Processed foods made for fast-food outlets and supermarkets are missing chemicals needed by pregnant women for their fetus to develop a healthy brain, retina, and nervous system. A diet made up of these foods is likely to be poor in trace minerals, some B vitamins, dietary fiber, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids, deficiencies that cause behavioral problems in children and depression in adults. In the past, our foods contained more of these essential ingredients. Today, our diets are not only lacking in these and other essentials, they also contain excessive amounts of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, salt, MSG, saturated fat, and trans-fatty acids, ingredients clinically proven to promote obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, and cancers, according to international researchers who have issued dramatic health warnings about the foods we are marketing to the world.
Here is an example of a recent change in regulations by the USDA to accommodate food industry demands. After years of prodding by the Frozen Potato Institute, in June 2004, the USDA reclassified french fried potatoes, even those that are batter-coated, as "fresh vegetables," arguing that a fry is no less fresh than a waxed lemon. The new regulation allows fries to be substituted for salads and vegetables in school lunch, day care, and other government-subsidized feeding programs. The frozen potato product industry is hoping that the change will help it recover from the drop in U.S. consumption of about 3 percent since 1996. A major reason for the decline is the attempt by consumers to avoid "heart-unhealthy" trans-fatty acids present in french fries along with the cancer-causing chemical acrylamide, which is also found in breakfast cereals, bakery products, and snack chips.
Swedish scientists in 2002 discovered significant amounts of acrylamide in starchy foods after high-temperature commercial frying, roasting, and baking, including the most popular American foods consumed by people of all ages. Foods with high levels included breakfast cereals, potato and corn chips, french fries, bread, rolls, pizza crust, cookies, and pastries. Levels greatly exceeded the EPA allowance for the chemical in drinking water. Another possible source of acrylamide, a potent nerve toxin and probable carcinogen that also affects male fertility, are from the residues of a widely used industrial ingredient, polyacrylamide, in pesticide formulations and soil treatments among other commercial uses. The UN has called on governments to work with their food industries to significantly lower the level of acrylamide in foods. International health agencies have urged the consumption of more antioxidant-rich fresh fruits and vegetables to mitigate the damage from this and other toxic food ingredients.
Now, USDA lunchroom managers or their vendors can plate up fries as the vegetable of choice for school lunches, not what most of us would consider a healthy meal for kids. The whole point of the school lunch program paid for with our tax dollars was to introduce children to a nutritious meal and instill healthy food habits they may not learn at home. Do we need to pay schools to teach kids to prefer french fries? The USDA seems to have lost its way under the golden arches.
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