NEW LIQUID BREAKFAST POPPERS

WARNING!

Kellog's have introduced 2 new liquid breakfast options for the 'early morning rush'. They are NutriGrain Breakfast Cereal and Coco Pops Chocolately Liquid Breakfast.

I am astounded and disgusted at the list of ingredients as there are 2 suspected carcinogen's in products clearly marketed at our unsuspecting Mum's to feed to their much loved children.

Carrageenan (407) is not only a suspected carcinogen but is also linked to ulcerative colitis as well as damage to the immune system. Research states that products containing this ingredient should not be given to chiildren as more work is needed. Yet, here it is and the supermarket shelves are packed full of it!

Sodium carboxymethylcellulose - no wonder they just put 466 on the label! 
466 is also a suspected carcinogen as well as being linked to diarrhoea, flatulence & intestinal discomfort.

And, if this is not enough to convince you to spread the word amongst your friends there is another ingredient INULIN, (listed 3rd as vegetable fibre), on which researchers have much to say:

Inulin has been very thoroughly researched because food manufacturers want to include it in many foods. All of the research to date suggests that at no point does the fructose get liberated by our digestive system. We just don’t possess the required cutting shears. Our gut bacteria do, but they use the fructose to fuel themselves rather than us.
Because we can’t digest inulin (directly at least), food manufacturers have managed to convince food regulators the world over (including Australia and the US) to allow them to describe inulin as fibre on food labels (rather than as a sugar, which is chemically what it is).
Manufacturers want to put inulin in our food for one very good reason. Health? No. Flavour? No. Marketing? Yes.

Inulin tastes slightly sweet (and so reduces the amount of other sugars required) but it counts as fibre rather than sugar on the label. This combined with the fact it can be advertised as a prebiotic makes the food sound healthier.

In summary then, fructans are choc full of fructose but our digestive systems can’t get at it directly. Instead our gut bacteria digest it for us. But the fatty acids created by the bacteria do eventually find their way into our bloodstream. And some of the latest research (see the August 2008 edition of Pancreas Journal )- says that fatty acids released in this way may not trigger an appetite suppressing response -unlike normal dietary fat, which does.

 Whether bacteria fill our arteries with fatty acids (when we digest fructans) or our liver does the job (when we digest fructose) is probably beside the point if neither of them trigger a hormonal response that suppresses our appetite.

I’m not happy that we know enough about fructans (and in particular inulin) to be certain that their effect on our bodies is not just as bad as pure fructose.