Still Eating McDonalds Fries? You Better Read This Now
These days, it is getting harder and harder to avoid eating things you really don’t want to eat. To eliminate most things that could be bad for you, you would almost have to revert to the hunter-gatherer stage, and even at that, you’d have to be very careful where you did your hunting and gathering. The list of additives the FDA allows in our food would be a tome. And they are in everything that has been processed, no matter how lightly. The FDA says they are safe, but do they really know? They test nothing themselves, and rely on the manufacturers to do the testing. They take them at their word. It’s sort of like the fox watching the hen-house. And so we end up with questionable (and usually unnecessary) additives in our food, like MSG1, 2, 3, 4,, which is now a suspect as a contributory factor in things like autism, ADD, lupus, and more. Huge amounts of sugar and salt added to our foods are making us a nation of obese, diabetic people with heart problems. As far as the FDA is concerned, for, “generally recognized as safe….”, you can read, “not immediately fatal…”.
One of the most common additives, right after MSG, is a silicone polymer called Polydimethylsiloxane. It’s chemical formula is CH3[Si(CH3)2O]nSi(CH3)3. In food, it is added as an anti-foaming agent. Anti-foaming agents are used in things like rice, beans and pasta, that have a tendency for foam up and overflow on their own, so the food companies are allowed to add what is basically a form of silicon to our food (the rest of us use things like butter, olive oil, margarine, vegetable oil, etc…), simply because it is cheaper. Polydimethylsiloxane, also called Dimethecone, is also used in things like soft contact lenses, brake fluid, shampoos (it makes your hair shiny and slippery…), lubricating oils, caulking, and heat-resistant tile. Yummy!
Dimethecone is a solid at temperatures below 140°F, and resembles Silly Putty. It will bounce, and is mold-able. At higher temperatures it begins to flow, and has the consistency of honey (now you know why McDonalds fries don’t reheat so good, and get ‘rubbery’ when they are cold….). It does prevent foaming in cooking oils, and the FDA says it is inert, and non-toxic, meaning that in theory, it should pass harmlessly through your system and be eliminated. Be that as it may, even if it is true, I am not crazy about my French Fries being cooked in brake fluid!!!!!
Now, the companies that use Dimethecone can truthfully say that there has never been any Death Certificate filed listing Dimethecone consumption as a Cause of Death. But what about contributory factors? The flow point of this polymer is very close to the average human body temperature of 98.6°F, and most fried foods are served at 160°F or hotter, meaning the polymer is still able to flow. What’s to stop the polymer from flowing through your intestines, cooling and coating the insides, which would retard your ability to absorb nutrients from your food, and cause you to have to eat more?
To make matters worse, under very high temperatures, such as that reached commonly in deep frying (400° and higher), Dimethecone begins to degrade into formaldehyde, which the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has classified as a known carcinogen.
Dimethecone is also used in cheeses used by places like Domino’s Pizza, and in cooking oils at places like Wendy’s. So, what can you do? Well, a good start is to refuse to purchase foods from places that use Dimethecone, and then maybe they will get the message, and switch to more desirable foods. The health of you, and your loved ones is in your hands.
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Citations
Metcalfe, D. “Food Allergy.” Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice 25.4 (1998): 819-29
Yang, W. H., M. A. Drouin, M. Herbert, Y. Mao, and J. Karsh. “The Monosodium Glutamate Symptom Complex: Assessment in a Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Randomized Study.” The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Part 1 99.6 (1997): 757-62.
Simon, R. A. “Additive-induced Urticaria: Experience with Monosodium Glutamate (MSG).” Journal of Nutrition 130.4S Supplemental (2000): 1063S-066S
Blaylock, Russell. “Food Additives: What You Eat Can Kill You.” The Blaylock Wellness Report 4 (Oct. 2007): 3-4.
