Attention Mothers! Beware of ready-made dips & spreads this summer….
Attention mothers….
Now vacation has started and your child will
demand varieties in food. And you are more likely
to give them ready to eat food. But, beware of
ready-made dips and spreads this summer! Children seem to
adore something smooth and easy to eat in sandwich, bread, toast or
finger chips. They are your child’s favourite. You also
like to use them because they are
readily available and never before large variety of
dips and spreads are available in the market. Don’t
get attracted by the packaging and title of
the dip, as the titles are always to
attract innocent people like you. It is
the manufacturing company’s marketing strategy. Let’s
understand it with a real example:
The label of this known company tells us that it is a
CHEESE AND JALEPENO DIP. Now, let’s take a
deep dive in the ingredients of this dip to
know what is the fact!!!
This particular dip having the name of cheese and jalapeno is actually
having only 2.4% CHEESE POWDER & 4.3% JALAPENO!!!
In addition, it contains:
- Synthetic vinegar-acetic acid (INS260)
- Emulsifiers & stabilizers-(INS1442, INS1450, INS145)
- Acidity regulator-(INS330)
- Preservatives- (INS211, INS202)
- Antioxidant- ( INS319)
- Sequestrant- (INS 385)
There are 9 artificial chemicals! And
even that’s not all…. The food industry is allowed
to use more than 3000 food additives in the
processing of food. And just because
many of these additives and chemicals used in the
processing of your child’s foods are deemed safe, it does
not mean that they are safe. So, chemicals, food additives,
colouring agents, sweeteners, artificial flavours, dyes,
preservative to prevent spoilage,
emulsifiers to maintain consistency are
all entering into your child’s body via
these ready to eat foods. And company fools you by
adding these artificial flavouring substances- as it
is not even mentioned how many chemicals are used for artificial
flavouring substances which gives you and
your child false feeling that you are
actually eating cheese and jalapeno. When
in fact, even their total is not more than 6.7%.
These processed foods can cause
allergic reaction, stress on liver to
process such chemicals, many of which can cause
cancer in letter life due to accumulative effect. Your children
exposed to such processed food can become
hyperactive, increase irritability and display learning difficulties.
We have discussed about the harmful effects of
processed foods on your child’s health in
our previous blog. To re-visit the blog, click here.
What to do?
Home made fresh chatnis are best!
As they are fresh.
And, if your child likes more of continental food, then
you can also prepare
- hummus
- peanut butter
- bell pepper dip
- yogurt dip
They will not only satisfy your child’s desire for taste, but
will also provide many other nutrients. It is
highly unlikely that if you will make them at home, you will
be using any of the artificial chemicals that are
literally loaded in those available in malls…
Wish you happy summer vacation.
See you next Tuesday with another Tuesday Tip.
Till then…..
Take care.
Providing simple solutions for the complexities of life
Dr. Bhumita makwana
Your Dietitian & Cosmetic Clinician.