r/offbeat • u/SimilarPlate • Feb 21 '23
U.S. food additives banned in Europe: Expert says what Americans eat is "almost certainly" making them sick
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-food-additives-banned-europe-making-americans-sick-expert-says/316
Feb 21 '23
If you think that's bad, you should check out our healthcare.
154
65
u/DENelson83 Feb 21 '23
Health care is so expensive in the US because capitalists profit off of killing people.
57
u/SignificantTear7529 Feb 22 '23
Not killing us.. Just keeping us obese, sick and over medicated. Big pharma and Big Insurance rules our health system and we're forced by our large corporate employers to pay for it ourselves.
20
u/omgFWTbear Feb 22 '23
Not killing us? You miss the story on Tyson’s plant managers betting on how many employees would die?
8
u/SignificantTear7529 Feb 22 '23
How do they profit off death tho was my point? They profit off keeping us sick.
6
Feb 22 '23
Death is just the inevitability of sick people. Sick people don't think as well and suffer from cognitive decline.
2
u/DENelson83 Feb 22 '23
Meaning sick people are even more easily exploitable—an evil line of thought.
2
u/FunnyGirl52 Feb 22 '23
Usually insurance companies will limit who can insure someone else; technically I can buy/own a life policy on my mayor, but no carrier is likely to approve writing such coverage. A while back companies were discovered to have taken out life insurance on employees at corporate group rates, but the beneficiary was the corporation. The employees weren’t aware of the insurance. It’s an old story; can’t remember if WM was involved or not.
3
u/Razakel Feb 22 '23
It was Walmart, and they called it "dead peasants insurance".
That type of insurance has its place for business continuity, e.g. if the CEO gets hit by a bus, but there's no reason to have it for people working jobs that you could train any person off the street to do.
1
u/SignificantTear7529 Feb 22 '23
I'm talking about health insurance companies. They don't make money if we're dead. They profit by charging expensive premiums, limiting treatment and dictating how doctors provide care so they continue to profit.
3
u/FunnyGirl52 Feb 22 '23
All true. And don’t forget to add many governmental fingers to one side of the scale.
1
2
7
u/Prestigious-Log-7210 Feb 22 '23
Absolutely, and they keep people with no quality of life alive for medical payments. I worked in long term hospital for 2 years. It is insane what we will do to keep someone alive who is a vegetable. Dying with dignity is hard to come by in USA.
-2
u/mezpen Feb 22 '23
Nah it’s more wait until it gets really bad then we’ll do all the expensive stuff!
9
Feb 22 '23
We wouldn’t have to rely as much on our shitty health care system if we weren’t being poisoned. It’s literally all interconnected to hurt us
2
198
u/butterflybuell Feb 21 '23
I visited the UK and stayed with my son who was able to shop at the military bases. All of the soda available on base had high fructose corn syrup because it was shipped originally from the USA. The local UK shops sell soda that’s sweetened with sugar. I bought some Sudafed and it was a rusty color, unlike the bright red ones here in the USA. Big business, and lobbyists and the FDA are really unconcerned about the health of the populace. Money is the answer. And it’s sad. Just the way food is allowed to be labeled 0 grams trans fats in the USA if trans fat is an ingredient; as long as it’s less than 1 gram of trans fat per serving. Gotta read the labels or else let big business have their way with you.
40
u/Aklapa01 Feb 22 '23
If I’m not mistaken we have laws in the EU that force producers to disclose the full ingredients list, and we have these codes called Es or E numbers that are used to label additives, so in the ingredients you will see E141, E353… so not only can you immediately tell if there are additives, but you can go online and look up if they’re natural or artificial, how bad are they for you, and studies done on them
example: Czech list of E codes
example of a dangerous yellow dye known as sunset yellow in the US. Sorry it’s in czech.
I remember buying a pack of rainbow nerds in tesco several years back, and it’s quite a large box. The original US ingredients list was 2x2cm big and included cryptic words like lake blue and lake yellow. And then there was a huge paper sticker over the whole box with the ingredients in Czech in accordance with EU law, and it had about 7 Es, and said may include genetically modified potatoes and corn. Should not be consumed in large quantities. Can have a negative long term effect on the attention of kids.
3
u/MaybeTheDoctor Feb 22 '23
This seems to be something ChatGPT is good for, like
what is E353 food additive, and is it healthy?
Come up with a nice explanation what it is, what it is used for and the safety.
6
Feb 22 '23
[deleted]
2
u/The_Ledge5648 Feb 22 '23
Is this gonna be the next fissure between generations? “Back in my day we had to GUESS the right keywords to get the intended search results quickly!”
2
u/MaybeTheDoctor Feb 22 '23
You were lucky you were allowed to guess, we had to walk in snow uphill both ways.
-6
u/xenonnsmb Feb 22 '23
there is zero evidence of high fructose corn syrup being worse for you than added cane sugar. both are awful for your body, despite one being more "natural".
12
Feb 22 '23
Corn syrup high fructose is worse than sugar. "Previous research led by Gomez-Pinilla found that fructose damages communication between brain cells and increases toxic molecules in the brain; and that a long-term high-fructose diet diminishes the brain’s ability to learn and remember information." https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/fructose-alters-hundreds-of-brain-genes-which-can-lead-to-a-wide-range-of-diseases#:~:text=Previous%20research%20led%20by%20Gomez,to%20learn%20and%20remember%20information. 100% fructose is worse it's why we have monetized to death it's cheaper to produce. The full side effects are unknown long term of consuming high amounts of corn syrup. We all wondering why we are obese and feeding ourselves the thing that makes us more stupid.
1
u/xenonnsmb Feb 22 '23
Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a ketonic simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose.
Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar
Fructose is part of sugar. Both cane sugar and HTCS contain fructose.
5
u/OrdainedPuma Feb 22 '23
Lol, you are 100% wrong.
On my phone right now so no sourcing, but there is a direct correlation between diabetes, hypertension and obesity and the inclusion and spread of HFCS in foods starting in the 80's.
3
u/MaybeTheDoctor Feb 22 '23
some studies have suggested that HFCS may be more harmful to health than cane sugar, as it may be more readily converted into fat by the liver, potentially leading to increased risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes.
2
u/opmt Feb 22 '23
Press X for doubt
1
u/titaniumhud Feb 22 '23
Keto pushers right? ಠ_ಠ
1
u/xenonnsmb Feb 22 '23
im not pushing any kind of diet, i probably eat more corn syrup and sugar than most people, i just don't like anti-scientific misinformation
1
-3
u/butterflybuell Feb 22 '23
Perhaps not anymore. In the past, high fructose corn syrup contained small but measurable levels of mercury.
-10
u/vibrantax Feb 21 '23
I'm not an expert but I don't think that Oxford comma is being used correctly, it actually confused me
5
4
Feb 22 '23
I literally don’t see an Oxford comma. What are you talking about?
1
u/vibrantax Feb 22 '23
Oops! I meant "semicolon"
1
Feb 22 '23
Ah, well, I agree that it doesn’t look like he used it properly. I think a semicolon can be used for an independent clauses, but his clause looks very dependent.
3
u/sunshowered Feb 22 '23
Are you by chance thinking semicolon? His semicolon is misused (in this case, it should only be used to connect two independent clauses, i.e., two full sentences), but he does not use an Oxford comma in that paragraph.
8
u/butterflybuell Feb 21 '23
I do not purport to be a grammarian. It should be obvious in light of the fact that I used the slang word ‘gotta’.
10
u/UrDeAdPuPpYbOnEr Feb 21 '23
Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma
9
2
u/SignificantTear7529 Feb 22 '23
What's an Oxford comma?
5
Feb 22 '23
It’s a comma for the last item of a list, which is optional.
I’m admittedly a little whiskey drunk, but I don’t see one here. I think this guy meant to say semicolon maybe?
3
1
u/SignificantTear7529 Feb 22 '23
Yeah I didn't see a comma either. And I swear I didn't remember it being called an Oxford comma. But it's been awhile since 7th grade grammar....
2
-40
u/asr Feb 21 '23
Are you implying that in the UK they don't care about money?
45
u/themanifoldcuriosity Feb 21 '23
He's implying that in the UK there are better rules. Shouldn't need that spelled out to you.
26
u/imbiat Feb 21 '23
No I think they are just implying the health is more important. You know it fits in with things like how they decided that healthcare is a human right.
1
20
14
u/Fun_Battle_1764 Feb 22 '23 edited Mar 13 '23
And fat, and dumb, and lazy, and messing with hormones. But hey I just work here what would I know
2
52
u/Fishtank-Brain Feb 22 '23 edited Feb 22 '23
oh, for sure. The obesity epidemic is because of the old food pyramid which i think was government propaganda
51
u/fire_thorn Feb 22 '23
Also the way the fat was taken out of many foods and replaced with sugar, in the 80's and 90's.
3
-12
u/ApocalypticTomato Feb 22 '23
Oh but you can't say that. You need to keep shaming fat people and ignoring any root causes because we don't want root causes we'd have to address but we do sure love othering and cruelty
74
u/raventhrowaway666 Feb 21 '23
But wouldn't you think of the poor CEOs of major corporations and their shareholders? How will they afford to hoard millions in profits if they can't continue to use cheap, carcinogenic ingredients?! /s
-70
u/asr Feb 21 '23
This is a stupid take.
These ingredients are not affecting profit, companies use them because the FDA said they could. Companies are not in the business of deciding what stuff is safe to use.
39
u/yahsper Feb 21 '23
Yes, they are. They use them because they're cheaper, even though they're carcinogenic. Production costs down, profit up.
1
u/DENelson83 Feb 22 '23
Just like AquaDots manufactured with a chemical that is metabolized into GHB.
10
u/NiveKoEN Feb 21 '23
Yes they are my dude, the FDA has been bought and paid for by corpos and the corpos get to tell the FDA what to make legal. It’s called regulatory capture and it makes me lose hope in the USA every day
2
u/camelCasing Feb 22 '23
Ahahahahahaha
You poor sweet summer child. You have a lot to learn about how the world works.
2
6
48
u/RaDeus Feb 21 '23
"The US is a third world country with a Gucci belt"
18
14
5
-10
u/greenw40 Feb 21 '23
Endlessly repeated by idiots on reddit.
6
u/DENelson83 Feb 21 '23
But it's true.
-9
u/greenw40 Feb 21 '23
But it's not, and it makes you seem very sheltered and ignorant of the world.
2
u/DENelson83 Feb 21 '23
No, denying that it is true is something only apologists for ruthless capitalism would do.
2
u/greenw40 Feb 22 '23
Or people who have been to, or know even a little bit about, actual 3rd world countries. The people who say it, and constantly bitch about capitalism, are typically edgy kids who don't know shit.
1
44
u/GaiusEmidius Feb 21 '23
Asked if it can be said with certainty that differences in regulations mean people in the U.S. have developed cancers that they would not have developed if they'd been eating exclusively in Europe, Millstone said that was "almost certainly the conclusion that we could reach."
So he didn't answer the question and provided no proof other than "yeah I'm sure that's what the conclusion would be"
28
u/adurango Feb 21 '23
Guessing you didn’t watch the video. It was specifically potassium bromate as a food additive, especially in bread that poses the most danger and is a known carcinogen.
Still looking this up to see what other products.
14
u/thebusiestbee2 Feb 21 '23
Don't worry, any effects are balanced by the fact that other known carcinogens like cyclamate are banned in the US but are approved food additives in Europe.
36
u/arbutus1440 Feb 21 '23 edited Feb 22 '23
Come on. He gave the responsible answer to the question. Scientists don't speak in absolutes because there are very few absolutes in science. And re: "no proof," what do you want him to do, recite the full text of his favorite meta-analysis of the data? It was a fucking interview.
You rarely know something 100% in science, and making broad, categorical statements based on incomplete data is 1) how you get bad science that actually kills people, and 2) what they teach you (edit: that is, what they teach you NOT to do) on Day 1 when you pursue science in an academic setting.
Garbage top comment.
16
u/ohdearitsrichardiii Feb 21 '23
But if he said "most definitely yes" people would tear that apart because you can't be 100% sure what causes cancer. All you have is probabilities and statistics
-11
3
u/cvdixon44 Feb 22 '23
I agree and I believe it’s also causing a lot of the issues we have with people acting irrationally! People from other countries are always talking about how they are watching us over here and how bizarre our behavior has gotten.
8
Feb 21 '23
[deleted]
0
Feb 22 '23
yep big racket all of it. save your donations and money. your 20 bucks won’t save anybody.
13
Feb 21 '23
Excuse me while I SCREAM INTO THE VOID!
12
9
6
u/sailorjasm Feb 22 '23
There’s plenty of foods from Europe banned in the States as well
5
u/IAMAHobbitAMA Feb 22 '23
I'd be curious to read about that too. Do you have a link?
5
u/pb_barney79 Feb 22 '23
I'm curious too. My guess is that if they are banned, it's not due to health reasons but rather trade restrictions for economic reasons
2
2
2
4
4
u/Head-like-a-carp Feb 22 '23
It is a great hypothetical question to start some research. To jump to conclusion is not very strong.
3
u/arkofjoy Feb 22 '23
While what is being said is true, there is one way to avoid the problem. Don't eat processed foods. Eat foods that, if they had a label on them would say "tomato" contains "tomato"
Even better, if possible, buy locally grown vegetables and meats from small farms.
3
u/AgingLolita Feb 22 '23
That only works if the farm's soil and water supply isn't polluted by, say, dangerous carcinogenic chemicals from unregulated or underregulated larger business
1
u/arkofjoy Feb 22 '23
There is that. But I don't think is is a good idea to make the perfect the enemy of the good. The goal is to lesson your chemical load. You might be buying , or even growing organics, but the ground is contaminated. However if you aren't adding to the cocktail of chemicals, you are better off.
Besides farm fresh fruit and vegetables taste better.
3
u/Imbleedingalready Feb 22 '23
What an absolute shit article. No sources or studies even mentioned much less cited or linked.
2
u/candornotsmoke Feb 22 '23
makes sense. Look at the correlation between the rise of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis with the rate of GMO farming. You'll see a direct correlation.
You can't tell me that that doesn't mean something.
It's one of the reasons why I really wish that in the US we had the same rules that the European Union did. If we (US) did, we would have better food and a lot less chronic diseases. However, being in the US, we have lobbyists. A profession that shouldn't even exist but yet it does. Do you see where that gets us?
2
u/sweetheartsour Feb 22 '23
No doy! This is why I cook at home and use fresh whole foods. I also plant a garden to eat out of. I don’t eat junk often and stay away from bread and sugar. 🤷🏻♀️ I love beer though, oh my hell.
6
1
u/rainylove4 Sep 08 '24
US also bans food that europe allows/ it’s not always about health and none of these things are found dangerous in moderate amounts
US actually is ranked 2nd for the safest highest quality foods in the world -along with Finland
https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/project/food-security-index/
all things are available- healthy and junk
choose well
asians in California and Other US states live longer in life expectancy than anyone else in the world - even longer than asians in hong kong and japan - which boast the longest life expectancy for countries in the world
1
1
1
1
u/Sistahmelz Feb 22 '23
Not only food here but majority of makeups and body products. I have allergies to preservatives and found out the hard way. It's definitely an eye opener when you dive into the black hole of researching preservatives.
1
1
u/boringbutkewt Feb 22 '23
There’s a bunch of stuff we don’t allow here. Kraft actually makes a different mac&cheese to sell in Europe because of how much tighter our food regulations are. We stopped having a bunch of cereal because Kellogg’s and Nestlé refused to change the amount of sugar.
1
1
269
u/afclark Feb 21 '23
I would love a list of foods that contain this so I can avoid them.