New Stealth Chemicals Hidden in Your Food

May 13, 2008

FYI........ 'Secretive' Chemicals Being Hidden in Food Under 'Artificial Flavors' Labelby Jennifer McKinley(NaturalNews) You Thought MSG Was Bad? At least they admit that it's in there... well, mostly. Have you picked up a can of soup lately and noticed that the sodium levels are lower? Seen a label that said, "No MSG"? How about realizing that there is less sugar on the label of your favorite ice cream? Believe it or not, this is cause for concern.This article has been especially hard to compose. "Why?", you may ask. There is simply not much information to be found on the subject. It has taken weeks of internet research to uncover the smidgeon of information that has been acquired.A relatively young company, Senomyx, may be responsible for the sodium and sugar levels falling in your favorite grocery store item. How are they doing this without affecting the taste?

The truth is, they may be putting chemicals into your food right now without you even realizing it and without telling you.And guess what? They don't have to.Senomyx has contracted with Kraft, Nestle, Coca Cola, Campbell Soup to put a chemical in foods that masks bitter flavors by turning off bitter flavor receptors on the tongue and enhancing salty and sweet flavors. This would allow the companies to tout claims such as "less sugar" or "lower sodium" by reducing the actual sugar and/or salt by approximately half, but the foods will retain the same level of sweetness or saltiness when they touch the tongue by fooling your brain.All of the companies, although admitting the exclusive contracting rights, decline to identify which foods and beverages the chemical additives have been or will be added to.These chemical compounds are not required to be listed

separately on food labels. On the contrary, they will be lobbed under the umbrella of "artificial flavors" which is already found on most food labels.The foods that seem to be most in jeopardy of an insurrection of these new chemicals: soups, juices (fruit and vegetable), ice cream, and sauces."We are helping companies clean up their labels," said Kent Snyder, chief executive of Senomyx.Mark Zoller, Senomyx's chief scientist, says that his company has used the human genome sequence and identified hundreds of taste receptors. Senomyx's chemical compounds enhance those receptors to heighten the taste of salt or sugar. Under this premise, they go on to claim that their newly added chemicals are completely safe because they will be used in tiny quantities of less than one part per million whereas artificial sweeteners are used in 200-500 parts per million. This fact alone allows them to

forgo the rigorous FDA approval process when introducing new food additives into the marketplace. Attaining the status of GRAS (generally recognized as safe) from the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association for their most advanced product that replaces MSG, took this fledgling company less than an 18 month time frame by introducing a safety study of rats conducted for 3 months.Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Michael Jacobson, commended Senomyx's strides to reduce MSG, salt, and sugar but warned against introducing a new chemical additive into the food supply without strenuous testing. "A three-month study is completely inadequate," he said. "What you want is at least a two-year study on several species of animals."After pouring a total of 30 million dollars into research and development, the companies that have invested into Senomyx's products have been secretive, to say the least, about their

involvement within the company. Some, like Kraft, have declined to divulge any specifics regarding their relationship with Senomyx but instead stated that Kraft was committed "to reducing the sugar and salt levels in many products."Nestle and Coca Cola declined to comment. I think silence says it all.References:(http://www. senomyx. com/collaborations/)(http://www. corpwatch. org/article. php?id=12053)((http://www. nytimes. com/2005/04/06/busin...)((http://www. mindfully. org/GE/2005/Senomy...)((http://www. ucsf. edu/synapse/content/200...)Dr. Mercola's Comments: Perhaps one day we can all simply eat cans of mush, and it won't matter because they'll contain chemicals to block and alter all of our taste receptors! This is an example of malicious brilliance at its finest.Processed foods, by their very nature, do not taste good unless they have loads of artificial colors and flavoring agents, salt, sugar and often MSG added to doctor up the flavors.In fact, most processed foods would taste incredibly bitter if they weren't doctored up because of things like their

extremely hot cooking processes and added caffeine (in soft drinks).So what do food companies like Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup, and Coca-Cola do?They hire Senomyx, a biotech company that can skillfully manipulate your taste buds with synthetic chemicals.The company has already developed several chemicals that, although they contain no flavor of their own, activate or block receptors in your mouth that taste. The chemicals can mimic or enhance savory, sweet and salty tastes, and are intended to reduce the use of sugar, salt and monosodium glutamate (MSG) in processed foods.One of Senomyx's chemicals even causes a "cooling" taste, and we have only just begun to hear about the "innovations" that come from this company.Senomyx already has 113 patents, and 371 more pending, in the United States, Europe and elsewhere in the world.A Brief Lesson About Your Taste BudsWhen you were in grade school, you were probably taught that certain areas of your tongue can taste different flavors. The "sweet" taste buds, for instance, were said to be at the tip of your tongue, and the "bitter" ones in back.This taste-bud tongue map is still being taught today, but it has been known for decades to be entirely incorrect. In reality, each one of your taste buds contains 50 to 100 receptors for each taste. This means that you can taste every flavor there is with every taste bud on your tongue.And, along with the standard sweet, sour, salty and bitter tastes that everyone has heard of, your tongue can also taste a fifth basic taste: umami (the taste of glutamate, which is found in many Japanese foods, bacon and also MSG).It is also being debated whether or not there is actually a sixth taste

receptor for fat on your tongue as well.Of course, your taste buds are not only there for pleasurable purposes. They also help you determine if a food is spoiled, unripe or otherwise unsafe to eat, which is why you're probably better off leaving your taste buds as nature intended them to be: in fully functioning, tasting condition.Your Taste Buds May Already be Deceiving YouNestle is already marketing products that contain one of Senomyx's savory enhancers.But you would never know it, because the chemical compounds are lumped in with an ingredient that's already listed on most processed foods: "artificial flavors."I did a little digging and found that the first product sold by Nestle that includes these "savory flavor ingredients" is bouillon used as a base to make soups and stews. So if you are using one of theirs that lists "artificial flavors," I'd

be very suspicious.Meanwhile, because the compounds are being used in small amounts (less than one part per million), Senomyx did not have to go through the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval process typically necessary to release food additives. Instead of the lengthy FDA process, the company only had to be classified as "generally recognized as safe" by the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association -- a task that took less than 18 months.And as for safety, well there was that one three-month rat study. That's right: one three-month long study is apparently enough for major food manufacturers to decide that a never-before-used chemical is safe for you and your family to eat.Unfortunately, for now it appears that these taste-bud-altering chemicals are here to stay, as earlier this month both Coca-Cola and Nestle extended their research agreements with Senomyx.If You Want Chemical-Free FoodIt is becoming more important than ever to avoid processed foods. At the very least, boycott any product that lists "artificial flavors" as an ingredient.You can tell a real food from a processed food because real foods are:Grown, not processed Messy, not neat and convenient Of variable quality, not always the same Prone to spoiling, not "forever" fresh Vibrantly colored and textured, not dull and bland Naturally flavorful, not artificially flavored Strongly connected to the land and cultureReal foods have flavors that your taste buds won't want to miss, so take a break from the grocery store and take advantage of your local farmer's markets. There you'll find fresh, whole foods that your taste buds will be happy to recognize.-----After checking out the

Senomyx website, there is more here to fear than just another food additive. This company is developing specific compounds to block taste receptors, or to have them fire more than usual. The dangers of MSG go along with its overly excitatory nature. These new compounds would possibly be a whole new class of excitatory molecules, with no way to trace or avoid them in foods, except to rule out any food with artificial flavors in it. The company also exploits the many loopholes in getting approval for its compounds, so no real FDA scrutiny, or warnings. Plus, this way their compounds can make it to market in under two years with NO safety oversight (not that the FDA really means safe, but at least the process is long enough to generate consumer knowledge). The company even states that if one of their compounds would need the long FDA approval process, they would torpedo the project and look for a different compound.They are working on

bitter-blockers which would block bitter taste receptors from functioning. Our bitter taste receptors are incredibly important and were evolved to protect us from harmful compounds like rotten foods and rancid fats.This is one scary company with the connections to possibly influence a wide spectrum of the already unhealthy processed food market. This is one area to really watch for new, science-fiction type dangers. Avalaura Gaither Beharry, MSW, LGSW Counselor * Healer * Spiritual Teacher Avalaura's Healing Center

College Park, MD 20740 Phone: 301-675-8723 http://avalaura.com/ http://crystalhealingcenter.com/