Food Coloring

The color of food is an integral part of our culture and enjoyment of life. Who would deny the mouth-watering appeal of a deep-pink strawberry ice on a hot summer day?

Since Romans recognized that people "eat with their eyes" Saffron and other spices were often used to provide a rich yellow color to various foods. Butter has been colored yellow as far back as the 1300's.

Today all food color additives are carefully regulated by federal authorities to ensure that foods are safe to eat and accurately labeled. A food coloring is any substance that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking. The food colorings that make candy pretty colors have been linked to cancer and tumors of the brain, thyroid, adrenal gland and kidney in animal studies.

Of course, eating largely fresh, whole foods is the best way to stay away from unsavory additives, but, assuming you do include some processed foods in your diet, the following additives are ones you surely want to stay away from. Look for them on ingredient labels and if one turns up, take a pass.

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What is Junk Food

The term “junk food” is used to describe food which is low in nutritional value, with a comparatively high caloric value.

 

Nutritionists, doctors, and other health advocates often work to educate people about junk food, encouraging them to eat well balanced diets which contain a high proportion of healthy foods.

This term was coined in 1972 by advocates at the Center for Science in the Public Interest who wanted to raise public attention about the issue of foods with a high caloric value and a low nutritional value.

Foods which fall under the umbrella of “junk food” vary, depending on a number of factors. Snack foods like chips, candies, and so forth are generally universally agreed upon as junk food, and some people also lump fast food like hamburgers, pizza, and fries into the junk food category.

As a general rule, no matter what one classifies as junk food, such foods are perfectly safe to eat, as long as they are integrated into a well balanced diet. There's nothing wrong with having some potato chips now and then, but consuming a diet based primarily on junk food is a cause for concern. Because junk food often lacks useful vitamins and minerals, people who eat an exclusive diet of junk food may suffer from nutritional deficiencies which could cause health problems.

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Nicotine, Good and Bad.

Is it any wonder millions of people smoke? A cigarette helps calm us down and even lose weight. The problem is, once a lot of us start smoking, we can't stop. The habit's addictive! Why?

 

Tobacco contains nicotine, the drug that keeps us coming back. And as we all know the risks of puffing away outweigh the benefits. Nicotine hooks us in, but it's the other 4,000 chemicals that are released as tobacco burns that cause many of the diseases we associate with smoking.

For many years, scientists have been channelling their research efforts into nicotine's addictive qualities, the reason why we keep smoking, even though we know it's bad for us. Their findings have been surprising.

Nicotine does seem to boost concentration, improve memory and control body weight! The downside is, it also adversely affects babies in utero and may explain the link between smoking and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

The hope for the future is that drug companies will be able to separate nicotine's positive properties from the negative and develop drugs for the treatment of everything from Alzheimer's disease to weight control.

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