Reasonable person would suggest that canned foods
and canned fruits and vegetables are as good or better than fresh foods,
vegetables, and fruits. It is obvious that fresh is good and retains most of
its nutrients. This much, almost no one argues with. But the big question is
how bad canned products are, really? Well the answer might surprise you or not.
1.Bisphenol
or BPA The most worrisome of all, among canned foods that can harm you, is
plastic contaminants in our canned goods. Most canned food these days have a
plastic coating inside the can to supposedly keep the food, vegetables, and
fruits – fresh. Well, it may keep them fresher but this comes at the expense of harming you.
The inner plastic lining is poisonous at small measures, although government
tells us that the small amounts should not worry us too much. Well this plastic
coating is Bisphenol or BPA for short and it is harmful, first because humans
are not suppose to eat plastic material made from crude oil and second because
government should be honest and tell people the truth rather than serve the
interests of big corporations that give it large sums of money.
BPA kills rats in laboratories even
at smaller portions, like 1,000 times less than what an average American consumes
per meal. I hope soon the government would do a U-turn on this and come clean
and tell people about the harm to humans caused by BPA like they do
periodically about drugs which they have claimed for decades to be safe, only
to tell us now that they were not safe. I just hope it does not take decades before
they try to protect the public against BPA. BPA is a toxic chemical that causes
hormone imbalances and wide variety of health issues ranging from hypertension,
aggression, obesity to cancer and heart disease. Based on FDA 17% of the
American diet comes from canned foods yet there are no regulation or safety
standards regarding the amount of BPA in canned foods. A study by Environmental
Working Group shows that more than 50% of cans with brand names have toxic BPA
in them.
2.Imported
Canned Food - Imported Canned Food is even worse than American Canned Food. In
many countries where canned food is cheaper than Europe, Canada and USA,
American food corporations are more and more importing to make higher profits,
the canned food is even less nutritious than their counterparts in Europe and
North America. First the foods are picked when they are not ripe and have 80%
less nutrients than a fully ripe fruits and vegetables. Second, the facilities
are not as hygienic and inspected on a regular basis as their counterparts in
Europe and North America and hence have the cause of a few incidences of
outbreaks in the last 20 years, like the famous incident regarding canned green
beans from Brazil or the salmonella outbreak from sprouts from Columbia. Less
than 2% of canned foods are inspected by FDA or Home Land security or any other
organization (e.g. EPA for environmental monitoring). So I would avoid canned
food if at all possible. Instead I would recommend, at the least, try glass
jars instead of cans for stored foods.
3. Leaking. Aluminum
leaks
Just as Aluminum pots
and pans leak, so do aluminum cans. In fact, what most people are unaware of is
that most often foods are put into aluminum cans, then seals, and then cooked,
supposedly retain the freshness. Well, it will certainly retain the aluminum
free radicals hanging around after heating and contaminating the contents.
Over a period of time
Aluminum accumulation in body can cause memory problem like Alzheimer’s. More
than 5,000 million pounds of aluminum is used every year for making food cans.
Aluminum cans have several advantages for the producer including light weight,
compact packaging and lower price. Most canned foods like soups, vegetables,
chicken or beef broth and tomato sauces are made of aluminum because it’s more
economical.
Some believe that the
plastic lining of the aluminum cans are supposed to prevent corrosion and
contaminating food with aluminum. But the reality is that most of the time
these plastic liners can’t completely protect food against aluminum since cans
leak aluminum when heated and while they are sealed - they will contaminate
food.
4. Preservatives
They are referred to in
a dozen different names, and every few months, a new name is established for
the same few ingredients that are mixed up to come up with friendly-sounding
names. But, the fact is that if it smells like manure, looks like manure,
tastes like manure – it is most certainly manure.
these preservatives are
not drastically harmful towards healthy people, but they may be harmful to
pregnant women, babies, children, elderly, or anyone that is suffering from a
chronic disease”. That’s just my interpretation.
5. Low level food
quality
Let’s be honest with
ourselves and admit that if the fruits and vegetables and other ingredients are
of high quality, they will be sold fresh and for the highest price possible for
a maximum of profit by the distributors.
Canned-Food
Now if the quality of
the ingredients are not that great or the fruits and vegetables look old and stale
or not so healthy, then they will be hidden from the eyes of supermarket
shoppers and be forced into a can along with other such low quality food,
cooked up in a mass oven while still inside the can and then shipped all over
the world and sold may be one or two years later from when they were picked and
were prepared. Don’t expect the ingredients inside your canned foods to be of
high quality. If you do, then you could buy the London Bridge and thinking that
it is the Tower of London Bridge – and the two cannot be more different than
one another.
Solution
The reality is that
your can of pinto beans, tuna or vegetable juice could put your health at risk.
17% of the American diet comes from canned food, is it worth it to contaminate
your daily grains, protein or vegetables with aluminum and BPA
So what should you do?
Completely eliminate
canned foods and if you are looking for your favorite tomato sauce use the ones
in glass jars. Don’t consume vegetables or grains in cans, simply buy fresh
ones. The risk of developing many chronic diseases such as cancer, heart
disease, obesity, diabetes, nervous system disorder and Alzheimer’s goes down
by consuming fresh foods that do not have any packaging.
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