4 ms·

Were there any new chemicals allowed/introduced in the food industry in the last 5 years?

by singularity2001 9y ago

nelsondooley 9y ago
That's a really good question. "During recent decades more than 100,000 new chemicals have been used in common consumer products"* Also there's the idea that hybrid wheat has caused gluten intolerance * https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214967/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214967/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573730/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573730/
adrr 9y ago
Its not going to be chemical as it would be worldwide. Its more likely how we raise our kids. One interesting hypothesis is that we are too clean, we machine wash everything, we slather our hands with hand sanitizer before we touch babies, our children have stopped playing outside in the dirt and now sit on the couch with an ipad. Further reading: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/02/23/387553285/kids-allergies-and-a-possible-downside-to-squeaky-clean-dishes http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/02/23/38755328...
- heurist 9y ago
  I was able to eat bread my whole life up to last year. Now whenever I eat it I get so tired I have to sleep. I played outside all the time as a kid... Something else is going on. Also, rural area report more claims than cities. You'd think cities would be "cleaner".
  - irrational 9y ago
    Maybe it's just part of getting old? I've never been lactose intolerant, but around the middle of my 40s I found that if I went to bed after eating a big bowl of ice cream I would wake up with heartburn in the middle of the night. I've learned to pop a few antacids after eating my ice cream before bed.
    - heurist 9y ago
      God I hope not, I'm only 28 and if this is a sign of things to come I'm not sure how I'll cope...
      - wernercd 9y ago
        Wow... you was around before the iPhone. How was it in the long long ago? but seriously... it's interesting to hear multiple people, at various ages, say they gained allergies. I've always been able to eat anything, do anything and never get sick... it's annoying but nice. With as much as the world has changed in 10 years, I wonder if there are commonalities that can eventually be tracked down... And if there are actual groups that are trustworthy enough to discover it (aka: not paid for by special interest groups)
  - trhway 9y ago
    >I was able to eat bread my whole life up to last year. Now whenever I eat it I get so tired I have to sleep. i got similar situation after moving to US and for several years eating cheap white supermarket bread (i.e. bleached white flour as the main ingredient, and the bread is produced with quick rising achieved by too much yeast and sugar, in short it is very different from the way bread was done for millennia and what our gut is used to). Took some time to find better, more correctly done, bread. As result of this (and some other similar - ie. less of the food filled with sugar/corn-syrup - dietary changes) glucose level jumps with lesser amplitude (ie. much less of that roller coaster ride of sugar rush followed by the slump). Beside wrecking havoc with glucose system (and potentially paving way for diabetes), the large consumption of bleached flour, sugar/corn-syrup and yeast have been, if not implicated, strongly correlated with things like Crohn disease, autoimmune issues, etc... (note: i'm not a crusader against sugar - i'm actually a big eater of carbohydrates, including sweet pastries, cakes, etc. - it just took time to find the places which do it more "european" style. To illustrate the difference for example consider cake frosting - European style contains a lot of high-fat butter in addition to sugar, egg, high-fat cream, etc. where is American frosting is very high on sugar and deals away [partially or completely] with butter and cream, thus losing much of the taste/aroma and becoming very unhealthy in my view)
  - deepvibrations 9y ago
    I found out in a pretty horrible way this year that I was a 'silent celiac' - symptomless gluten intolerance. I broke my leg whilst simply doing a hand-stand (spiral fracture of femur)! All the doctors were confused at how it happened and in the end it was only because I pushed for a blood test that I found out I had Celiac disease and this had meant my body was not absorbing nutrients and so had been taking calcium and vitamin D from the bone stores, making them really weak. My family has generally been very healthy (grandparents living past 100) and I am convinced this is down to chemicals in bread or changes in the wheat itself via G.M. An recent study from University of Sheffield suggests that for every diagnosed celiac, 8 others go undiagnosed. I'd advise anyone out there to get a blood test, as this would have saved me a few broken arms and this horrible experience of a broken leg and now having a semi-titanium leg after surgery..!
- groby_b 9y ago
  I doubt it. My wife and I were completely allergy free until 4 years ago. She developed a bunch of allergies then. I'm picking up some over the last 12 months. (And... I don't think too clean applies in my case. I'm a firm believer in the 5 second rule :) A friend of mine developed serious allergies over the last few years as well. Sure, it could just be age. But there's a two decade age difference between my friend and me. I've so far blamed it on LA's air quality, but it's interesting to see it seems to be part of a wider trend. (I have no idea what causes it, but I suppose that article means I should widen the search for potential causes.)
maxerickson 9y ago
If anything big brands have reduced the list of ingredients they put in food over that period. (doing things like replacing preservatives with vitamin C and artificial colors with plant based alternatives, eliminating preservatives and upgrading packaging, etc.) It also varies a lot. One store brand of kettle chips I had recently had ~20 ingredients in it. A second had 3 (potatoes, oil, salt).
FrozenVoid 9y ago
The major spike in the graph occurs in 2012, so its something approved between 2010-2012. "The analysis also showed a greater increase in claims in rural areas than in cities. " It could be some pesticide/herbicide approved in the above time range. Some pesticide residue could be a sensitizing trigger turning immune system into overdrive.

Were there any new chemicals allowed/introduced in the food industry in the last 5 years?

That's a really good question. "During recent decades more than 100,000 new chemicals have been used in common consumer products"* Also there's the idea that hybrid wheat has caused gluten intolerance * https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214967/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214967/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573730/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573730/

adrr 9y ago

Its not going to be chemical as it would be worldwide. Its more likely how we raise our kids. One interesting hypothesis is that we are too clean, we machine wash everything, we slather our hands with hand sanitizer before we touch babies, our children have stopped playing outside in the dirt and now sit on the couch with an ipad. Further reading: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/02/23/387553285/kids-allergies-and-a-possible-downside-to-squeaky-clean-dishes http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/02/23/38755328...

heurist 9y ago
I was able to eat bread my whole life up to last year. Now whenever I eat it I get so tired I have to sleep. I played outside all the time as a kid... Something else is going on. Also, rural area report more claims than cities. You'd think cities would be "cleaner".
- irrational 9y ago
  Maybe it's just part of getting old? I've never been lactose intolerant, but around the middle of my 40s I found that if I went to bed after eating a big bowl of ice cream I would wake up with heartburn in the middle of the night. I've learned to pop a few antacids after eating my ice cream before bed.
  - heurist 9y ago
    God I hope not, I'm only 28 and if this is a sign of things to come I'm not sure how I'll cope...
    - wernercd 9y ago
      Wow... you was around before the iPhone. How was it in the long long ago? but seriously... it's interesting to hear multiple people, at various ages, say they gained allergies. I've always been able to eat anything, do anything and never get sick... it's annoying but nice. With as much as the world has changed in 10 years, I wonder if there are commonalities that can eventually be tracked down... And if there are actual groups that are trustworthy enough to discover it (aka: not paid for by special interest groups)
- trhway 9y ago
  >I was able to eat bread my whole life up to last year. Now whenever I eat it I get so tired I have to sleep. i got similar situation after moving to US and for several years eating cheap white supermarket bread (i.e. bleached white flour as the main ingredient, and the bread is produced with quick rising achieved by too much yeast and sugar, in short it is very different from the way bread was done for millennia and what our gut is used to). Took some time to find better, more correctly done, bread. As result of this (and some other similar - ie. less of the food filled with sugar/corn-syrup - dietary changes) glucose level jumps with lesser amplitude (ie. much less of that roller coaster ride of sugar rush followed by the slump). Beside wrecking havoc with glucose system (and potentially paving way for diabetes), the large consumption of bleached flour, sugar/corn-syrup and yeast have been, if not implicated, strongly correlated with things like Crohn disease, autoimmune issues, etc... (note: i'm not a crusader against sugar - i'm actually a big eater of carbohydrates, including sweet pastries, cakes, etc. - it just took time to find the places which do it more "european" style. To illustrate the difference for example consider cake frosting - European style contains a lot of high-fat butter in addition to sugar, egg, high-fat cream, etc. where is American frosting is very high on sugar and deals away [partially or completely] with butter and cream, thus losing much of the taste/aroma and becoming very unhealthy in my view)
- deepvibrations 9y ago
  I found out in a pretty horrible way this year that I was a 'silent celiac' - symptomless gluten intolerance. I broke my leg whilst simply doing a hand-stand (spiral fracture of femur)! All the doctors were confused at how it happened and in the end it was only because I pushed for a blood test that I found out I had Celiac disease and this had meant my body was not absorbing nutrients and so had been taking calcium and vitamin D from the bone stores, making them really weak. My family has generally been very healthy (grandparents living past 100) and I am convinced this is down to chemicals in bread or changes in the wheat itself via G.M. An recent study from University of Sheffield suggests that for every diagnosed celiac, 8 others go undiagnosed. I'd advise anyone out there to get a blood test, as this would have saved me a few broken arms and this horrible experience of a broken leg and now having a semi-titanium leg after surgery..!
groby_b 9y ago
I doubt it. My wife and I were completely allergy free until 4 years ago. She developed a bunch of allergies then. I'm picking up some over the last 12 months. (And... I don't think too clean applies in my case. I'm a firm believer in the 5 second rule :) A friend of mine developed serious allergies over the last few years as well. Sure, it could just be age. But there's a two decade age difference between my friend and me. I've so far blamed it on LA's air quality, but it's interesting to see it seems to be part of a wider trend. (I have no idea what causes it, but I suppose that article means I should widen the search for potential causes.)

maxerickson 9y ago

If anything big brands have reduced the list of ingredients they put in food over that period. (doing things like replacing preservatives with vitamin C and artificial colors with plant based alternatives, eliminating preservatives and upgrading packaging, etc.) It also varies a lot. One store brand of kettle chips I had recently had ~20 ingredients in it. A second had 3 (potatoes, oil, salt).

FrozenVoid 9y ago

The major spike in the graph occurs in 2012, so its something approved between 2010-2012. "The analysis also showed a greater increase in claims in rural areas than in cities. " It could be some pesticide/herbicide approved in the above time range. Some pesticide residue could be a sensitizing trigger turning immune system into overdrive.