What's really in the food we buy?

Making conscious choices about what we bring home from the supermarket can be hard when there are so many ingredients, often with complicated names and chemical codes to decipher.

Not many people have the time or perserverence to stand there and Google each individual ingredient. Often, it’s easier and quicker to make decisions based on what the marketing on the packaging says it doesn’t have in it, e.g. ‘gluten free’, ‘ no preservatives’, ‘sugar-free’ ..Or, by what it highlights IS in it, e.g. ‘plant-based’, ‘Australian ingredients’, ‘Organic’..

However, that doesn’t exclude a product from having
- risky additives that could be potentially carcinogenic or result in DNA mutations;
- preservatives that may cause inflammation, imbalances in cellular chemistry or disrupt intestinal flora;
- too much saturated fats or trans fats,
- allergens,
- excessively high amounts of sugar - or worse, having artificial sweeteners that disrupt brain chemistry!

One way of checking and comparing one grocery item against another, is to use an app like Yuka. By scanning the barcode, you can instantly see whether it’s likely to be good or bad for you overall, as well as a summary of ingredients and why they may be harmful if they ring alarm bells. The app includes many of the brands stocked in Woolworths, Coles and Aldi; including grocery items and cosmetics.

If a product you were wanting to buy turns out to have undesirable ingredients, you can scroll down to Recommendations to see other similar products with better ratings.

In our world of ready-made foods and busy lifestyles, it may be unrealistic to have a diet completely free of chemical additives. But in view of your long-term health, it would help to avoid them where substitutes are available, especially in the foods we consume on a daily and weekly basis.

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