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FinalCall.com News

Health & Fitness
Murder By Tastebuds
By Shaheerah Farrakhan
Updated Apr 30, 2012 - 10:10:01 AM

(FinalCall.com) - It is a very absurd thing that as we look around our country and around the world, there has been a spike in some of the most horrific health conditions: Cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and heart disease are just a few. No matter where you go, someone closer than six degrees of separation is experiencing one or more of these diseases.

During his Saviours’ Day 2012 lecture, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan blatantly talked about plots to depopulate the world and how the powers that be are carrying out that plot by killing us through our taste buds.

They are knowingly poisoning us and hiding the proof in hard to pronounce words that describe food additives and fillers that turn what should be nutritious foods into drugs for our taste buds.

Uncovering these many poisons is not an easy task. When researching on the Internet, a person has to not only have the technological savvy to maneuver around the web, they also need key words to make the information they seek available. 

We as Muslims know that the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us, “How to Eat to Live” books I and II, and by following his wisdom we know we can lead happy, healthier lives. But what are we supposed to do when we are following the guides of our teacher and still grocers, farmers and food and drug regulators are polluting everything that we can imagine consuming with undetectable, delicious, deadly poison?

Let me make this plain, here in America we are being fed processed chemicals that have been banned in other parts of the world.

We have all been told that white bread holds no nutritional value and we have seen the words “enriched” flour tossed around quite a bit, but what you don’t know is the iron that is added back into this flour is actually a metallic iron not a nutrient and the body absorbs it as a starch not as a wheat or grain.

However, food additives and taste enhancers are even more diabolical than that. Starting with one of the more well-known taste enhancers, monosodium glutamate or MSG. We may think we are getting away from this addictive additive because we stay away from Chinese food; however MSG can be found in many packaged foods including soups, salad dressings, sausage, hot dogs, canned tuna, potato chips, and many more.

According to Dr. Russel Blaylock, author of “Health and Nutrition Secrets that can Save Your Life” and a neurosurgeon, there is a link between sudden cardiac death and “excitotoxic” damage and food additives like MSG. “Excitotoxins are a group of excitatory amino acids that can cause sensitive neurons to die,” Dr. Blaylock said.

Heading into the preservative market here are some chilling facts pertaining to chemicals used in foods to increase shelf life. For example, propyl gallate is an antioxidant preservative that prolongs the life of fats and oils like what we see in vegetable oil, chewing gum and meat products. And, it may cause cancer. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are chemicals that delay rancidity in fats and oils but have caused cancer in rats.

Another possibly well known but misunderstood chemical is sodium nitrate as well as sodium nitrite. These chemicals are added to cured meats, including the beloved turkey bacon, to ensure that the meat keeps its color, has more flavor and doesn’t succumb to botulism. Unfortunately during the digestive process they form cancer-causing nitrosamines in our intestines.

If you have a sweet tooth but want to cut out the calories, your risk for diabetes, and lessen the cost of your dentist visits, artificial sweeteners were created for the sugarholic in you. However the danger behind these sweet granules is sickening. Saccharin may ring a bell. It is the clinical term for “Sweet-N-Low” and is used in many soft drinks, diet foods and is a tabletop sugar substitute. However this little sweetener is 350 times sweeter than regular sugar and several animal studies have shown it causes cancer of the bladder, uterus, ovaries, blood vessels, skin and various other organs.

There has been an ongoing battle between the Food and Drug Administration and the diet food industry the past 10 years regarding a ban or use of warning labels on products containing this sweetener—but as of 2000 all warnings were removed.

Acesulfame–K is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar and is used around the world in baked goods, soft drinks, chewing gum and gelatin desserts. It may cause cancer in small mammals, such as rats, dogs and rabbits. During the breakdown of this product, the thyroid was affected.

Aspartame is widely known as the artificial sweetener used in diet soft drinks and gum. Composed of methanol and two amino acids, it was once believed to be the  perfect artificial sweetener. Upon further study, it was found to cause brain tumors in rats and as recently as 2005,  a study found even small doses increased the occurrence of lymphoma and leukemia.

Aside from the dangers of sweeteners, the very coloring used in our food is a potential danger. Blue 1 and Blue 2 are used in candy, beverages, and baked goods. Studies show Blue 1 is a cancer risk and Blue 2 may cause brain tumors in mice. Red 3 is a coloring used in such foods as fruit cocktail, cherries, baked goods, and candy. Evidence shows it causes thyroid tumors in rats.

And lastly Yellow 6, found in baked goods, sausages, candy and the third most widely used coloring of all food colorings, has been connected with adrenal gland and kidney tumors.

In most breads and rolls, potassium bromate is used to increase volume and produce a fine crumb structure. Bromate has been largely banned throughout the world, except for the United States and Japan, as studies show it causes cancer. In California a warning is required on labels of foods that contain this product.

In crackers as well as potato chips, there is olestra, sometimes found under the brand name olean. It’s a synthetic fat that is not absorbed by the body so it passes right through you causing uncomfortable side effects like loose stool, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. But the main concern is this fat reduces the body’s ability to absorb beneficial fat (soluble nutrients) including lycopene, lutien, and beta carotene.

Diabetes is a growing concern here in America and diet is a very big reason. White flour has long been known as an empty calorie with breads made from this flour holding no nutritional value. But there is also a chemical, called alloxan, used in the flour that causes “free radical damage to DNA in the beta cells of the pancreas causing the cells to malfunction and die,” according to Dr. Hari Sharma’s “Freedom From Disease.” This means the pancreas loses its ability to function normally and produce enough insulin for the body.

We all are familiar with the “Got Milk” campaign and slogan, urging us to drink more milk. But in most milk, as well as cheese, is an addictive that acts as a binding agent and is derived from a type of red seaweed. But “a recent study found that when carrageenan was injected in animals along with a cancer causing chemical, tumors appeared more radically and in significantly higher numbers than in control animals injected with carcinogens alone. This was also seen in breast cancers. As a result carrageenan is classified as a tumor promoter,” according to Dr. Blaylock.

With all these deadly chemicals purposefully and masterfully hidden in our food, it is becoming a stressful conversation to determine what’s for dinner. Furthermore, with all of these horrors, it is a wonder if we can find anything decent to eat!

(Shaheerah Farrakhan is a Final Call intern.)

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