Nowadays, most people tend to be more health-conscious. They have learned not to take canned, frozen, and packaged foods at face value, and very often, they immediately turn to the nutrition label to see what ingredients are used to create each product. At first glance, many notice the macronutrients such as fats, proteins, and carbs, or maybe calories. These nutritional values are prominently displayed on the label in a large readable font.
What they may not notice is what is written below the label, much less noticeable, and therefore easily overlooked. In most cases, below the nutrition label is an extra, very small list of ingredients that are placed there by design, because if you were to really look into these bad carcinogenic ingredients, you may not want to buy the product. Consumers will continue to buy these processed foods, not realizing that these addictive and unhealthy ingredients are the reason they keep wanting to eat them. Take an ordinary soda for example.
At a first glance, often people are concerned with the calories in the soda rather than how many grams of addictive sugar, or artificial sweeteners are present. At first glance, lower-calorie sodas may seem healthy. However, the sweeteners are proven to be addictive and that causes you to want more to drink more while at the same time, raising bad cholesterol.
Common additives such as sugar, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and other often hidden-in-small-print ingredients are not always easy to completely avoid, especially when shopping on a budget. Other hidden ingredients can even be certain color dyes in foods such as sports drinks, salad dressings, or other processed foods. These dyes are sometimes banned in certain countries and have been linked to cancer and other health defects. Unhealthy additives such as trans fats are still used in many different foods as a preservative to keep products on the shelves longer.
The best way to combat this problem of hidden additives is to always read the entire nutrition label, find alternatives and substitutes, and just remember that moderation is key. Some ingredients are silent killers that usually take a long time to create problems in your body. If you are someone who is generally healthy, and every once in a while you allow foods with these additives in your diet, they won’t be the end of the world.
For people that don’t take careful notice of what they are buying, when these foods are consumed at large, unhealthy levels, these seemingly small additives can lead to diabetes, cancers, heart attacks, and strokes. Anyone who is currently part of a diet program has a health condition, or any similar concerns should ask a doctor or nutrition specialist before eating processed foods that include additives.