is not the place of the law to protect people from their own excesses.
“They cannot blame McDonald’s if they, nonetheless, choose
to satiate their appetite with a surfeit of supersized McDonald’s
However, in recognition of just how far removed processed “products”
can be from real food, the judge said that when an item is substantially
less healthy than it appears, a seller may be held liable for the resulting
harm. “Rather than being merely chicken fried in a pan,” he
wrote of McNuggets, they are “a McFrankenstein creation of various
elements not utilized by the home cook. … It is at least a question
of fact [whether a reasonable consumer would know that a McNugget] contained
so many ingredients other than chicken and provided twice the fat of a
Lest you think the chicken sandwich is significantly different than, or
better than, the McNugget, check this out:12
What you don’t read on the label that also may come in your chicken:
According to independent test results released in 2006 by the Institute
for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), brand name chicken sold in American
supermarkets and fast food restaurants are widely contaminated with arsenic.
• Nine out of ten American children eat at a McDonald’s at least
once a month.
• One out of every five public schools in the United States now serves
brand name fast food.
• Children who are obese at 13 have a 90% chance of being overweight
at 35 years old.
• One out of every three toys given to children in the U.S. every
year is from a fast food restaurant.
“It has been claimed that none - or at least very little - of the
arsenic put into chicken feed makes its way into the meat. But arsenic
levels in chicken meat are a lot higher than previously acknowledged.
That was the conclusion of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists,
writing in 2004 in Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal of the
National Institutes of Health. So, we set out to do something the federal
government had never done. We tested for arsenic in the chicken meat that
people mostly eat.”13
IATP tested chicken products from Foster Farms, Trader Joe’s, Gold’n
Plump, Perdue, Smart Chicken, and Tyson Foods and found 55 percent carried
detectable arsenic. Fast food chicken products included in the test were
McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Subway, Kentucky Fried
Chicken, Church’s and Popeyes; 90 percent contained detectable levels
For decades, arsenic has been routinely put into chicken feed to kill vermin
and make the animals grow bigger, faster.
Arsenic causes cancer even at the low levels currently found in our environment.
Evidence suggests arsenic also contributes to other diseases, including
heart disease, diabetes and declines in intellectual function.
Birds sold under organic labels may not legally be given arsenic.14
Meanwhile Consumer Reports was looking at the bacteria count in chicken
in 2006. Investigators for the independent consumer group tested 525 whole
broiler chickens from leading brands including Perdue, Tyson, Pilgrim’s
Pride, and Foster Farms, as well as organic and other brands raised without
“CR’s analysis of fresh, whole broilers bought nationwide revealed
that 83 percent harbored campylobacter or salmonella, the leading bacterial
causes of foodborne disease. That’s a stunning increase from 2003,
when we reported finding that 49 percent tested positive for one or both
Both salmonella and campylobacter colonize the birds’ intestines
usually without harm to the birds. But when a chicken is slaughtered,
feathers, guts, and waste water, which should be discarded during processing,
are routinely “recycled” back to the layer and broiler houses
as feed. Industry experts believe that along with unclean slaughtering
and processing techniques, this enforced cannibalism is leading to the
rampant salmonella epidemic in U.S. poultry plants.16
Finally there is the problem of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are
used to promote growth and to combat infections that come from the crowded,
stressful conditions found on many large animal-production facilities.
Investigators reported that 84% of the salmonella organisms analyzed and
67% of the campylobacter were resistant to one or more antibiotics. Studies
published in 2001 in
The New England Journal of Medicine indicated that many food-borne and other illnesses in people no longer
respond to the usual antibiotics.17,18
In Canada, the use of hormones in chicken feed has been banned since the 1960s.
There is some good news in this picture. Major U.S. commercial chicken
producers have been removing antibiotics from chicken feed since the FDA
banned the use of Baytril®,a drug similar to Cipro®, in 2005.
The American cowboy and small farmer raising cattle on the open range got
swallowed up by corporate America. In their place, we have uniform fast
food burgers all over the world.
Eric Schlosser’s meticulously researched book,
Fast Food Nation, describes what went wrong in the process:
“American meat production has never before been so centralized: thirteen
large packinghouses now slaughter most of the beef consumed in the United States.
“The E. coli O157:H7 bacterium is a newly emerged pathogen …
This strain of E. coli was most likely responsible for some human illnesses
thirty or forty years ago. But the rise of huge feedlots, slaughterhouses,
and hamburger grinders seems to have provided the means for this pathogen
to become widely dispersed in the nation’s food supply.
“A nationwide study published by the USDA in 1996 found 78.6 percent
of the ground beef contained microbes that are spread primarily by fecal
material. The medical literature on the causes of food poisoning is full
of euphemisms and dry scientific terms: aerobic plate counts, MacConkey
agar, and so on. Behind them lies a simple explanation for why eating
a hamburger can now make you seriously ill: There is shit in the meat.
“To be infected by most food borne pathogens, such as Salmonella,
you have to consume a fairly large dose - at least a million organisms.
An infection with E. coli O157:H7 can be caused by as few as 5 organisms.
A tiny uncooked particle of hamburger meat can contain enough of the pathogen
to kill you.
“For years the meatpacking industry has managed to avoid the sort
of liability routinely imposed on the manufacturers of most consumer products.
Today, the U.S. government can demand the nationwide recall of defective
softball bats, sneakers, stuffed animals and foam rubber toy cows. But
it cannot order a meatpacking company to remove contaminated, potentially
lethal ground beef from fast food kitchens and supermarket shelves.”19
Warning bells began to ring more than 20 years ago and keep ringing:
• 1982 - dozens of children got sick from hamburgers contaminated with E. coli
O157:H7 sold at McDonald’s restaurants in Oregon and Michigan.
• 1993 - the infamous Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak where more than
700 people got sick, 200 were hospitalized and 4 died.
• 2007 - Topps Meat Company of New Jersey recalled 21.7 million pounds of ground
beef because of E. coli contamination that brought forth reports in 8
states of sickened people.
• 2008 – largest beef recall in U.S. history; USDA recalled 143 million
pounds of beef produced by Westland/Hallmark Meat Company after a U.S.
Humane Society video showed the plant had used sick animals, unfit for
The CDC estimates that 20 cases of
E. coli O157:H7 and 38 cases of
Salmonellosis actually occur for every case that is reported to federal public health
E. coli O157:H7, once inside the human body, can release powerful “Shiga
toxins” that attack the lining of the intestine. In a small percentage
of people, especially children, Shiga toxins enter the bloodstream and
can lead to seizures, neurological damage, strokes, kidney failure, anemia,
internal bleeding, and the destruction of vital organs.
Ground beef, the stuff of hamburgers, is especially problematic. “Even
if you assume that only 1 percent [of the cattle] are infected, that means
three or four cattle bearing the microbe are eviscerated at a large slaughterhouse
every hour,” and
a single animal infected with E. coli can contaminate 32,000 pounds of
ground beef, Schlosser documented.
America has not responded by cleaning up feed lots or by putting tough
oversight mechanisms in place. Rather, the focus was put on cooking hamburgers
more to kill what pathogens may be lurking within.
If you cook it, are you safe? Two of the four children who died in the
Jack-in-the-Box outbreak had not eaten hamburgers themselves; they became
infected through contact with a playmate who had eaten a tainted hamburger.21 Cooking eggs and meat at high temperatures (overcooking by another definition),
produces a chemical compounds called PhIP or
HCAs, which studies increasingly link to breast cancer.22
McDonald’s and Jack in the Box introduced tougher safety rules for
their suppliers; however, these are private initiatives, the test results
are not public.
The modern American hamburger is also implicated in fueling the obesity
epidemic and triggering early puberty in children.
Many cattle are fed the same muscle-building androgens, usually testosterone
surrogates, abused by some athletes. Federal law prohibits you from buying
and self-medicating with these steroids, but they are administered to
U.S. cattle on a massive scale.
According to the European Union’s Scientific Committee on Veterinary
Measures Relating to Public Health, the use of growth hormones in beef
production poses a potential risk to human health. The Committee also
questioned whether hormone residues in the meat of “growth enhanced”
animals and can disrupt
human hormone balance, causing developmental problems, interfering with the
reproductive system, and even leading to the development of breast, prostate
or colon cancer.23
Children, pregnant women and the unborn are thought to be most susceptible.
Hormone residues in beef have been implicated in the early onset of puberty
in girls, which could put them at greater risk of developing breast and
other forms of cancer.
The European Union does not allow the use of hormones in cattle production,
has prohibited the import of hormone-treated beef since 1988, and has
banned all beef imports from the US. What does that tell you about the beef you get at fast food places or
typical American grocery store? Remember when Oprah Winfrey was sued for
saying that, based on what she’d learned about meat production in
the United States, she was never going to eat another hamburger? That
is political clout and intimidation; that is not the government looking
out for your health.
You have to look out for your own health.
How can hamburgers have contributed to the obesity epidemic? Because commercially
grown cattle are not fed their natural diet. Imagine the cowboy out on
the range; visualize those cows eating grass and roaming (and pooping)
over large acreage of sun washed prairie. Now fast forward to a crowded
feedlot where the animals stand in their own manure, and are fed corn
and grain. (They can also be fed dead pigs, horses, poultry and chicken
manure which consumer advocates feel risks the human variation of mad cow.)
The feedlot diet is higher in fat and calories and contains less of the
nutrients that have nourished human health for tens of thousands of years.
Compared to naturally grass fed beef, feedlot (“grain-finished”)
• less vitamin A and vitamin E
• a worse omega-3:omega-6 ratio
• less conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
• more fat and calories24
Grass-fed beef is lower in total fat. A 6-ounce steak from a steer that
has eaten nothing but grass can have 100 fewer calories than a 6-ounce
steak from a feedlot steer. If you eat a typical amount of beef (66.5
pounds a year), switching to lean grassfed beef can save you 17,700 calories
a year - without requiring any willpower, just a change in your shopping habits.25
Meat and dairy products from grass-fed
ruminants are the richest known source of a good fat called conjugated linoleic
acid (CLA) which has been shown to promote weight loss. When ruminants
are raised solely on fresh pasture, their meat and milk contain three
to five times more CLA than products from animals in the feedlots.26 When cattle are taken off pasture and fed corn and grain in a feedlot,
their CLA levels plummet.
CLA is also in the milk fat from dairy cows. But milk drinkers are unlikely
to take in much CLA from milk because confinement dairying methods, which
are the norm in American agriculture, deny cows green growing grass, without
which they cannot produce CLA.
So part of the obesity equation appears to be the loss of CLA in our diets.
More and more children are developing chronic illness, and in many cases,
a dietary imbalance of omega-3 to omega-6 plays a part. Conventional beef
contains a 1:4 ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 while grass-only diets produce
a healthier 2:1 ratio.27 (Combine the typical grass fed burger with the typical French fry cooked
in vegetable oil, and you worsen the omega-3 to omega-6 imbalance because
vegetable oils are also high in omega-6s. In fact, add to that a salad
with a vegetable oil-based salad dressing. Now do you see a pattern emerging
of how years of such a diet is an engraved invitation to health problems?)
The omega fats are called “essential fatty acids” because,
like vitamin C, our bodies cannot make them. We must get them from foods
we eat. And the Standard American diet, hamburgers included, are providing
less and less of the right balance.
Consider some of the research coming to light:
• In animal studies, these essential fats have slowed the growth of
a wide array of cancers and also kept them from spreading.28
• In a Finnish study, women who had the highest levels of CLA in their
diet, had a 60 percent lower risk of breast cancer than those with the
• People who have ample amounts of omega-3s in their diet are less
likely to have high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat. They are
50 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack.30
• Omega-3s are essential for your brain as well. People with a diet
rich in omega-3s are less likely to suffer from depression, schizophrenia,
attention deficit disorder (hyperactivity), or Alzheimer’s disease.31
Cattle, like all other ruminants, developed eating green leafy plants,
mostly grass. They ate virtually no grain. Those who blame
red meat for health problems overlook the implications of feeding of grain to the
animals we eat; they overlook how different today’s feedlot beef
is from that which mankind ate for tens of thousands of years.
Ketchup & Mayo
And what goes well with hamburgers? A big dollop of ketchup, of course.
What is it? Well, one-third of ketchup is usually
sugar. (And while we’re here, how about the bun? Usually made of processed
flour, stripped of nutrients, to which a half-teaspoon of sugar is added
so the yeast can make it rise.)
In 1981, Congress ordered the USDA to issue new standards for federally
financed school lunch programs. One of the USDA’s proposals was
to classify ketchup as a vegetable. The suggestion was widely ridiculed;
the proposal was killed.
The good news here is, most ketchup is still made from real tomatoes and
so it contains some healthy lycopene. Some studies show that organic varieties
contain more of it.
Organic ketchups are also more likely to use sugar rather than the less
healthy corn syrups.
Mayonnaise is typically made from unhealthy vegetable oils - too high in
omega-6 fatty acids - with a big dollop of preservatives, flavoring agents,
You can make your own with olive oil. It will last about a week and may
require a “taste-bud readjustment” before acceptance sets in.
Or just use sour cream instead - kids love sour cream.
Both of these are
condiments - meant to be used sparingly.
In 1930, the average dairy cow produced 12 pounds (about a gallon and a
half) of milk per day. In 1988, the average was 39 pounds per day. This
was accomplished by selective breeding to obtain dairy cows that produced
a lot of pituitary hormones, thereby generating large amounts of milk.
Today rBGH, a genetically engineered copy of a cow’s naturally occurring
growth hormone, is used to produce more milk, bringing the average up
to 50 pounds (over 6 gallons) of milk per day.
In 1993, the FDA gave Monsanto corporation approval to market the first
such hormones under the trade name “Posilac®”, and no
labeling was required in consumer products. Bovine growth hormone was
the flagship product in Monsanto’s campaign to take command of the
ultra-high-stakes biotechnology industry.
There was strong and broad opposition from scientists, farmers, consumers
and other governments. The FDA relied on a study done by Monsanto in which
rBGH was tested for 90 days on 30 rats. (A standard cancer test of a new
human drug requires two years of testing with several hundred rats.) The
study was never published, and the FDA stated the results showed no significant
problems. Critics argue the approval came after pressure from Monsanto’s
A key health concern is that animals given rBGH produce more insulin growth
factor-1 (IGF-1). Studies, have linked high levels of IGF-1 in humans
who consume rBGH milk with
colon and other cancers.
Cows treated with rBHG have more mastitis which increases amounts of pus
in milk. Commercial dairies aren't concerned about germs in the pus
however, because the milk will be pasteurized. But mastitis is treated
with antibiotics, increasing the antibiotics residues which are present
in milk fed to consumers. From time to time, we get proof antibiotics
do make it into milk. The
Wall Street Journal in December, 1989, found that 20% of the milk had illegal antibiotics
present. This number was confirmed in a May 1992 Consumers Reports study;
the Center for Science in the Public Interest found 38% of the milk to
be adulterated with illegal antibiotics. It raises the question whether
some farmers purposefully use antibiotics they know the government does
not test for.
The ever louder grumbling about this adulteration got the ear of two top-notch,
well respected investigative reporters in Florida.
In 2001, Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, were fired from the Fox News station
in Tampa after months of controversy surrounding their investigative report
on rBGH use in Florida dairies. “Fox 13 didn’t want to
kill the story revealing synthetic hormones in Florida’s milk supply,”
Wilson said. Instead, “We were repeatedly ordered to go forward
and broadcast demonstrably inaccurate and dishonest versions of the story.
We were given those instructions after some very high-level corporate
lobbying by Monsanto and also, we believe, by members of Florida’s
dairy and grocery industries.”33
The reporters lost their jobs, but the consumers got the message.
In February 2007, the Organic Consumers Union, the Cancer Prevention Coalition,
and the Family Farm Defenders, filed a joint petition asking the FDA to
require cancer risk warning labels on all U.S. milk produced with rBGH.
They also asked the FDA to suspend rBGH approval due to "imminent
hazard." The FDA did not respond, but the marketplace did. Costco,
WalMart, Kroger, and others stopped buying milk and dairy products made
from milk with rBHG in it.
In 2009, Monsanto sold Posilac to Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli
Lilly and Company.
Organic milk is produced without the use of synthetic hormones. U.S. sales
of it soared since Monsanto introduced rBGH into milk. Despite the fact
the FDA stands behind the genetically engineered hormone, it is banned
in all 25 European Union nations, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
The rBGH controversy pales in comparison however to the
raw versus pasteurized milk controversy.
One of the most visible advocates for healthy milk is Sally Fallon, head
of the non-profit Weston A. Price Foundation:
“The source of most commercial milk is the modern Holstein, bred
to produce huge quantities of milk–three times as much as the old-fashioned
cow. She needs special feed and antibiotics to keep her well. Her milk
contains high levels of growth hormone from her pituitary gland, even
when she is spared the indignities of genetically engineered Bovine Growth
Hormone to push her to the udder limits of milk production.
“Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures
fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and B6 … Pasteurization
was instituted in the 1920s to combat … diseases caused by poor
animal nutrition and dirty production methods. But times have changed
and modern stainless steel tanks, milking machines, refrigerated trucks
and inspection methods make pasteurization absolutely unnecessary for
“Inspection of dairy herds for disease is not required for pasteurized milk.
“Pasteurization destroys friendly bacteria and allows pathogenic
bacteria to proliferate.
“Both raw and pasteurized milk harbor bacteria but the bacteria in
raw milk is the healthy bacteria of lactic-acid fermentation while the
bacteria in pasteurized milk is the bacteria of spoilage. And the overall
bacteria count of milk produced under clean conditions is much lower than
that of pasteurized milk. Both raw and pasteurized milk contain E. coli,
normally a benign microorganism. The most likely source of the new strains
of virulent E. coli is genetically engineered soy, fed to cows in large
“Children fed raw milk have more resistance to TB, scurvy, flu, diphtheria,
pneumonia, asthma, allergic skin problems and tooth decay. In addition,
their growth and calcium absorption is superior.”
Pasteurization extends the shelf-life of milk products. It has become as
much a part of our commercial food heritage as the E. coli and antibiotics
in the cattle feedlots:
“Pasteurization was done at the end of the 1800s as a temporary solution
until filthy urban dairies could find a way to produce cleaner milk. But
instead of cleaning up milk production, dairies used pasteurization as
a way to cover up dirty milk. As milk became more mass produced, pasteurization
became necessary for large dairies to increase their profits. So the public
then had to be convinced that pasteurized milk was safer than raw milk.
Soon raw milk consumption was blamed for all sorts of diseases and outbreaks
until the public was finally convinced that pasteurized milk was superior
to milk in its natural state. … As the dairy industry has become
more concentrated, many processing plants have switched to ultrapasteurization,
which involves higher temperatures and longer treatment times. The industry
says this is necessary because many microorganisms have become heat resistant
and now survive ordinary pasteurization.”37
Some might argue that milk still needs to be pasteurized to avoid tuberculosis.
Dr. Ron Schmid, author of
The Untold Story of Milk, sorted out the issue:
“The link of tuberculosis and milk in the public mind dates back
to [the 1880s and Robert Koch who] announced his discovery of the tubercle
bacillus as the cause of TB. … Hailed as the greatest scientist
of his day, Koch announced a few years later that he had found exactly
the same bacillus in the sores of tubercular cows and their milk. Meanwhile,
Pasteur discovered that heat treatment of milk - later named pasteurization
- would kill the tuberclebacilli and presumably save children from tuberculosis.
These announcements were met with great excitement everywhere, for pasteurization
promised to be the solution to the whole problem of tuberculosis. The
promise was illusory, and the disease would not be controlled until the
advent of antibiotics in the 1940s (and many still die of tuberculosis,
in spite of the use of antibiotics). But significantly, in the years following
Koch’s and Pasteur’s discoveries, great commercial possibilities
opened up. Large sums of money were invested in the fledgling business
of pasteurization - the foundation of the modern dairy industry.”
“In 1901, however, Dr. Koch announced that a prolonged series of
experiments had proved that the human and the bovine tubercle bacilli
were neither identical nor transmissible, and that humans had little to
fear from the bovine bacillus. “The human subject is immune against
infection with bovine bacilli,” he wrote. “Human tuberculosis
differs from bovine, and cannot be transmitted to cattle.” This
announcement too had great impact and although it sparked tremendous controversy,
earned Koch the Nobel Prize four years later. But by then, pro-pasteurization
proponents had taken action to refute Koch’s findings. …
Today, it is accepted … human tuberculosis is spread primarily
by inhalation. … It was the advent of modern, closed-system milking
machines, starting in the 1920s, and not pasteurization, that reduced
the spread of the human strain of tuberculosis in milk to nearly zero.”38
Milk straight from the cow was used medicinally by doctors early in the
1900s. Dr. J. R. Crewe at the Mayo Foundation used raw milk in the treatment
of a wide variety of serious chronic diseases, and that he reported no
problem, even with patients who were very ill. However, at that time the
medical profession was not treating millions of people with immunosuppressive drugs.
Laws regarding the sale of unpasteurized milk vary from state to state.
Arizona has one small dairy in Queen Creek that sells organic, raw milk.
People travel for miles to buy it. In the fall of 2006, a bill was submitted
to the Arizona Legislature proposing to ban the sale of raw milk except
at the farm. The bill would have put the dairy out of business. State
Senator Carolyn Allen advised the United Dairymen of Arizona to drop the
bill because she expected a very large protest from consumers.
Beware of “low-fat” milks. Non-fat dried milk is added to 1%
and 2% milk. Unlike the cholesterol in fresh milk, which plays a variety
of health promoting roles, the cholesterol in non-fat dried milk is oxidized
and it is this rancid cholesterol that promotes
Homogenization also feeds heart disease. The process strains fat particles
through tiny pores under great pressure. Milk fat contains an enzyme called
xanthine oxidase (XO), some of which survives the pasteurization process and, thanks to
homogenization, is now able to pass through the gut wall into the bloodstream
intact. When foreign XO enters the bloodstream it creates havoc by attacking
plasmalogen within artery walls. Plasmalogen is a tissue that makes up
30 percent of human heart muscle and artery wall cells. The attacks cause
loss of plasmalogens, with resultant oxidative attack on artery walls.
The body’s protective mechanisms respond to the damage by scarring
and laying down
cholesterol plaques (like band-aids) which subsequently become calcified. We call
this thickening and hardening of the arteries, and subsequent blockage
of blood flow, arteriosclerosis.
Finally, there is the issue of what breed of cow supplies your milk - raw
or not. Most milk now comes from Holsteins and Friesians, newer breeds
of cows that have a mutated form of casein, a protein found in the milk-solids
(but not in the butter or whey). Casein is also used in many foods as
a binding agent. Holsteins and Friesians generally give milk that contains
a small but significant amount of beta-casein type A1, which behaves like
an opiate and which epidemiological studies have implicated in heart disease,
Type 1 diabetes, autism and schizophrenia. Evidence suggests that mutated
beta-casein appears to act as a histamine releaser. It has been found
to cause neurological impairment in animals and people, particularly autistic
and schizophrenic changes. It also interferes with the immune response.
Older breeds of cows - Jerseys, Asian, and African - have beta-casein type A2.
A Final Note
There are common patterns among the practices of modern chicken, beef,
and milk processing, and the challenges to human health that have resulted.
When we traded the small, local farmer, for bigness, uniformity, and high
technology, we lost much more than we realized at the time. We traded
milk and strawberries for food coloring and additives we can’t pronounce;
now we are forced to face the unintended consequences.
Often, public pressure is what motivates change in the marketplace. Moms
and dads have more ability than they probably realize when it comes to
taking charge of their children’s health. How we decide to spend
our money on food is an economic force more powerful than industry lobbyists.
Inquiring Minds Who Want to Learn More - Recommended Watching and Reading:
The Meatrix is an award-winning trilogy of creative cartoons to explain
many of the issues discussed above.
In 2004, Peter Jennings of ABC News aired a special report entitled “How To Get Fat Without Trying,” a surprisingly candid look at the role of government policy and
food industry in selling unhealthy food to kids. As of August 2007, you
can access the 5-part report on
You Tube entitled “The Food Industry Is Deceiving You.”
• Consumers think it is their fault they are overweight, but it is
not that simple. The food industry and the government are at fault.
• Farmers today grow twice as much food as we need. Abundance has
become the enemy.
• Farm subsidies are given out with no thought as to the health impact
on the public. Fruits and vegetables receive less than 1 percent of the
• Corn is the most heavily subsidized crop. We consume nearly three
times more corn in the form of corn sweeteners than we do in all other
• Soybeans are another example of how massive government subsidy
contributes to obesity. Most soybean consumption is in the unhealthy form
of soybean oil.
• If Americans were to follow a healthy diet, the USDA says nearly
twice the number of acres of fruits and vegetables would have to be planted.
• Processed foods are typically made from a mixture of high fructose
corn syrup, water, flour, starch, fat, artificial colorings and flavorings.
You can make almost anything out of that - pudding, beverages and all
kinds of snack foods that are dirt cheap to produce.
• When you look at the products introduced by industry in recent
years, one thing is abundantly clear; the vast majority is food that Americans
should be eating less.
• In the 1960s and 1970s we consumed healthier snacks like milk and
fruit. In the last decade we are consuming high fat, salty snacks like chips.
• Americans are snacking all day long and consuming more calories.
The food industry spends $33 million a year to promote that behavior;
it is a deliberate strategy to sell more food.
• A person must walk for 6 hours to burn off a McDonalds meal; exercise
alone is not the answer.
• Since “reduced fat” products have come on the market,
Americans have gained more weight because sugar was often substituted for fat.
• Most of what is marketed to kids is unhealthy. It has changed cultural
expectations to where children think they should be eating this kind of
food all the time.
• Television ads are designed to generate a “nag factor”
because they know children will pester parents for it, and parents dislike
arguing with their children about food.
• One-fourth of elementary school children already have high blood
pressure, high cholesterol or some other marker for heart disease.
• The modern kid diet may be condemning them to a lifetime of illness
so why are TV ads allowed to be aimed at children?
• America has no restrictions regarding food advertising and children.
Italy prohibits all ads during cartoon shows, Australia prohibits advertising
to shows for preschoolers, Norway and Sweden prohibit all TV advertising
to children under 12.
• In the 1970s the U.S. Federal Trade Commission proposed restrictions
but ran into a political buzz saw powered by the food and television broadcasting lobbies.
• Since then, obesity had become the most pressing heath problem
for children and adults in America.
• The obesity situation is like the tobacco situation decades ago
when the government finally stepped in and discouraged what led to poor health.
In May 2006, Eric Schlosser and co-author Charles Wilson released a children’s
Chew On This. “We felt that kids needed to hear the other side of the story.
The eating habits that a person develops as a child are difficult to break
later. And if a child is obese by the age of thirteen, he or she is likely
to remain obese for life. The nutritional education of American children
shouldn’t be left to the fast food, junk food, and soda companies.”
Recommend the video over the book because it shows film of three generations
of cats raised by Dr. Pottenger. The cats who ate a feline’s natural
diet of raw meat remained healthy. Cats fed cooked meat (do you feed your
pets processed kibble?) produced unhealthy offspring. By the third generation,
the cats fed cooked meats had visible body deformities and were largely
unable to reproduce. This gives wonderful, clear-cut understanding of
the impact of unnatural diets on a living species.
This is a landmark work in human nutrition. Dr. Weston A. Price traveled
the world – from Alaska to Africa, from Switzerland to South America
- studying what native populations ate and their resulting state of health.
Native Eskimos, who don’t eat vegetables, for example, experienced
no cancer and little illness. His photographs document the ravages of
sugar and white flour on human health.
Why do some people shop at health food stores and pay extra for grass-fed
beef? Jo Robinson’s book will explain. She advocates pasture-feeding
of animals and documents how human health is directly impacted by the
health of animals raised for human consumption.
The phrase, Got Milk?, will take on a whole new meaning after you learn
how pasteurization and homogenization change milk. These two well researched,
easy to read books were written by experts, Dr. Ron Schmid and
Dr. William Campbell Douglass, respectively.
http://brightspot.org/eee/index.shtml (movies about the nutrition change in a Kansas elementary school program).
www.ppnf.org/ (website of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation)
www.WestonAPriceFoundation.org (website devoted to understanding of human nutrition)
www.NorthStarBison.com (website of a Wisconsin company that ships grassfed meats to your door)
www.organicconsumers.org (website of the Organic Consumers Association, a consumer watchdog group
for organic food standards, irradiation, and genetic modification of food)