We all know that eating processed foods or fast foods is very harmful to our overall health. There was a recent expose of the french-fry making process in McDonald’s that revealed that the ingredients used in it cause seroius brain damage, autoimmune disorders and more.
Grant Imahara, of Mythbusters fame, recently visited the McDonald’s fry factory to find out exactly what McDonald’s fries are made of. During the process, Imahara “reverse-engineered” McDonald’s fries and the results showed that they are made up of 15 harmful ingredients.
The ingredients are as follows:
- Soybean oil
- Canola oil
- Hydrogenated oil
- Dextrose
- Citiric acid
- Potatoes
- Salt
- Hydrolyzed wheat
- TBHQ
- Sodium acid pyrophosphate
- Dimethylpolysiloxane
- Natural beef flavor
- Hydrolyzed milk
- Hydrogenated soybean oil
- The three main offenders found in this list of ingredients are TBHQ, dinethylpolysilioxane and hydrogenated soybean oil.
TBHQ , or tertiary butylhydroquionone, is a type of phenol used in the foods in order to prevent deterioration of food. It is also used in substances such as perfumes and bio-disel.
Hydrogenated soybean oil – People who consume it on regular basis can face with many unhealthy effects. According to the Women’s Hospital in Boston and the research conducted at the Harward School of Public Health and the Brigham,showed that at least 100,000 cardiac deaths that happen in America every year, could have been prevented if only people replaced trans fat with more healthier non hydrogenated polyunsaturated or monosaturated oils.
Dimethylpolysiloxane – is most commonly used compound in hair conditioners, silly putty and in aquarium tank sealants. Moreover, it can even contain formaldehyde, a well-known toxic chemical that has been linked to cancer, allergies brain damage, autoimmune disorders, etc.
McDonald’s has a campaing called “OurFood. Your Questions”, which is an initiative to make nutritional information more available for customers. The release of this information about their french fries was part of that campaing.
