Your Health

A new report was published in January from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)  stating that nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products contained mercury.  These included leading food companies such as Kraft, Hunt’s, Coco-Cola and more.

The mercury was found in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) containing foods.  These included dairy products, dressings, condiments and snack bars.  According to the study Quaker Oatmeal to go Bars contained the most with BBQ sauces from Jack Daniel’s and Kraft following right behind.  One item that may not be a big surprise is Coca-Cola Classic.

It may sound confusing as to how mercury got there in the first place, and it all boils down to an ingredient called mercury-grade caustic soda which originates from chlorine plants.  Caustic soda is used to separate the corn starch out of the corn kernel in the making of HFCS, and comes from mercury cells (sometimes referred to as ‘left behinds’) or membrane cell or diaphragm cell technology.  Sadly, this report is a mere snap shot of what truly is in foods at that one moment of time.  Because we do not know what kind of caustic soda was used and if it was mercury based or not you have no guarantee as a shopper if that food item is ’safe’.

In 2004, HFCS represented more than 40% of the caloric sweeteners added to food and beverages. According to IATP, the average American consumes an estimated 40 lbs of HFCS each year or 12 tsp each day! When we step back and look at this number it is alarming.  So what should we don one might ask.  First, remove or limit  pop beverages for your entire family and find healthier alternatives the entire family enjoys such as water with floating fruit or 100% fruit juice.  One report from Canada mentioned that teenage boys consume just over a liter of pop each day, and 6-11 yr olds around 500 ml.  Second, read your labels.  According to wellnesstips.com, HFCS is labelled as fructose-glucose in Canada, or glucose-fructose, depending on the portions of glucose and fructose used in the making.  Lastly, really be aware of your use of sauces, dressings and snack bars.  There are great recipes out there for home-made dressings, sauces and snack bars that can save you money too.