Fake Food At Your Grocery Store - Is Imitation Food Healthy For You?

Hello Steemians!

Looking through our grocery cart and wondering if the food we buy is fake or real. Is this imitation food benefit our body or should we worry about it. Today I list down the fake food we usually see on our favorite grocery market. Instead of eating the real thing you will be serve with the highly processed food product.

1. Imitation Crab Meat.

This imitation crab meat is made from surimi. It is a Japanese word that means ground meat. The manufacturers add flavoring, coloring and additives to resemble the look and the taste of real crab. Manufacturers opted for surimi because they can utilize cheap fish and make it taste like a crab/lobster meat. We use crab meat to our sushi, soup, salad and many other dishes. It may contain some nutrients but the problem with it is the amount of salt in it . High salt consumption raise the risk of having kidney problem, high blood pressure and stroke.

Daily Healthy intake:Adult needs 1,500 milligrams sodium per day.
A 85grams of imitation crab may contains 615 mg of sodium- 26% of your daily intake.

2. Adulterated Honey

Of course, pure honey is made by honey bees. Fake honey is "honey" that has additional ingredients like corn syrup, molasses, dextrose or similar products. Companies step right in making fake honey due to its high demand on the market to make lots of money.

• Check the label- if it says ultra-filtrated stay away from it. It means that the pollen has been remove or filtered, its the only way to know the source of the honey (tracking its origin), FDA says that honey without pollen cannot be considered honey.

"Removal of all pollen from honey “makes no sense” and is completely contrary to marketing the highest quality product possible"-Mark Jensen, president of the American Honey Producers Association, told Food Safety News.

• Sadly, you cannot distinguish organic honey by just looking at it and expensive honey does not mean that is pure or high quality honey. You cannot trust the label that says pure honey because there is no law that requires the specific amount of real honey to be labeled as pure honey.

• To buy pure unadulterated honey, it is better to buy directly from a beekeeper in your local area. Know the source.

3. Artificial Sweeteners-Aspartame

Aspartame may be found in processed foods, diet soda, candy, juices, flavored milk, energy drinks, protein shakes.

_{Aspartame is also labeled as phenylalanine.}

People with schizophrenia and (PKU) should avoid this.

• Phenylketonuria

Phenylketonuria (commonly known as PKU) is an inherited disorder that increases the levels of a substance called phenylalanine in the blood. Phenylalanine is a building block of proteins (an amino acid) that is obtained through the diet. It is found in all proteins and in some artificial sweeteners. If PKU is not treated, phenylalanine can build up to harmful levels in the body, causing intellectual disability and other serious health problems. -from https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/phenylketonuria

Dr. Janet Starr Hull, author of the book Sweet Poison, states that amino acids should always be eaten in the way they are presented in nature, not extracted and processed.

• Schizophrenia

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is thought to be a side effect of some schizophrenia medications. The phenylalanine in aspartame may precipitate the uncontrolled muscle movements of TD. -from http://www.healthline.com

There are many speculations going around aspartame side effects but according to the FDA and EFSA it is safe.

According to FDA and EFSA:
50 milligrams per kilogram of body weight is safe - FDA
40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight is safe - EFSA
--from http://www.healthline.com

We will never know the truth unless further investigation on it. But in my point, it is better to be avoided.

Image Sources:
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References:
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/imitation-crab-meat-healthy-2049.html
http://www.fooducate.com/app#!page=post&id=57A33F1D-2DF6-09A4-43FD-8F5C307B434A
https://www.mybeeline.co/en/p/how-can-we-differentiate-100-pure-honey-and-adulterated-honey
https://honeyfanatic.com/937/fake-honey-stores-learn-identify-real/
https://permaculturenews.org/2014/02/08/shocking-differences-raw-honey-processed-golden-honey-found-grocery-retailers/
http://www.healthline.com/health/aspartame-side-effects#side-effects5
http://www.thealternativedaily.com/aspartame-toxic-sweetener-made-gm-bacteria/