Healthy or Unhealthy: Which Are You?
I believe the most prevalent cause is processing. Processing extends the life of food. Sounds good, right? Well, even though it does make the food stay fresh longer, the process involves putting chemicals in the food. Even though these chemicals are considered harmless, many of them cause stress to our organs and can cause cancer (McKeith). These chemicals include sodium benzoate, benzoic acid, sodium propionate, and propionic acid (Food). These preservatives are used to slow down the oxidation or spoilage reactions in our food (Food). Even though keeping food from spoiling seems like a good thing, these chemicals take enzymes from our food (Langford). Enzymes are required to further break down our food after we chew it so that our blood stream can use those nutrients for our health (Langford). There are many different kinds of enzymes for breaking down different things: fats, proteins, dairies, ect. (Langford). So, since preservatives can kill and lessen how many enzymes our body has, it can harm our digestion and keep us from getting the nutrients we need; so even if we are eating the right food, it will not get digested and used (Langford). When I was a young child I had an eye-opening experience that showed me just how many preservatives are in our food. My family was on a camping trip and we were playing with the fire, throwing leftover food and trash in it to burn it and have fun. We were eager to see what would happen when we threw in a leftover hotdog bun. But, to our surprise, it did not burn. No matter how long it stayed in the fire, it would not disintegrate; it just turned black. How many preservatives had to be in that bun to keep it from burning in a roaring fire? I do not want to put those powerful chemicals in my body. Do you? Works Cited Food Preservation-Chemical Additives science.jrank.org. Net Industries. 2010. Web. 19 April 2010. Langford, A. Stephney. How Do Enzymes Work In Your Body? jigsawhealth.com. N.p. n.d. Web. 19 April 2010. McKeith, Gillian. Good Food V. Bad Food. eNotAlone. N.p. 2005. Web. 24 March 2010.
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