I hate to say I told you so, buuuuut…. pardon me as I take a little time to do my ‘I told you so!” dance. It looks a lot like “The Tootsie Roll.”
This video illustrates it far better than I could ever do with mere words.
A few notes on what’s being highlighted in this video:
On Sucralose:
Splenda is made by chlorinated sugar, changing its molecular structure. The finished product is called sucralose. The makers of this poison tout its lack of calories and claim it’s safe for diabetics. The FDA calls sucralose 98 percent pure. The other 2 percent contains small amounts of heavy metals, methanol, and arsenic. Well gee, at least it doesn’t have any calories. So what if it has a little arsenic? Sucralose has been found to cause diarrhea; organ, genetic, immune system, and reproductive damage; swelling of the liver and kidneys: and a decrease in fetal body weight.
On “Partially Hydrogenated Soybean/Palm/Kernel Oil”:
A lot of us might not even know what “zero trans fats!!111!11!1″ even actually means, but if we see it on a package we might not’ve bought otherwise… it just might be enough to make us buy.
Not only is that horrible shopping practice (I do admit I was guilty once), but it’s a little dangerous.
What is trans fat, you ask? Well, you might see it in your foods’ ingredient list as “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” or “partially hydrogenated soybean oil.” It’s an oil (usually vegetable or soybean oil) that has hydrogen gas whipped into it, making it a thick and super creamy substance. This was a part of the original process used to create margarine, meant to replace butter because the saturated fats found in butter were considered so harmful. The trans fats that originated were an unintended consequence. Eventually, we found out that this “unintended consequence” was way more harmful than butter ever could be, leaving us exposed to heart disease.
The stuff can be found in lots of junk – margarine (of course), crackers, some thick and creamy items, and some inexpensive cakes/cookies/pastries. Anything with a thick, rich, buttery, creamy taste to it may more than likely have it.
Why is the “zero trans fat!!!1!1!!111!” claim on this list? Well, here’s why:
The FDA says a person shouldn’t ingest more than 2.5 grams of trans fat a day. (How about just telling people to avoid it altogether? I bet I know why…) A loophole in the FDA’s requirements states that if a food item has less than .5 grams of trans fat in it, it can safely claim that it has ZERO trans fat. There are two problems with this: 1, if each food on my plate has .49 grams of trans fat, I might not even know I’m eating 2 grams of trans fat; 2, what about people who eat more than one serving of an item?
Here’s an example. A box of Ritz crackers will tell you that a serving size is 5 crackers, and that is has 0grams trans fat. If you pick up the box of Ritz with the “fresh wrap” packages – the ones with, maybe, 15 crackers in an individually wrapped package – it will undoubtedly tell you that if you eat a whole package in one sitting, you’re eating something like 3 grams of trans fat.
“But I thought 1 serving has no trans fat?”
I know. It’s crap, right?
How can you avoid this? Even though it might say “0 grams trans fat” on the front and in the nutrition information, the ingredients list will always tell the real tale. It will always say “partially hydrogenated [insert vegetable, soybean, whatever] oil” inside that list. Keep an eye out for it.
Thoughts? Ideas? Questions?