> Food toxicity and how it effects you

Food Toxicity & the Commercialization of Food

Today, our food arrives to our table by a variety of means and methods. In this day and age it is a very difficult task indeed to work out the exact 'life' our food has led before it reaches us and how good a food it actually is when it gets to us.

For instance, not that many years ago, food was mostly grown, produced and consumed within either a short distance or had to be 'transformed' into a form that would survive longer in storage (i.e. jams, pickles, dry cured, salted, etc).

Nowadays, technology and science provides many ways of overcoming the restrictions of 'locality' of production and consumption. For instance the invention of powered refrigeration has allowed foods to be stored and transported over great distances in large volumes. Also a better understanding of how food 'goes off' has led to the use of chemicals and advanced packaging techniques (i.e. vacuum packed, tinning, etc).

What really needs to be remembered these days is that the food business is a multi-billion dollar world-wide business, where the profit margins are 'squeezed' all the way through the supply chain. Time literally is money and anything which can be done to make foods last longer is literally profit in hand, as by giving more time for transportation to two things occur:

• Being able to spend more time transporting food means cheaper slower forms of transportation can be used;
• The same food can be sourced from further afield, increasing the opportunity to obtain that food cheaper somewhere else.

Note: None of this is directly related to the actually 'quality' of the food obtained, the aim is not to get higher quality food, rather to get the same food cheaper...

Plant Varieties and Genetics

Something else to keep in mind when buying commercially grown food is that the varieties grown have been chosen on the basis of how well they 'survive' transportation. The actual end flavor or taste of the fruit or vegetable has little to do with this choice. Remember you do not exactly get a chance to sample before you buy and by the time you have got home and used the fruit or veg, its difficult to tell whether it was your cooking or the fruit or veg that seemed slightly 'off'.. Also remember fruit and veg designed to travel will no matter loose a lot of their vitamin value in transit, these rapidly diminish after harvesting.

Also remember that food retailers want to sell more food to you, so for them it is not desirable to sell veg that has a long shelf life once purchased. They only need sell you veg that looks good at the time you buy it. So food ends up being chosen on the basis of how well it will travel to end up at the supermarket in a condition that is ready to be sold, and that is it. What happens to it after it has been bought is not really their concern.

So how does this all impact you and how does it relate to Food toxicity?  Read on..

Toxins in Food & Monitoring

For many environmental contaminants, health authorities recommend maximum acceptable levels that are considered to be safe in food. It is illegal for foods containing higher levels to be sold. Foods are monitored to check that they comply with the recommendations. Foods that contain more than the permitted amounts of the contaminants being monitored are withdrawn from sale. The effectiveness of this of course depends on the extent of monitoring.

In general, the level of environmental contaminants in our food complies with the limits recommended by government health authorities. However, because of the uncertainty in establishing exactly what is a safe level for many of these contaminants, it is in the interests of our general health to consume as wide a variety of foods as possible. By doing this, the chances of eating large amounts of a contaminated food are minimized. Continued and extensive surveillance and control are needed.

Of course the level of surveillance and control are not a universal constant, and this is where the toxin problem 'creeps in'; food sourced from other markets might not consistently apply the same controls as expected in the local market. Also the surveillance might not be looking for the right things or told to ignore things that are becoming known as problems.

'Heavy metals'

The common environmental contaminants of greatest concern in food are the so-called 'heavy metals', most notably cadmium, lead and mercury.

Mercury

Almost all of the mercury found in food occurs in seafood.

A dramatic instance of mercury poisoning occurred in the Minimata Bay area in Japan. Fish and shellfish that were heavily contaminated by industrial waste caused poisoning in many of the people who ate them, resulting in damage to the central nervous system and in some instances death.

Surveys of the levels of mercury and other heavy metals in food are regularly carried out and have shown that generally the levels are below the maximum amounts permitted by health authorities. Occasionally, higher levels are detected and the food withdrawn from sale.

Lead

Lead occurs widely in the environment and it can enter our bodies through drinking water (either from source or via lead piping) and the air we breathe, as well as through food.

Children are the group at greatest risk, because even at levels below those that produce the usual signs of poisoning, lead can cause behavioural abnormalities. The levels of lead that cause these effects are uncertain so it is difficult to estimate what amount is 'safe'. In some areas, particularly where there is heavy lead pollution in the air from leaded petrol, lead levels may be hazardous for children.

Cadmium

Cadmium is present at very low levels in a wide variety of foods. Poisoning due to cadmium in food is rare. The upper 'acceptable' limit for cadmium in food recommended by the WHO (World Health Organization) is generally complied with. The kidneys of animals are generally higher in cadmium than are other foods. Contamination of rice, soya bean and seafood with cadmium from local industrial and mining operations has caused cadmium poisoning.

Pesticides and industrial chemicals

Two very persistent environmental contaminants are the pesticide DDT and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), which have been used in electrical transformers, plastics and paints. DDT and PCBs are not easily degraded in the environment and can concentrate in the fatty tissues of many organisms as they move up the food chain. Recent surveys in Australia have not detected the presence of PCBs in food. DDT has been found in many foods but the amounts are such that the total daily intake of DDT is within the acceptable' upper limit recommended by the WHO.

It's Natural so it's safe?

The notion that 'natural' food may be harmful is not widely understood. The terms 'health', ‘organic', 'natural', 'unprocessed', 'no added chemicals' when applied to food suggest that the food is safer or more nutritious than its conventional counterpart but this is might not be true. All food is entirely made up of chemicals. In addition to well-known nutrients such as carbohydrate, fat, protein and water, food contains many other substances.

Any substance in a food may have a degree of toxicity or 'poisonousness', whether it is natural, deliberately added, or a contaminant. There is nothing special about natural chemicals in food and no distinction should be made between natural and other substances when deciding if a food is likely to be hazardous. For example, a potato contains a number of poisonous substances such as nitrate, arsenic and solanine but in the amounts in which potatoes are normally eaten these natural substances are not hazardous. For this reason it is important not to consume large amounts of a small number of foods, as in some faddist diets, but to consume a wide variety of foods. This not only minimizes the amount of a particular potentially hazardous substance but also ensures that a range of essential nutrients are consumed.

Herbal teas

Herbal teas have become popular with an increasing number of people. Herbal and 'bush' teas contain a large number of different components, many of which have not yet been assessed for safety. Some teas can lead to disturbing effects. Tea made from the South Pacific kava plant has been associated with impaired breathing, vision and hearing, and other symptoms. Comfrey and tea made from the roots of sassafras contain substances that have caused cancer in laboratory animals. In addition, some teas can interfere with the therapeutic value of some drugs that are taken at the same time. Heavy consumption of these teas is not to be recommended. 

Preservatives & Additives

It must be remembered that heavily processed food only really exists to do the following:

• Be cheap to produce, cheap to store and transport
• Look good, be tasty to eat and 'moreish'

Being actually good for you is not the main goal with this type of food, its a 'quick fix'. Now there is a whole list of 'approved' additives that can go into food, but being approved does not mean it is 'safe'; anybody remember the time before trans-fats? Or the time before certain food colourings were found to make children hyperactive? The safety of these additives is under constant review in light of what actually happens in the market and whether a certain additive gets a 'bad rap' enough to have government sanction against it.

ADHD and Attention Deficit Disorder

It looks like evidence is also growing that for a significant proportion of children diagnosed as having ADHD or ADD that their diet could be the root of the apparent disorder. Either due to an adverse reaction to additives or a badly balanced diet missing certain key substances the child requires... See this site  on food intolerance for more information (the Food Intolerance Network, looking to ban controversial preservatives linked to hyperactivity and ADHD).

TransFats

TransFats are produced when certain cooking oils are heated to produce very long chain artificial fats; these TransFats essentially 'mess up' the body's normal fat processing - so that appetite, energy levels and general health are all effected. They often show up most in fast foods. TransFats producing oils are slowly being phased out world wide, but the progress is slow as the oils are very cheap to produce and use - so for the food manufacturers moving away from them often can hurt immediate profits.

The 'rise' of Gluten Intolerance

In the last few years, gluten intolerance has become more and more common; now the problem with this is two fold:

• First off, how much of the increase is due to increased awareness in gluten intolerance? and;
• Secondly, how much is due to a base increase in intolerance in gluten?

This presents a potential decision problem; the first case means nothing has changed with the food as such, just our ability to diagnose (or willingness to do so). The second indicates something fundamental has happened. My gut (no pun indicated) says a mixture of both, as its very hard to find all sorts of food without gluten in it. Which given its from a specific seed family means most of the population are being exposed to a common ingredient, a situation which is highly artificial.

The only good news is that with the increased awareness has come an increased availability of Gluten Free foods, although at a price.

What can I do?

There are several things you can do to avoid such toxins in your food:

• Buy locally - decreasing transportation reduces the incentive to preserve the food for longer;
• Buy 'simple foods' - i.e. fruits, veg, meats, staples, etc
• Avoid 'heavily processed' foods - a simple indicator of this is if you read the list of ingredients and it reads more like a serial code of E numbers with weird chemical names - avoid!
• Stay away from the 'funny colour' food and drinks - anything a strong red, green or even blue colour (especially blue!) indicates some serious additives at work to make that colour and keep it stable.
• Don't fall for the 'natural' and 'organic' trick - a lot of food manufacturers have now caught onto this as a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) to differentiate themselves from the competition - again read the ingredients and be wary of a brand that goes 'organic' overnight.
• Go back to your local grocer, deli and butchers - these people have to mostly source locally and present 'simple foods'; they haven't the space to present 30 different types of milk!
• Grow your own food - if you have a garden this is easy, but if you don't think about an allotment or a simple window pot with some herbs in it is a step in the right direction.
• Do some proper cooking - dig out that chopping board, knife and pots and pans and be your own Master Chef! if you can't cook invite a friend round who does, you buy the ingredients and they cook and teach you..

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