From artificial sweeteners, to artificial colors, flavorings, emulsifiers, and preservatives, the American food supply is literally saturated with non food-like substances. As the demand for quick, convenient, and pre-processed foods began to rise back in the 1950's, artificial additives evolved from the realm of mostly baked goods, candies, and sodas, to encompass the contents of entire meals. As the decades wore on, larger quantities and types of food became synthesized, many of which were not adequately tested for safety and long term effects of consumption before receiving FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval. Today, there is an entire 'flavor industry', with annual revenues of about 1.4 billion dollars, that utilizes chemicals to mimic natural flavors, create colors for a more 'natural' or 'fresh' appearance, preserve foods long past their natural shelf life, and even create foods that are composed entirely of artificial ingredients - such as coffee creamers, candies, and sugar substitutes. With so many questionable ingredients floating around our food system, how do we recognize them, and what consequences result from their consumption?
The dictionary defines artificial as something that is made by human skill; produced by humans (rather than nature); imitation; simulated; sham. An artificial ingredient, then, is one that is created by humans to look, feel, or taste like its natural counterpart. Some examples of this include artificial fruit flavorings, like those you'd find in a strawberry milkshake from Burger King or an artificially flavored fruit juice, candy, or ice cream bar. They are formulated to taste like the real thing, but they are complete molecular strangers. A good, general rule of thumb when shopping is to examine the list of ingredients - if you see a lot of words you can't pronounce, or that don't look like they'd be edible, you're probably holding something packed with food additives. Additionally, if the list of ingredients happens to be very long - especially for something that, if made at home, would require relatively few inputs (like a cookie or other baked good) you may want to keep browsing the shelves.
Aside from being unnatural, what could really be all that bad about artificial ingredients? To begin, let's take a look at the body's process for metabolizing food and nutrients. Metabolism is a process that encompasses the physical and chemical actions in the body that create and use energy. These include digesting food and nutrients, eliminating waste, breathing, blood circulation, maintaining homeostasis, muscle contraction, and brain and nerve function. When we consume a food, our metabolism helps us determine which substances are nutritious and which are poisonous. Over thousands of years our bodies learned to identify and utilize whole, natural foods. When we consume artificial foods that have been formulated in laboratories, our bodies do not recognize them. Instead of being broken down into the essential nutrients, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids that fuel our bodies, our cellular response to these alien compounds is abnormal - our metabolism doesn't know what to do with them.
Furthermore, rather than supplying our cells with the energy they need to function properly, artificial ingredients create free radicals and toxins, which only place further undue stress on the cells in our bodies. Overtime, the build up of these toxins can lead to a number of illnesses - autoimmune diseases like Lupus and MS, cancer, migraines, fatigue, visual and audio impairment, thyroid issues, fibromyalgia, ADD, anxiety, RLS, and many others. While these food imitations may succeed in fooling us as to their true nature, they do not succeed in outwitting our body's keen and well developed sense of what's real and what's not.
As awareness about the detrimental affects of artificial additives in our food supply has become more widespread, a trend has emerged that promotes whole foods and minimal processing. Many people have realized that what they can cook in their own kitchen is many times healthier, fresher, and tastier than the 'convenient' foods they pick up in the freezer section or the drive through. While the marketplace has been imbued by cheap, artificial, and non-nutritious foods for nearly half a century, anomalies such as alarming rates of malnutrition in a country plagued by obesity - due to the over consumption of foods with little nutritional value - are arising as manifestation of a sickingly satiated society. And we are starting to realize just how full we are of empty food.
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