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Lets talk about preservatives in kids pruduct.

Discussion in 'Toddlers' started by Swethasri, Jul 24, 2013.

  1. Swethasri

    Swethasri Platinum IL'ite

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    Hi beautiful Moms,

    Hope you are all busy in parenting.i really wanted to talk about the commercial food products that we all buy for our cutipies.for ex.gerber cereal it says to preserve freshness called mixed tocopherols, in the first veggie like carrot,sweet potato....it says ascorbic acid,in the jam CITRIC ACID, SODIUM CITRATE,in breads I can give you a big list

    #Calcium sulfate – better known as plaster of Paris – is a clear white rock found in nature. Used here as a dough conditioner. Commercial bakeries employ various dough conditioners for several reasons: (1) to shorten dough rising times (2) to increase shelf life and (3) make the dough easier for their machinery to process.

    #Mono and di-glycerides, ethoxylated mono and di-glycerides – derived from animal or plant sources, these additives have multiple roles – they are dough conditioners (improve texture, increase volume), emulsifiers, and release agents (make it easier to get the bread out of the baking pan). A dough conditioner

    #High-fructose corn syrup

    #Calcium propionate a preservative that inhibits mold and bacterial growth. Considered safe, but in the early 1990′s it was linked to attention deficit disorder in children.

    #Soy lecithin – a very popular additive that helps bind the various ingredients in the bread, improves shelf life and also helps.

    # Sodium stearoyl lactylate – used as an emulsifier used as a dough conditioner. It maintains texture, increase the volume of the loaf, keeps fats mixed well with the dough, and serves as a humectant, to absorb more water per loaf (cheapest ingredient is water!). It is also slightly sweet.

    # Monocalcium phosphate – a leavening agent and preservative.

    # Enzymes – decrease the time it takes dough to rise. The two most popular enzymes used are Amylase and Protease.

    # Ammonium sulfate - food for yeast. Helps the dough rise faster.

    # Ascorbic acid – this is vitmin C. It’s not added for your health, but rather to create a slightly acidic environment for the yeast to ferment more effectively, thus decreasing the time it takes the dough to rise (sound familiar?)

    # Azodicarbonamide – another dough conditioner. It also bleaches the flour (makes it whiter). It’s considered safe in the US at up to 45 parts per million, but is banned from use in Europe because studies showed it could cause asthma or allergic reactions.

    # DATEM – an acronym for Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Monoglycerides. Another dough conditioner used to improve volume and uniformity. It is considered safe by the FDA, but a study in 2002, on rats, showed “heart muscle fibrosis and adrenal overgrowth”.

    in some breads you can see all the above said in same packet or few.

    Pancake mix they say no preservative,artificial flavours but in the ingredients it says SODIUM BICARBONATE, SODIUM ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM CARBONATE.

    # Whole grain Cereal Whole Grain Wheat, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Monoglycerides, Annatto Extract Color. BHT Added to Preserve Freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbate), Zinc and Iron (Mineral Nutrients), Vitamin E Acetate, a B Vitamin (Niacinamide), a B Vitamin (Calcium Pantothenate), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Mononitrate), a B Vitamin (Folic Acid), Vitamin A (Palmitate), Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3.

    like this in each and every food product we can see the preservatives.some are very harmfull on the long run

    What do you all think about this mom??the first step what I did was stopped buying most of the commercial products and my shelf has 3 items Mathew's bread ,jam,pancake mix.slowly planning to stop these three items also.instead of this planning to bake bread at home and using nut butters for spread.increased buying variety of fruits for snacks

    Please share moms I need your thoughts and suggetsions.
     
    ashima10, Dinny and nemesis like this.
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  2. zainabsarfraz

    zainabsarfraz Platinum IL'ite

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    Ya i know its very dangerous to expose kids (infants) to all these chemicals but what to do being onsite (no help of maids) im totally sorry for not being able to help my kid but give these products. Though i have reduced the qnty for 1time of gerber a day and rest i give home food but still i have the guilt of not able to keep my DD's food totally chemical free.
     
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  3. ramyaramani

    ramyaramani Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    The focus is on eating healthy. But the not so healthy foods are definitely tasty. Anything in moderation should be ok. I am definitely not stopping my dd from eating stuff containing preservatives completely. I am just focusing on moderation. For eg: I prefer buying healthy spreads compared to the ines with sugar/corn syrup. But I definitely do not want to go to the stage of baking my own bread(I love baking though!), because I want her body to get used to food preservatives too. After all I believe that eating healthy should be one way of life rather than it becoming the ONLY way of life.
     
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  4. Shanvy

    Shanvy IL Hall of Fame

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    Ha, the never ending fear, that cripples parents without any of us realising. it is not just infant/toddlers even with teenagers it is the same.

    but swetha, do you think, being so hyperconscious will safeguard our kids, i don't think it is 100% guarantee, sometimes it is more than that just food. it could be a long dormant gene playing havoc after skipping generations, or just our environment.

    i think that the more we think we are protecting our kids, the more they are being deprived of learning to fight for themselves, be it immunity or society. so there is a balance that we need to keep. i do not advocate eating on the road side, but i do say that sometimes, drinking water straight from the tap is not wrong (both are two different tangents.)

    At the same time i refrain from food colors, fizzy drinks and msg. food colors and fizzy drinks trigger wheeze episodes in my son. i also used to keep sugar level intake on the lower side as he was hyper-hyperactive...
     
  5. Swethasri

    Swethasri Platinum IL'ite

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    I am not preaching anything here but iam also learning with you all avoiding preservatives is going to healthy only including adults I know its very difficult to avoid this becoz we are all just sinking into these products.but once we get that awareness slowly will start thinking abt the other alternative foods and snacks.but here living in US I know my kids teachers will laugh at me and curse me if I restrict bread for my kids.that's why I said I want to bake at home.

    Shanvy,definitely it will safeguard our kids if we slowly avoid these items and instead we have preach them and teach them the awareness and definitely one fine morning they will understand the concept.all these preservatives will first affect our liver and slowly to other parts.I myself experienced this with my older son who had very bad acid reflux and he had acute gastroentritis.I controlled this by only the food habits with the help of a siddha doctor.he first asked me to stop all kinds of bakery items and oil items.now he is eating everything anything.my shelf has only all kinds of dry fruits and fresh fruits so he has no other way to snack only these fruits and nuts.

    Its OK once in a while that we eat out or occasionally but on a regularbasis in our daily routine it will be dangerous.this what I am trying to say.I don't know whether I am right or wrong but to some extent I am able to follow this.

    Ramya,Zain thanks for sharing your thoughts.
     
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  6. Swethasri

    Swethasri Platinum IL'ite

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    YouTube

    I wanted to share this episode from en desam en makkal taking abt mixing preservatives in drinking bottled water worth watching the whole episode.
     
  7. Dinny

    Dinny IL Hall of Fame

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    Swetha
    Great thread!! :thumbsup:

    Food is the basic need of humans and if healthy food is not taken then the consequences may not be what is expected.Natural food flavorings are the only way forward.
    At times i wonder why we use such preservatives and dangerous colours at all???
    Why use citric acid in pickles when we have vinegar, why use yellow artificial colours in curries when we have turmeric..why use ajinomotto at all in chinese food??? Just to satisfy our taste buds and treat our senses??? Really?? I hope ppl understand at what cost we are doing it.
     
  8. Swethasri

    Swethasri Platinum IL'ite

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    Ya dinny that's what my mind is itching for these past months.we have so many healthy snacks like different kinds of sprouts and cooked peanut.commercial products are making human very lazy and we want every thing in packet so that we don't have to do any extra work.the worst part which I feel is the readymade frozen foods available for our convinience but before buying that we shd think 100 times and buy
     
  9. sangeethaamar

    sangeethaamar Silver IL'ite

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    This is really a eye opener kind of thread. Even I have never through of preservatives before pregnancy. But then I started to change all my food habits and changed all my diet .I think only fear of health can bring about the changes.

    We do have alternatives ,but laziness,taste and availability make us to go for these products.but if we don't let our kids to have all food would that not affect their immunity at later stage?

    I do cross people saying you should give all kind of food to your kid (not the pickle or frozen items)but not even jam or bread. Do we need to be so strict?
     
  10. Swethasri

    Swethasri Platinum IL'ite

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    sangeetha how I think is those preservatives shd not affect our immunity expose to all kinds of food is good but still in that all kinds of foods you need to be aware of so many things.i listed out all the preservatives in the bread.its not the matter of stricting but its a matter of conscious abt healthy food so that we can bring healthy generations.

    but if we don't let our kids to have all food would that not affect their immunity at later stage?
     

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