Products with the addition of various chemicals - colors, sealants, thickeners, emulsifiers and other artificial ingredients - have become so commonplace that we are less likely to buy natural meat, vegetables or fish, preferring "fast food" to them. Moreover, fast food tastes no worse than self-prepared dishes, and the price of natural products is often so high that not everyone can afford them.
Food manufacturers are well aware that the majority of buyers are trying to save money. Taking advantage of this, many of them, under the guise of natural mashed potatoes, chicken broth, butter or chips with cheese, sell a surrogate that consists of more than half of chemical additives. While buyers are saving on the price of food, getting used to eating fast and tasty, manufacturers are saving on their health by constantly expanding the range of fast food.
fast foodOf course, fast food is very convenient: you don't need to stand at the stove for hours, waste precious time, just pour the contents of the bag into a plate or cup, pour boiling water over it and wait five minutes. Sometimes you don't need to pour anything, and boiling water is not required, everything is ready: open the pack and eat. After all, manufacturers are so concerned about our convenience that they constantly come up with new ways to increase demand for their products.
Of course, each of us has heard that it is impossible to constantly eat only big lunches, chips and hamburgers, that it is harmful, and so on, but how much do these statements correspond to reality? How not to fall for the tricks of manufacturers and understand which product is really harmful and which one can be eaten without fear?
What is the secret of fast food?
First of all, you need to know what is the secret of the taste of artificial food. Each of these products is formulated with added monosodium glutamate, which poses no health hazard. Monosodium glutamate flavor is one of five flavors that the human tongue can distinguish. Everyone is familiar with tastes such as salty, sweet, sour and bitter, but the taste of monosodium glutamate has no name, although it is he who causes the strongest taste sensations.
In fact, this paradoxical fact can be explained very simply. Each part of our tongue is able to distinguish a certain taste: with the tip of the tongue we perceive sweetness, with the lateral parts - sour and salty tastes, the root of the tongue is responsible for the perception of bitterness, and the taste of monosodium glutamate is perceived evenly by the whole tongue. That is why the food to which it is added produces such a pleasant taste. The simplest dishes, if they contain monosodium glutamate, seem so appetizing that if you eat them all the time, after a while, natural food will seem tasteless.
This additive is present in almost all meat and fish semi-finished products. MSG is added to their meals in many fast food restaurants and cafes, and foods like bouillon cubes, chips, dry soups, and croutons can be more than half flavoring and flavor enhancer. We think that we buy noodles with mushrooms, chicken or beef, but in fact there is no meat, no chicken or mushrooms in it, but there is a flavor enhancer. At the same time, food is not only cheaper than natural food, but also tastier.
The main trick is that the manufacturers honestly indicate on the label that the flavor enhancer is present in the product, but they are modestly silent about its quantity, and at the same time do not violate the law at all. Russian legislation does not oblige the manufacturer to disclose the dosage of the flavor enhancer and other additives, and it is known that monosodium glutamate in large quantities can be dangerous for adolescents and children. Its high concentration can lead to increased excitability of the brain.
There is also a type of allergy known in medicine as the Chinese restaurant syndrome. The cause of the syndrome is an overdose of monosodium glutamate. 15 minutes after eating, the person begins to choke, the face turns red, the temperature rises and a rash appears all over the body. In such cases, you must immediately call a doctor.
Information that monosodium glutamate is present in the product can be indicated on the label in different ways: manufacturers use names such as sodium guanylate, E631, E627 or E621, "flavoring" or "flavoring agent". Foreign manufacturers use the abbreviation "MSG". If any of these names appear on the product label, it is best not to give it to children.
Semi-finished products are produced on an industrial scale, and it is clear that they are not prepared by chefs in canteens, but by chemists in laboratories. Any natural component can be replaced with an artificial one, so that no one will notice the difference, so we often have no idea what we eat.
Flavors
Fragrances are created in perfumery factories and are chemicals that mimic the taste and smell of a product. This imitation is possible due to the fact that fragrance chemists have more than five thousand different fragrances at their disposal. Thanks to these hardworking people, such delicious products are obtained, because a chemist with the help of flavors can create such a combination of flavors that even a professional cannot distinguish artificial food from natural. Therefore, it is necessary to read the label in any case, of course, if you want to know what is under it.
Producers here, too, are tricky: realizing that hardly anyone wants to buy soup with E628 flavoring, they write in such a way as to attract a customer, for example, “with the taste of cheese”. Of course, there is no cheese in the product, there is only taste, but the customer reacts to the word “cheese”, and if he thinks about additives, then it is the last thing.
There are three types of flavors: artificial, which, by the way, are prohibited in many European countries, natural and identical to natural. The difference, it would seem, is insignificant, but it is there. Natural flavors are created from natural raw materials, identical to natural ones - also from natural raw materials, but already by means of chemical synthesis, and an artificial flavor is a substance that does not exist in nature.
It is very profitable to produce and sell fast food, because thanks to chemical additives, a kilogram of potatoes can be sold for several hundred rubles if you turn them into caviar-flavored chips, and one tube of meat flavoring can generally replace 50 kilograms of meat. Meanwhile, according to WHO, chips are the most harmful product in the world.
Of course, all products are tested for safety, and it is impossible to get poisoned with one can of soda or a packet of chips. But if you eat fast food for several years in a row, it is quite possible to earn constant headaches, ulcers or gastritis, and you will only have to guess about the causes of the disease. The best option is not to give up fast food completely, but simply not to eat it too often and unnecessarily. Eating quick noodles or mashed potatoes two or three times a month will do no harm. This also applies to chips, croutons and bouillon cubes. But for children and adolescents, it is better to do without them altogether, because food can be cooked deliciously even without cubes, if you use a variety of seasonings.