Processed foods are foods that have been chemically processed and made solely from refined ingredients and artificial substances. Processed foods have dramatically changed over the years with the level of processing and chemical additives increasing exponentially.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains a list of over 3,000 chemicals that are added to the processed food supply. Many of these have never been tested for safety. These chemicals belong to the FDA's "Generally Recognized as Safe" (GRAS) list and require no government approval. As defined by Congress, an item is considered "safe" if there is "reasonable certainty that no harm will result from use of an additive". Some compounds that are known to be toxic to humans or animals are also allowed, though at the level of 1/100th of the amount that is considered harmful.

Convenience is the primary benefit of processed foods. Unfortunately, the convenience foods of today have been processed and altered to the point of being virtually unrecognizable, not nutritional like the "real" food that God created. Processed foods often contain:

  • Preservatives:  Chemicals that prevent the food from rotting.
  • Colorants:  Chemicals that are used to give the food a specific color.
  • Flavor:  Chemicals that give the food a particular flavor.
  • Texturants:  Chemicals that give a particular texture.
  • Additives:  Food additives are used to enhance the appearance and flavor of food and prolong shelf life such as artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate (MSG), trans fat, sodium sulfite, sodium nitrate/sodium nitrite, BHA and BHT, sulfur dioxide, potassium bromate, etc.

Processed foods can contain dozens of additional chemicals that aren't even listed on the label. For example, "artificial flavor" is a proprietary blend. Manufacturers do not have to disclose exactly what it means and it is usually a combination of chemicals or ingredients that are not edible (i.e. petroleum). While "natural flavors" are usually created from anything that is edible; they too can be processed in labs where other chemicals can be combined to imitate real flavors. "Natural" is a vague definition and is not closely monitored in the food industry; therefore, one cannot rely on the term natural to mean "safe". Arsenic is natural but not safe to eat. When you avoid processed foods, you avoid ingesting both "artificial" and "natural" flavorings. However, if you must choose between the two, choose natural and try to purchase products with ingredients that you recognize.

Processed foods are also extremely low in essential nutrients compared to whole, unprocessed foods. In many cases, synthetic vitamins and minerals are added to the foods to compensate for what was lost during processing. They are not a good replacement for the nutrients found in whole foods. Synthetic nutrients are produced in a test tube, not derived directly from plant material containing the vitamins. They are made to only mimic the way natural vitamins act in our bodies. Many synthetic vitamins lack the transporters and co-factors associated with naturally occurring vitamins because they have been “isolated”. The Organic Consumers Association emphasizes that isolated vitamins cannot be used or recognized by the body in the same way as the natural version.* Mega doses of synthetic vitamins can have very serious toxic effects. Naturally-occurring whole-food vitamins are not toxic since the vitamin is complexed in its natural whole integral working form, and requires nothing from the body to "build" a vitamin. Real, whole, unprocessed foods contain much more than just the standard vitamins and minerals that we are all familiar with. They also contain thousands of other trace nutrients that science is only just beginning to recognize and understand. The more you eat of processed foods, the less you will get of these life-sustaining vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and various trace nutrients.

Research has long shown that consuming processed, chemical-laden foods have significant disastrous health consequences such as:

  • Cancer - Per ScienceDaily, a new (2016) study from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) found that consuming sugary beverages, processed foods and other energy-dense carbohydrate-containing foods markedly increased the risk of prostate cancer. Choosing healthy carbs like legumes, fruits and whole grains was associated with a substantial reduction in the risk for breast, prostate and colorectal cancers.
  • Colorectal Cancer - Processed meat is now classified as carcinogenic to humans based on sufficient evidence in humans that the consumption of processed meat causes colorectal cancer. Bacon, ham, bologna and other processed meats are now in the same category as smoking, alcohol, asbestos, and 100 other substances listed on International Agency for Research on Cancer's list of Group 1 carcinogens. Processed meat refers to meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavor or improve preservation. Most processed meats contain pork or beef, but processed meats may also contain other red meats, poultry, offal, or meat by-products such as blood. Examples of processed meat include: hotdogs (frankfurters), ham, sausages, corned beef, and biltong or beef jerky as well as canned meat and meat-based preparations and sauces.*
  • Colorectal, Pancreatic, & Prostate Cancer - Red Meat has been classified as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), based on limited evidence that the consumption of red meat causes cancer in humans and strong mechanistic evidence supporting a carcinogenic effect. This association was observed mainly for colorectal cancer, but associations were also seen for pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. Red meat refers to all types of mammalian muscle meat, such as beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse, and goat.*
  • Prostate Cancer - In a Canadian study of over 400 men aged 50 to 80, men whose eating habits fell into the "processed" pattern (processed meats, red meat, organ meats, refined grains, vegetable oils and soft drinks) had a significantly higher risk of prostate cancer than men in the other groups.*
  • Pancreatic Cancer - A 7-year study by the University of Hawaii found that people who ate the most processed meats (hot dogs, sausage) had a 67 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer than those who ate little or no meat products.
  • Breast Cancer - Unless "organic" or "non-gmo" foods are consumed, processed foods are produced from GM crops which are designed to survive glyphosate poisoning by being genetically engineered with "glyphosate-resistance" (i.e. Roundup Ready). These GM crops are universally contaminated with glyphosate and its toxic metabolite AMPA. An alarming new study found that glyphosate is estrogenic and drives breast cancer cell proliferation in the parts-per-trillion range. The authors of the study stated:

"This finding should raise concern about the existence of more than one xenoestrogen such as phytoestrogen and contaminants in plant derived food which may be beneficial or harmful depending on the hormonal and pathological status of consumers. This study implied that the additive effect of glyphosate and genistein in postmenopausal woman may induce cancer cell growth. In this present in vitro study, we showed an estrogenicity of pure glyphosate. In summary, we found that glyphosate exhibited a weaker estrogenic activity than estradiol. Furthermore, this study demonstrated the additive estrogenic effects of glyphosate and genistein which implied that the use of glyphosate-contaminated soybean products as dietary supplements may pose a risk of breast cancer because of their potential additive estrogenicity." [emphasis added] *

  • Obesity - Obesity increases the risk of several debilitating, and deadly diseases including diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers as well as musculoskeletal disorders, reproductive and respiratory function to memory and mood. The World Health Organization (WHO) says processed foods are to blame for the sharp rise in obesity.* "When you have calories that are incredibly cheap, in a culture where 'bigger is better,' that's a dangerous combination," says Walter Willett, M.D., D.P.H., professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.*

More than one-third of American children and adolescents are obese raising their risk for obesity and chronic diseases. Per the CDC, kids are getting way too much added sugar in their diets, mostly from processed foods.* Consuming added sugars has been tied to an increased risk for heart disease among adolescents and cholesterol problems. Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco proposed in a February commentary that sugar should be regulated by the government because it is "toxic," unavoidable, and there is potential for abuse, HealthPop reported. In the commentary published online in the Feb , 2012 issue of Nature, Lustig and two co-authors, Laura A. Schmidt and Claire D. Brindis said that over the past 50 years, sugar consumption has tripled worldwide. That has also helped contribute to the obesity epidemic - so much so that there are 30 percent more obese people in this world than there are malnourished people.*

  • Diabetes - Associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard David Ludwig says, "In the last 50 years, the extent of processing has increased so much that prepared breakfast cereals--even without added sugar'' act exactly like sugar itself...   As far as our hormones and metabolism are concerned, there's no difference between a bowl of unsweetened corn flakes and a bowl of table sugar. Starch is 100 percent glucose (table sugar is half glucose, half fructose) and our bodies can digest it into sugar instantly. We are not adapted to handle fast-acting carbohydrates. Glucose is the gold standard of energy metabolism. The brain is exquisitely dependent on having a continuous supply of glucose: too low a glucose level poses an immediate threat to survival. [But] too high a level causes damaged to tissues, as with diabetes." Dr. Ludwig has said that they (food manufacturers) are actually discouraging healthy eating and leading Americans to a "toxic environment" with foods that are so readily available, and - often - of such poor quality. Dr. Ludwig states "There's the incessant advertising and marketing of the poorest quality foods imaginable. To address this epidemic, you would want to make healthful foods widely available, inexpensive, and convenient, and unhealthful foods relatively less so. Instead, we've done the opposite," says Ludwig.
  • Heart Disease - Besides trans fatty acids (TFA), a dangerous type of fat, most processed foods are extremely high in salt. "Probably the single fastest way to reduce strokes in this country is to halve the amount of salt that's added to processed food," says Tim Lang, professor of food policy at the City University, London.
  • Autoimmune Disease - Researchers of a 2015 study published in Autoimmunity Reviews looked at how certain additives in processed foods affect the intestines and the development of autoimmune diseases. In their study, they identified at least seven common food additives that weakened tight junctions in the intestine. Normal-functioning tight junctions help protect the immune system from bacteria and other foreign bodies, but any damage to the tight junctions can lead to what is called intestinal permeability also known as "leaky gut" - in which toxins can enter the bloodstream, potentially leading to the development of autoimmune diseases. Based on their findings, the researchers suggest that consumption of processed foods may increase the risk for autoimmune diseases.*

In a 2013 study published in the journal Nature, Yale researchers found that sodium chloride (salt), which is abundant in fast food and processed food, drives autoimmune disease by the induction of pathogenic TH 17 cells. In the same issue of Nature, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard identified the key molecular pathway involved in the response to salt, and the Broad Institute sketched out the regulatory network of genes that governs this autoimmune response. Because the destructive immune system response is the hallmark of autoimmunity, research was partly inspired by an observation that eating at fast-food restaurants tended to trigger an increase in production of inflammatory cells. These cells are mobilized by the immune system to respond to injury or pathogens but which, in autoimmune diseases, attack healthy tissue.*

It is difficult to totally eliminate processed food. But if you want to improve your family's health and avoid chronic disease and cancer; at the very least, it is important to: