Chicken nuggets, burritos, and other popular items consumers buy from fast food outlets in the United States contain chemicals that are linked to a long list of serious health problems, according to a first-of-its-kind study published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.
Researchers at the George Washington University and their colleagues bought fast foods from popular outlets and found 10 of 11 potentially harmful chemicals in the samples, including phthalates, a group of chemicals that are used to make plastics soft and are known to disrupt the endocrine system. The research team also found other plasticizers, chemicals that are emerging as replacements to phthalates.
“We found phthalates and other plasticizers are widespread in prepared foods available at U.S. fast food chains, a finding that means many consumers are getting a side of potentially unhealthy chemicals along with their meal,” Lariah Edwards, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral scientist at GW, said. “Stronger regulations are needed to help keep these harmful chemicals out of the food supply.”
Previously, a GW research team led by Ami Zota, a professor of environmental and occupational health, looked at fast food consumption in a national survey and found people who reported eating more fast foods had higher levels of phthalates. No one has looked at the link between fast food and non-phthalate plasticizers, which are used in place of banned or restricted phthalates in food packaging and processing equipment.
In this study, Edwards, Zota and their colleagues purchased 64 fast food items from different restaurants and asked for three pairs of unused food handling gloves. The team tested food items and the gloves for 11 kinds of phthalates and plasticizers, finding that:
81% of the food samples studied contained a phthalate called DnBP and 70% contained DEHP. Both these chemicals have been linked in numerous studies to fertility and reproductive problems in humans. These phthalates can also increase risk for learning, attention, and behavioral disorders in childhood.
86% of the foods contained the replacement plasticizer known as DEHT, a chemical that needs further study to determine its impact on human health.
Foods containing meats, such as cheeseburgers and chicken burritos, had higher levels of the chemicals studied.
Chicken burritos and cheeseburgers had the highest levels of DEHT. The researchers noted that food handling gloves collected from the same restaurants also contained this chemical.
Cheese pizzas had the lowest levels of most chemicals tested.
Phthalates and replacement plasticizers are chemicals used to make plastics soft and can migrate out of plastics into the food, which is ingested. Some sources of plastics include food handling gloves, industrial tubing, food conveyor belts and the outer packaging used to wrap fast food meals available in restaurants.
The study also raises the concern that certain racial/minority groups may be disproportionately affected by these chemicals.
“Disadvantaged neighborhoods often have plenty of fast food outlets, but limited access to healthier foods like fruits and vegetables,” Zota said. “Additional research needs to be done to find out whether people living in such food deserts are at higher risk of exposure to these harmful chemicals.”
Remember, kids: They care about you. That's why they include potential sterilizing plastics in the food that has become synonymous with American culture.
Just like when they encourage social distancing, yet set curfews so the time frame that people can socially distance is actually decreased.
Or when they force you to either get an injection you don't want, or lose your job. They really don't want you to be homeless or hungry, they just want you to comply for your own good. They know what's better for you than you do. And if you don't believe that, then you've been exposed to misinformation on social media.
You just have to follow the science! Or the scientific method. Well, actually just the scientific narrative, which has nothing to do with science and everything to do with the narrative.
Isn't it also a bit strange that "food deserts" are inundated with fast food restaurants? Whatever scientist wrote this article is obviously racist. To insinuate that non-whites have plenty of fast food options, but no grocery stores is a little disingenuous. What the scientist is really alluding too is that non-whites would rather eat fast food than healthy food. And that's racist!
The correlation with poor people and poor diets is common sense. You don't have to be a big brained scientist to know that. It's directly attributed to impulse control. Those who can't manage their finances well, probably aren't going to be very good at managing their diets, either.
Here's a novel idea: maybe those who have to depend on the government for food should only be given healthy food. Or just the food necessary for survival. Like potatoes, rice and beans. And produce that is going to be thrown away by retailers, and instead donated to hungry people. Then poor non-whites won't be forced to eat plastic cheeseburgers. Besides, beggars can't be choosers.
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