New Delhi: Earlier this week several protesters gathered outside the Michigan headquarters of WK Kellogg Co. and demanded for the removal of artificial food dyes from its breakfast cereals like Froot Loops and Apple Jacks. While the company had professed to remove artificial dyes from its products in 2015, finalising a date till 2018 to do so, protesters claimed that they have not done so. Kellogg meanwhile maintains its innocence saying its cereals are safe and meet federal standards from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The protests were amplified when actress Eva Mendes took to Instagram and said, “I grew up on cereal. I still love it but I won’t eat @kelloggsus anymore after I found out that so many of the ingredients they use here in the US are BANNED in other countries. Why? Because they’re harmful for children.”
Artificial food dyes and other preservatives have been a contentious topic for some time now, with different countries having different standards and practices related to them. In California for instance, a California School Food Safety Act was put into effect last month making it illegal for public schools to offer food to children that contains any of six mentioned different artificial dyes. But this is not being followed in other places and people are slowly waking up to the fact.
Processed, packaged and unhealthy?
While artificial food dyes have been used for some time now, people have only recently woken up to the dangers surrounding their use. They are additives used to colour any product and originate from a nonfood source. Recent studies have shown how they might be linked to diseases like obesity, diabetes and even cancer. While not conclusive, they do point out to the potential ill effects of artificial food dyes. They have also been linked to amplify certain behaviours like hyperactivity and other neurological problems in children.
It is not just artificial food dyes which are now being seen as major health issues in processed food but a spate of problems are being identified and the public is waking up to its dangers. Many chronic diseases that affect us now are predominantly lifestyle induced, most related to our poor eating habits.
With time awareness related to the dangers of fast food, white flour, excessive salts and sugar, additives and preservatives in packaged and processed foods has increased. With continued usage, their contribution to obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and cancer are now well documented.
The problem is that their usage has been normalised to a huge extent and became an intrinsic part of our habits, almost addictive. The variety of foods we have at our disposal and the way they are advertised make it difficult for one to not give in to them, disregarding the known health issues related to them.
The nutritional fundamentals accepted by the World Health Organization and other such authorities include vegetables, beans, nuts, and fruit and other such natural products as healthy foods. Products like salt, saturated fat, and excess sugar are classified as disease causing. While frozen and processed foods can be time-saving and convenient, the degree of processing can result in the food losing significant amounts of nutrition.
Ultra-processed foods often contain high levels of saturated fat, salt and sugar and they leave less room in our diets for more nutritious foods. Most such food items also include high fructose corn syrup, added fat, sugar, and salt to create a taste that induce cravings and almost become a kind of addiction. But unfortunately excessive sugar and salt intake increase stroke risk, especially when consumed daily for years.
It is thus imperative that we take cue from the warnings of experts and commit to more healthier diets in pursuit of good long-term health. While advertising has us chasing fast foods and processed foods, excessive consumption of such items should not be encouraged. It is good that the public is finally waking up to their dangers and should lobby to make such food products as healthy as possible.
