“You are what you eat,” the old saying goes. I’m wondering if the new saying could be, “You are what you eat and breathe”. What exactly is in the food we’re eating and what exactly are we taking into our bodies from our environment?
Some family members and friends of mine have been dealing with health issues recently and they are taking extra measures to ensure what their bodies consume are natural and healthy. No more diet soda for daughter-in-law Celeste. She’s now staying away from all those artificial sweeteners. Dr. James Bowen, a physician and biochemist in his 2005 article ‘The Lethal Science of Splenda, a Poisonous Chlorocarbon,’ states, “Aspartame created brain tumors in rats. Sucralose has been found to shrink thymus glands… and produce liver inflammation in rats and mice. In terms of potential long-term human toxicity we should regard sucralose with its chemical cousin DDT, the insecticide now outlawed because of its horrendous long-term toxicities at even minute trace levels in human, avian, and mammalian tissues." I think I’ll leave the artificially sweetened ice cream in the grocery freezer.

Will the chemicals we’re
exposed to in the air and in
our foods bite us down the road?

A friend of mine with chronic back problems took an over the counter pain tablet every day for years like it was a vitamin. Indications are that he has acid reflux as a result. We are surrounded by chemicals every day: bug sprays, shampoos, deodorant, cleaning products, gasoline fumes, plastics, cigarette smoke, that no-stick spray that keeps my eggs from sticking. How can we know which are harmful? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in 2005 put out the Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals. It discusses phthalates, or “plasticizers,” which soften plastics and vinyl and increases their flexibility and states that exposure to them is widespread – no surprise there. Plastics are everywhere. However, animal studies have shown reproductive toxicity and other effects resulting from exposure to these plasticizers. There’s little scientific information available on potential hazards to humans but can it possibly be good?
Then there is the cadmium exposure mentioned in the study, which has been associated with kidney injury and increased risk for low bone-mineral density. It claims that the reason 5 percent of the US population has traces of it in their systems is probably due to cigarette smoke. But non-smokers aren’t free and clear, that is, non-smokers who use batteries. It’s a key ingredient in many batteries. Just Google ‘cadmium batteries’ and you’ll see.

It seems to me that people are becoming more aware of daily chemical exposure and buying different products to avoid them. Rarely do I go into grocery stores but my wife occasionally asks me to pick up something on the way home from work. I’ve noticed more and more organic products or products that claim to be ‘all natural’ or free of dyes/perfumes/pesticides? The Organic Trade Association reports that in 2005, food sales in the US totaled nearly $14 billion, with double-digit growth expected from 2007-2010.
While I may not be ready to alter my lifestyle and eating habits, I’m beginning to wonder if I should be.