Misleading and unsubstantiated nutritional claims can ruin your health or even kill you. Many deaths have been reported due to cardiac arrest associated with an excessive intake of caffeinated energy drinks. Protein is required for various body functions like muscle repair, blood and immune system function, skin, hair, and nail growth, and the production of enzymes and hormones. A high-protein diet can help satiate you and thus aid in weight management, but it isn’t necessary for everyone. Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalos, and other herbivores have powerful muscles despite a low-protein diet of grasses and leaves. Excessive protein intake can be detrimental to health, particularly in persons with kidney disorders. Protein breakdown produces an acid load, which the body neutralizes by mobilizing calcium from bones, leading to increased calcium loss in the urine, stones, and weak bones. Crazy food fads, extreme weight loss diets, and unproven medications can cause malnutrition and death.
CAFFEINATED ENERGY DRINKS: Caffeinated energy drinks are associated with headaches, anxiety, insomnia, stomach upset, muscle twitching, restlessness, and sudden deaths with caffeine overdose. Caffeine content ranges in different brands from 50 mg to an alarming 505 mg per can or bottle as their regulation is very lax. These are aggressively marketed for psychoactive, performance-enhancing, and stimulant drug effects. Caffeine intoxication and dependence are on the increase and may progress to drug dependence. The combined use of caffeine and alcohol increases the incidence of alcohol-related injury.
JUNK ULTRA PROCESSED AND JUNK FOOD: “Junk foods” like candy, sugary drinks, fried foods, and snacks have “empty calories” with little or no nutritional benefits and unhealthy ingredients like sugar, fat, and salt, leading to fatty liver disease, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease-related deaths, anxiety, depression, and other health problems. Many drinks have loads of sugar and are chilled to hide their sour acidity which can corrode your teeth. “Ultra-processed foods” have undergone extensive industrial processing, often containing multiple additives, preservatives, and other ingredients not used in home cooking, to enhance flavour, shelf life, and appearance. These foods like cookies, chips, frozen meals, and fast foods are low in nutrients and fibre, and high in sugar, unhealthy fats, and salt. Fast food is mass-produced for quick service with frozen, preheated, or precooked ingredients and served in packaging for takeaway. Sandwiches, pitas, hamburgers, fried chicken, french fries, chicken nuggets, tacos, pizza, fish and chips, hot dogs, and ice cream are all examples of fast foods. When food is heated, water-soluble B group & C vitamins and many micronutrients and minerals get destroyed. Henc,e a balanced diet needs fruits, raw vegetables, and sprouts.
THE BIG FOUR REFINED FOOD CULPRITS: The four main harmful refined food ingredients are refined wheat flour or Maida; white sugar or maltodextrin (starch derivative) or high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), an invert sugar; lard or vegetable shortening also called Vanaspati (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, usually palmolein oil); and salt. Refined wheat flour is made by removing the nutritious bran and wheat germ, grinding the residual endosperm, and bleaching it with benzoyl peroxide or chlorine dioxide to remove the natural yellowish pigment (xanthophyll). Sugarcane juice is heated to denature enzymes and coagulate proteins. These are then removed by adding lime or vegetable clarifiers. The juice is boiled to form a thick syrup, cooled to form jaggery or agitated to crystallize the sugar, and centrifuged to separate raw or brown sugar from the molasses. Molasses or treacle has culinary and industrial uses and contains vitamins and minerals, while sugar is pure sucrose. Raw sugar is cleaned and bleached with sulphur dioxide into white sugar. Bone char (charred animal bones) was used earlier to bleach sugar. Corn syrup is glucose and is enzymatically processed to partially convert glucose into fructose, producing an invert sugar HFCS. It is used instead of sugar as it is cheaper, more stable, and easier to handle. Cold-pressed oil is mechanically extracted at a low temperature. It has a lower smoking point and retains more natural nutrients, vitamins, minerals, beneficial fatty acids, antioxidants, and natural flavours. Refined oil undergoes high-heat processing and chemical treatments, resulting in a longer shelf life and a more neutral flavour, but with a loss of some nutrients. Liquid oils are converted by hydrogenation into solid fats to enhance texture and shelf life. Solid fats such as shortening substitute ghee, margarine substitute butter, and these fats may be used to substitute dairy products in vegan cheese and ice cream. Partial hydrogenation creates trans-hydrogen configuration fats called trans-fats that raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, unlike healthier natural monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Trans-fats are commonly found in ultra-processed and junk foods.
UNDISCLOSED FOOD INCLUSIONS: Hormonal growth promoters banned in many nations are used to increase meat and milk production. Their residues in meat and dairy products lead to hormonal imbalances in consumers, potentially increasing the risk of early onset of puberty in children and certain cancers linked to estrogen, like breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer. Other risks include interference with normal development and brain function
Mislabelled FOODS: Food label fraud, involves intentional deception about a food product’s quality, ingredients, or origin by mislabelling, substituting ingredients, and counterfeiting. For a “High protein” claim, at least 20% of the food product’s energy value must come from protein, and for a “source of protein” claim, at least 12%. Such a “healthier” food may be high in unhealthy salt, fat, or sweeteners. Dietary supplements usually have vitamins, minerals, fibre, caffeine, herbs, and plant ingredients, some of which are not beneficial and may be harmful in excess. These may claim fast and easy weight loss or to boost energy and build muscle as they do not need regulatory approval. Some have more than 90 contents , including botanical names of herbs printed in miniature on their label, making it impossible to figure out the presence of prescription medicines or harmful contents like allergens, plant alkaloids, toxins, and heavy metals or if any ingredient will interact or interfere with prescribed medications. One such example is the banned Ephedra (ma-huang) used for weight loss due to serious side effects, such as high blood pressure, irregular heart rate, stroke, seizures, and heart attacks.
BEAWARE OF: There is no quick fix for good health, and such claims are misleading. Excessive enticing advertising is targeted to trigger impulsive consumption. Often health claims about wine, coffee, eggs, meat, etc. are based on biased studies promoted by the industry. Personal testimonials by celebrities and influencers may not reveal potential conflicts of interest. Fear-mongering about low protein content, contaminants, and insecticides in healthy foods often encourages people to consume processed foods instead. Identify and be sceptical about nutrition misinformation and fraudulent health claims, that sound too good to be true, contradict known facts, or try to scare you into making a change.
Dr. P.S.Venkatesh Rao is Consultant Endocrine, Breast & Laparoscopic Surgeon, Bengaluru.