Finding resources to help you make good food choices can be hard to find. Part of the challenge is amount of information. The number of chemicals and additives in food these days forms a hearty and terrifying list. Plus some of this information tends towards the complex. It can be hard to decipher what you truly must know.
Another challenge is size. When shopping, you don’t need a 5 volume set of textbooks. You need something portable and easy to navigate to find the data you need. You can find phone apps for this, assuming of course it works the moment you need it in the store. Since you can’t bet on this, the question becomes what to do next?
Well, we have a thought.
The handy book by Bill Statham, Eat Safe: The Truth about Additives from Aspartame to Xanthan Gum is the newest edition of his classic book The Chemical Maze Shopping Companion. This pocket-sized book lists almost all of the chemical additives you’ll likely find in foods or cosmetics. The easy to understand entries explains the function of the chemical, why it was added to the food or cosmetic and any possible effects the chemical might have.
Each entry is sparse and provides key information such as:
- Basic information on the function of the chemical
- A list of the known effects
- Easy-to-understand symbols telling you the chemical is considered safe
- If the safety is uncertain
- Or if there is evidence of a problem from the use of this chemical in foods or cosmetics
Interested? Click Here to Get the Book
Another source of information on any of these chemicals is to find a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for any chemical used in food or cosmetics. On the Internet, just search for the chemical’s name and MSDS. For example, to find out more about the additive Propyl Paraben, enter “Propyl Paraben MSDS” in any search engine. (You will find Propyl Paraben commonly used in cosmetics and is on the National Institutes Of Health (NIH) “Hazard List”.)
You really do want to know what you’re putting in your mouth and on your body. The book Eat Safe can help you find the information you need to live a long and healthy life. We encourage you to check it out for yourself and see.
Happy and safe shopping for you in the future.
To your health.
