Food designed to be a drug

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Billions of dollars are spent annually to get you to eat, get fat, and eat even more.

Harmful food is the curse of modern society. Junk food outlets are located literally on every corner, and where they are not there are billboards with the image of the same food. The food industry is a super-giant, a group of super-corporations that have covered the entire globe and want only one thing: that you and I eat what they produce and eat as much as possible. Spending the evening in front of the TV, while eating a large bag of chips and a packet of cookies, has long become the norm for many. This means that corporations have achieved their goal.

Do you notice the enticing aroma of food that is felt around fast food establishments? Companies assure that this is, of course, not done to lure visitors. However, the war for the food dollar continues, and the participants in this battle are analyzing and changing every little thing that can give them an advantage: taste, color, smell, consistency. Nothing is left to chance.

Crisps. You can always see how cool they are, how great they crunch. To make the chips perfect, food technologists use special machines that cost $ 40,000 each. They mimic the chewing human mouth.

People like chips that begin to crumble and crunch when the jaw pressure is 4 pounds per square inch.

This is all very serious. This is an exact science in which colossal funds are invested.

Fat. A very important component of food. Fat gives food velvety, contrast, allows you to gently mix flavors and coats the throat, which makes it easier to swallow food and eat faster. In fact, people are not to blame for literally swallowing food. It's just that the food itself is made with this in mind.

For 45 years, technologists have achieved a reduction in the necessary movements of the jaw so that the piece can be swallowed comfortably. Previously, 15 to 30 movements were required for sufficient chewing. Nowadays, most of the dishes served in fast food restaurants are enough 12 times.

Of course, sugar, fat and salt are attractive in terms of taste in themselves, but this is not enough. Extensive research is being done to create foods that maximize taste buds. This food is made in such a way that it does not have one pronounced taste, based on which the brain could give the command "I am full."

Below we present the top 5 products, the whole essence of which is initially aimed at being addicted to them, addicted to them, like a hard drug.

1. Soda

Every second resident of the United States drinks soda every day. Many people admit that they have a pronounced dependence on it.

To create one popular soda, food technologists tested 3,904 variations in flavor and individual parameters, including effects on thirst. They found the perfect balance of cherry and vanilla aromas and identified the most attractive color for the drink.

Of course, caffeine, which is found in many types of soda, is also a significant cause of addiction. With excessive consumption of caffeine, our body stops producing its own stimulant in sufficient quantities. As a result, the body needs constant replenishment from the outside.

But not caffeine alone. Another popular soda contains brominated vegetable oil in addition to caffeine. Fortunately, this additive is banned in Russia, but in the United States, it is gradually being phased out. However, companies will come up with something better.

2. Processed meat

In the United States, the trend is to add bacon flavor to absolutely any food, from chewing gum to ice cream. Unfortunately, the very taste of bacon that everyone loves is actually created with the help of not-so-healthy ingredients - nitrites. Sodium nitrite can be found in ham, salami, sausages, and similar foods. This preservative is an antibacterial agent, increases shelf life, gives a more pleasant color and taste, which generally makes the product more attractive. The downside is that during cooking, nitrites can react with other substances, forming carcinogens.

The studies revealed the formation of the carcinogen N-nitrosamine during the reaction of sodium nitrite with amino acids when they are heated, which means the potential for the formation of cancerous changes when eating foods that have been heat treated in the presence of sodium nitrite.

Can bacon be made without nitrite? Yes and no. Consumers who were offered such a product did not like the taste and color. The bacon was pale and did not taste like "the same bacon." Without this preservative, the bacon is like a roast pork.

3. Microwave popcorn

Try sneaking popcorn in the microwave. You won't succeed, and it’s not just the popping of bursting grains. This delicious smell will quickly disperse throughout the room, even in a large area. Diacetyl forms a pleasant oily aroma. Unsurprisingly, doubts began to emerge about the safety of such products. Long-term inhalation of diacetyl vapors leads to dire consequences.

Employees at several factories producing artificial butter flavors have been diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a serious lung condition. The victims were mostly young, healthy, nonsmoking men. There is no cure for bronchiolitis obliterans; lung transplantation is necessary.

After a series of lawsuits and multimillion-dollar compensation payments, many companies have abandoned diacetyl, but continue to use potentially hazardous non-stick coatings in their production.

4. Salty and fried snacks

A person may well develop an addiction to salt. Experts believe that the only way to get your taste buds back to normal is by avoiding salt. However, salty snacks like chips and fries are appealing to consumers for another reason. Such products carry the consequences of the Maillard reaction. A rosy crispy crust is a typical example of the result of the Maillard reaction.

The Maillard reaction leads to the formation of numerous products, sometimes with a rather complex and often not yet known structure.

Unfortunately, acrylamide, a toxic product that can potentially cause cancer, can also be formed among the reaction products. In 2005, the state of California won a court case against a potato chip manufacturer for failing to inform consumers of the risks associated with acrylamide.

Another trap in chips is starch. It is absorbed faster than sugar, and rapidly rising glucose levels make our body scream "more!" According to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine, which involved more than 120,000 women and men, potato chips are the most contributing to weight gain.

5. All fast food

The fast food industry is built around craving and addiction. Salt, fat and sugar are local deities. 83% of people eating out do so because of their cravings for fast food restaurants. 75% of those who attend such nausea more than once a week do so because of cravings for a particular dish.

People who make us fat

You can talk a lot and for a long time about fast food, but you need to understand the root of the problem: this is an industry that, in all honest and not very good ways, is trying to turn us into a herd of devouring animals, led only by the desire to have fun and not thinking about the consequences. It cannot be argued that only the consumer who does not know the measure is to blame. In this case, each individual person is forced to confront a huge industry with practically unlimited budgets, funds and opportunities.

The more a person eats, the more he becomes. The more he gets, the more he wants to eat. This is what fast food producers need.