In 1995 there were an estimated 200 million obese adults worldwide. The number rose to 300 million adults in just five years. There are currently 650 million people who are obese. Worldwide obesity is a crisis that has tripled since 1975. With the right policies and individual decisions, this crisis can be resolved. Obesity is preventable. One of the biggest roadblocks to maintaining a healthy weight and losing weight is food additives.
What Food Additives?
Food additives are substances that are added to food to maintain or improve safety, freshness, taste, texture, or appearance. Some food additives have been used for centuries to preserve food. Firstly, salt has been used to preserve meats such as bacon or fish. Secondly, sugar was used to preserving marmalade, and finally, sulfur dioxide preserves wine. Some food additives have been associated with health effects and should be avoided, while some can be consumed with minimal risk.
Dangerous Food Additives.
Maintaining a healthy weight is about controlling your appetite. If you can control your appetite, you will be able to control your weight and lose weight. Food additives in processed foods are the biggest roadblocks to appetite control and weight loss. Let’s look at a few.
Monosodium Glutamate.
Monosodium Glutamate also known as MSG makes food taste better. MSG intensifies and enhances the flavor of many dishes. The biggest disadvantage of MSG is that it blocks messages to your brain by the body. Instead of your body communicating with your brain that you are full, you just keep on eating. Eating when we are full leads to leptin resistance.
MSG will increase your insulin levels. The rise of insulin causes our blood sugar to fall and we get hungry again. MSG may triple the insulin released by the pancreas. Studies show that MSG increase rat’s appetite by 40%. MSG can be found anywhere there is ultra-processed foods. Processed foods, chips, crackers, soups, frozen meals, processed meats, and fast foods contain MSGs.
MSGs are normally hidden on food labels. Some of the names food manufacturers use include glutamate, yeast extract, plant protein extract, gelatin, and hydrolyzed oat flour. If you want to maintain a healthy weight have MSG foods in moderation. If you want to lose weight, it is best to cut MSG from your diet.
Artificial Sweeteners or Food Colouring.
Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, saccharin and acesulfame potassium are used by many people for weight loss. They increase people’s calorie consumption. When people consume sugar the pleasure reward dopamine is released from the brain. However, when people consume artificial sweeteners, the dopamine is released but blood sugar does not rise. This makes the brain send hunger signals to request more food. Healthy sweeteners for drinking and cooking are stevia, erythritol, and xylitol.
Artificial food coloring is used to brighten and improve the appearance of everything from candies to condiments. Some of these colorants may cause allergic reactions in some people. Food coloring promotes hyperactivity in children. Food dyes that are found in processed foods should be limited. People should rather eat whole foods with higher nutrients.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).
HFCS is a sweetener made from corn. HFCS is a chemical creation that transforms glucose into fructose. It acts as a preservative for foods. It can be found in everything. Some foods that have HFCS are sweets, canned fruits, and veggies, sodas, yogurts, peanut butter, frozen meals, and cookies. Most of the processed foods in your fridge contain some form of HFCS.
There are two things that HFCS does to our bodies. Firstly, when we eat HFCS our blood sugar rises, insulin levels rise, and our liver converts the fructose quickly into fat. Secondly, high HFCS consumption is linked with belly fat, gout, high cholesterol, and heart disease. This is one of the reasons many people struggle to lose weight. Imagine eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner which are filled with food additives. In between those meals, we drink beverages that are filled with HFCS. We are creating insulin spikes, weight gain, and fat storage all day long.
Food additives are the biggest roadblocks to losing weight and living healthy. Obesity rates started increasing when processed foods increased globally. Processed foods that are filled with food additives create food cravings, disrupt our appetite hormones, and cause insulin spikes. These three factors program our bodies for obesity and diseases. It is best to eat them in moderation or cut them out of your diet to lose weight and live healthily.