Do you know about addictive “natural flavors”? Created in a laboratory? They are anything but natural!
Meet the chemical flavorists who readily admit these “natural flavors” (really MSG-forming compounds) ARE addictive. Profit-driven, they want us to come back to buy MORE!
Mind you, more than 3,000 food additives — preservatives, flavorings, colors and other ingredients — are added to U.S. foods., but are BANNED in other countries! We are such an unhealthy nation fooled by these sleight-of-hand tricks.
For a full list of the FDA-approved code words see Part 1. 25 code names for MSG.
Ever wonder why the commercial says,”You can’t eat just one”?
The National illuminates us as to the science of addictive food…
The Connection: “Natural” Addictive Flavors & ADHD
In (Excitotoxins Are Neurotoxins: The Taste That Can Kill) we learned how: “These (excitotoxins) can perpetuate ADHD symptoms to such peaks as to deem an individual behaviorally abnormal. Children appear to be particularly susceptible as their little bodies may be overwhelmed by “normal” doses of these toxins that are packaged in such innocuous substances as breakfast cereal and juice boxes.” (source)
The FDA defines a natural flavor as a substance extracted, distilled or similarly derived from plant or animal matter, either as is or after it has been roasted, heated or fermented, and whose function is for flavor, not nutrition.
These excitotoxins are some of the chemicals that cause your taste buds to experience irresistibility when it comes to food. Or why you remember a taste of a product so distinctly and crave uncontrollably?
Americans eat more calories than any other industrialized nation.
Here are just a few products to look for that contain code words that indicate addictive flavors:
Condiments and Spreads
- Name brand Ketchups
- Name brand Mayos
- BBQ Sauces (almost all) except Annie’s
See my post on enzyme-rich, homemade olive oil and egg mayonnaise and the many safer alternative mayos on the market!
- Mustards (except Fresh Thyme’s wonderful organic mustard line)
- Pickles
- Salsas
BBQ sauces ingredients …’natural smoke flavor’, ‘natural flavoring’… both are addictive flavors!
also
Spreads and Veganaise… that contain ‘natural smoke flavor’ and ‘natural flavoring’.
Chips
Doritos Nacho Cheese chips have some of the worst ingredients (see below), and they aren’t even trying to hid the words ‘monosodium glutamate’.
These very tasty little chips have at least 15 problematic ingredients including artificial colors, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, and 8 MSG-forming compounds.
Sun Chips didn’t use to contain ‘natural flavors’, ‘whey protein concentrate’, or ‘enzymes’ times 3.
Now they do. The ingredient ‘yeast extract’ changes back and forth with ‘autolyzed yeast extract’ (which is the worst msg-forming ingredient of the 2).
Doritos and Sun Chips
Energy Drinks, Sports Drinks
Another is the Gatorade lineup with a slew of chemicals.
If you are holding one in your hand, read the label. “Artificial flavor”, created in a lab, covers up the chemical taste. “Artificial” coloring is…well…artificial. Also, the first 2 ingredients are refined sugar.
Last time I looked, Gatorade had 21 g. of sugar in only 12 fl oz. overloading the liver, rotting our teeth, and causing insulin resistance leading to metabolic dysfunction including weight gain, and contribute to type II diabetes, heart disease, etc.
Powdered Drink Mixes with Addictive Flavors
Kool-Aid is one of my least favorite products. Here is what it’s label tells us is ‘good for kids’:
KOOL-AID INGREDIENTS: Sugar, Fructose, Citric Acid (Provides Tartness), Contains Less Than 2% Of: Natural And Artificial Flavor, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Vitamin E Acetate, Calcium Phosphate (Prevents Caking), Acesulfame Potassium And Sucralose (Sweeteners), Artificial Color, Red 40, Blue 1, BHA (Preserves Freshness).
Don’t be fooled that this is somehow good for children! I have developed a safe, super easy aspartame-free, sweet Kool-Aid recipe. Tastes identical!
Crystal Light is a very dangerous product especially for children, addictive flavors to those with developing brains (our teens), not to mention us adults. I now believe my beloved SIL died with cancer because Crystal Light was her main beverage while on a 2 1/2 year sailing adventure! She refused to drink something unless it was flavored!
CRYSTAL LIGHT (basic ingredients) INGREDIENTS: Citric Acid, Potassium and Sodium Citrate, Aspartame, magnesium oxide, contains less than 2% of natural flavor, lemon juice solids, SOLIDS, acesulfame potassium, soy lecithin, artificial color, yellow 5, BHA (preserves freshness). Contains: soy. *phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine.
Kefir, Yogurt Often Contains Addictive Flavors
Many really good things (kefir, yogurt, pickles, and more) are now being made with added inexpensive (unnatural) addictive flavors…
…because they are way cheaper and so they sell more! More profit margin.
Manufacturers have studied buyers. They know we want more and more TASTE! They want us to become addicted! They love their growing bottom line. This is marketing at its finest!
Juices
This *fruit* juice is mostly water, sugar, and natural flavors. Fruit and veggie juices are added at the end to give it color….Hmm…
Even higher quality juice companies are using ‘natural flavors’ (addictive flavors) to compete in the TASTE competition.
100% juice, plus so much more! *Sarcasm*!
Canned Soups
Regular and organic brands. Health Valley which touts *healthy* food still adds addictive flavors.
Many Cereals and Bars Contain Addictive Flavors
Hain adds 4 addictive flavors to this cereal bar for Tots: ‘natural flavor’, ‘natural butter flavor’ and ‘natural vanilla flavor’, and carrageenan (another hidden source of MSG).
Aseptically Packaged Drinks
Almond Breeze: multiple (we are not told how many) ‘natural flavors’ and carrageenan…which many moms give their children. Carrageenan has acknowledged carcinogenic properties.
Rice Dream: ‘Natural Vanilla Flavor’ with ‘Other Natural Flavors’, but no carrageenan.
“Broth” (organic or otherwise), is another code word for a highly processed, msg-forming flavor compound.
For a full list of the FDA-approved code words see Part 1. 25 code names for MSG.
Infant Formulas Contain Addictive Flavors
And lastly, please read baby formula labels carefully, especially soy infant formulas.
Many infant formulas (even some organic brands) contain processed free glutamic acid (MSG) and processed free aspartic acid – both neurotoxins.
Here are many things in formulas to avoid. Fortunately, women who are unable to breastfeed can make an extremely nutritious, GMO-free, MSG-free infant formula for their baby using raw milk.
So you have a choice. You can let the food companies and flavorists conduct their ‘exciting’ experiments on you, or you can stop buying their products! Don’t let them harm or incapacitate you. VOTE with your Dollars when it comes to food! You only have one body!
These Other Foods That Contain Addictive Flavors. Be a Label Reader
- PediaSure® (find a natural, healthful “PediaSure” recipe here)
- Salad dressings
- LOW FAT anything
- Diet colas or other diet drinks
- Baby foods
- Crackers
- Flavoring Packets
- Spices
- Canned ANYTHING
- Packaged meat
- Frozen foods
- Malted milk products
- Certain Soy Products
- Chinese Take Out and eat in foods
- Stir-fry sauces
- Flavored Popcorn
- CIGARETTES, for those that smoke, they even put them tobacco and filters!
- Chewing gum and Breath fresheners
What You Can Do To Eliminate Addictive Flavors
Shop the produce section of your store. Buy more raw and whole foods. Support your local farmer’s market and grow a little garden.
“Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient, and profitable when considered with other things).” ~1 Corinthians 6:12
Gail
I’ve been trying to avoid GMOs so I’ve been avoiding anything with artificial flavoring, but I didn’t realize the natural flavors were a problem. thanks for this helpful info.
JES
Perfect finishing verse Jacqueline! This topic has been huge for our family this month and I appreciate the added information you have shared here! The grossest ingredient I have found out about is castoreum (google it, yuck!)… Another “natural flavor” that is probably more disgusting than anything and used as a vanilla substitute.
Jenn
It’s really interesting how the “natural” flavors really aren’t natural at all! It’s so hard to avoid many of these bad ingredients and of the items we use, I find BBQ sauce and salad dressings to be some of the worst! Sometimes I don’t have time to make condiments from scratch but we try the best we can!
Jen Stults
I’ve learned so much more about reading labels in the last few years, but this article reveals that I have a ways to go yet. : ) Thanks for sharing this information! Making my own dressings is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while and we planted our first garden this year. So, we’re taking steps in the right direction, slowly but surely, and posts like this motivate me to keep things moving in the right direction!
Eileen
What an excellent post, thanks so much! We have been on Trim Healthy Mama, too. But we make our own coconut milk, and almond milk. (I have our coconut milk recipe on my blog, if you click through.) We pretty much make everything we eat from scratch! The state of the food supply here in the U.S. is bad, and sadly getting worse.
Toni
There is so much dye in it that a lot of us knitters use Kool-Aid for dyeing wool yarn. I’d never drink that stuff. This is another great article that everyone should be read. Thank you!
Ricki @ The Questionable Homesteader
Sharing this!
I’ve been working my way to making everything from whole foods for several years now because I was finding that I couldn’t pronounce half the “ingredients” listed in the food on the shelves. Occasionally I will buy something quick and easy but not very often.
Thanks for the great post.
Kasey
I don’t even want to tell you how many of those items serve at least a part-time purpose in our diets. Yikes. Thank you for this! You have a gift for bringing well-presented and much needed articles to your readers. I am blessed by them! I’m featuring this post in my link-up this week! Love to you, friend!
Jacqueline
Thank you, dear Kasey! YOU are always a blessing to me!
Pam
So this was interesting, but also confusing 🙁 I used a pantry item the other day that said “natural ingredients (celery)”. What’s wrong with celery? Carrageenan is made from seaweed, I thought seaweed was good? I will still pick “natural” over “artificial” whenever I can. At least natural comes from an actual food instead of a laboratory.
Just for information, one does not necessarily have to spend more to avoid these things. I find plenty of store bought items without all that stuff. But, yes, you need to read labels! For example: generic Walmart brand mustard (97 cents for 10 oz): vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, paprika. Target brand apple juice ($2 for 64oz.) : filtered water, apple juice concentrate, ascorbic acid. Trader Joe’s canned black beans ($1.29) : black beans, water, salt (in a BPA free can). It can be done! And as more people become aware of all the not so good stuff in our foods, I have found that it gets easier and easier to find things without all the added junk, especially at Costco, Target, and Trader Joe’s. I have a brown thumb and struggle to find adequate time in the kitchen, so being able to find these things at the store and readily available is wonderful!
Jacqueline
Thank you, Pam, for taking the time to list some of your favorites with less additives!!! I agree, and I trust it WILL get some easier. Even joining a CSA can be a huge help for fresh veggie as an alternative to gardening!
Samantha McDonald
I’ve been reading labels ever since my son and daughter developed milk sensitivities when they turned 1. We found out when switching them formula/breast milk to whole milk. We use many of the items you mentioned like Almond Breeze and Rice Milk. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It’s always good to know what to watch for.
Jacqueline
So glad to help, but I hate to make if ‘feel’ more difficult 🙁 I pray the Lord will guide you and all of us in this difficult minefield. Blessings, sister.
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Jacqueline…I am glad there are labels to read, right? Its in reading them and understanding what we read that can help us make better choices for our body. I am a label reader myself. Just recently, I was shopping at a local grocery store and noticed down an aisle I was in that several food items were turned around so that the labels were facing outward. My best guess is that someone was reading labels, too. Thank you for always doing excellent research to educate your readers. So thankful for your posts to encourage me sweet friend. I am always blessed.
Jacqueline
Naomi,
You are welcome! I have been tempted to make warning notes near particularly bad products before. Haha! See you soon…I hope to visit and link-up in a moment, sweet friend 🙂
Pat
When in the grocery check out line, behind people with particularly harmful stuff in their baskets, I am often tempted to educate them. I hesitate because so many people just don’t care about what they’re putting in theirs and their children’s bodies. Pretty sad.