Phenylalanine Part II

I had to reproduce this comment from a_Pashion81 on my blog about Phenylalanine:

"Any thoughts on all this food been taken off the shelves at the moment cos of the said Sudan cancer scare.. I think its bloody histerical...well for god sake...the cigarrette counters are still stacked and its proven without no shadow of doubt that smoking causes cancer! The Government obviously gets a fatter tax profit! I offered a friend of mine a pot noodle and she said "oh nooooo i can't eat that, its got that cancer stuff in it" as she lit up a ciggy!...and yes I can say she IS blonde lol"

Despite official sources saying "Sudan dyes (Sudan I, II, III and IV) are not appropriate as a food additives for humans despite the extremely low risk." and "The risk, if any, for anyone who has consumed food made with this chilli powder as an ingredient is so small as to be immeasurable, and consumers are advised not to be concerned.", the media's treatment of the Sudan scare and the Public's subsequent reaction have been OTT as usual (not that i'm too fussed, anything that stops you all eating chemical shit is fine by me). People recoil in horror when offered their usual boil-in-the-bag Spag Bol, then sit back and light up their cigarettes, safe in the knowledge that they won't get cancer cos they're avoiding Sudan 1.

FOR F*CKS SAKE

If Sudan 1 was a taxable food additive I'd bet that it'd still be out there. How can the Government continue this enormous blind eye, driven by nothing but pure greed? Why haven't the Cancer Research people demanded that ciggies are banned? If Sudan 1 caused deaths to the same level as smoking does, there'd be a massive terror alert and TOTAL BAN - for ever.

Why don't we just do the same as ciggies and put labels on the Birds Eye Lasagne saying "This will harm your baby", "This will give you cancer", or "This will kill you" - people would not TOUCH it would they! Yet people who are enslaved by their nicotine cravings ignore labels like this every day when they buy their Bensons. Then if they live in America, the SUE THE CIG COMPANIES for giving them cancer!

I guess banning ciggies would be a near impossible task now, there would be mass anarchy from the Addicted, and the black market would explode and be impossible and very expensive to police. The only thing that can stop the cig companies profits AND dent the purse of the Government is US and OUR WILLPOWER to quit. Only trouble is then, any money you save from not smoking would be eaten up from other taxes the Govt would impose to make up for the lack of ciggie taxes! We're trapped and it's so f*cking frustrating.

The only winners are the Ciggie companies, the Govt and the Pharm companies, who sit back and rake in the profits from their cancer drugs, knowing they have got a captive market.

Click here for an interesting article "Cancer industry promotes misleading warning on supplements in order to protect cancer treatment profits".

PS I am a non-smoker but my grandfather died a coughing, wheezing, hacking mess thanks to his love for roll-ups.

Aaargh put it away...

Today was the first mildly warm day of the year, and walking through Norwich on my lunch hour I observed the typical Brit reaction to this weather. KIT OFF!!!!!

Suddenly everyone had the urge to strip. It wasn't quite t-shirt weather but what the hell! The sun's out! Kit off!! Acres of pale pinky corned-beef flesh was revealed as girls who have yet to visit a gym donned cropped tops and short skirts, and let it all hang out - literally. Quiet word girls...midriff-baring tops are a privilege, not a right! I don't get it - if I looked in the mirror and saw that my flobby belly was hanging out over my belt, I'd totally not leave the house! Are they blind? Do they think it's attractive? (PS I don't have a flobby belly...) One girl was spotted in flip-flops, the lads donned their Oakleys and wore their sleeveless t-shirts, and pub beer-gardens were dotted with people sitting outside and rubbing their goosebumps. I suspected there was already a rush on to find a beach and lie on it.

I felt quite silly because I was still wearing my duffle coat! Pace yourself guys, summer won't be with us until July at the latest......I guess that here in the UK we are all so desperate for a bit of cheerful sunshine that the first sign of it and we go a bit bananas. I wonder how we Brits would cope if the tropics suddenly reversed and the UK became as hot as Australia. So much sun, so much heat! Aaargh! Kit off every day! Can't cope! Must lie on the beach and crisp myself in the first day!

Bus Behaviour

Ever noticed that when you are on a bus and all the seeats fill up, that anyone else who then gets on, will stand right at the front of the bus near the luggage holders? And the next, and the next, and the next, until the entire front quarter of the bus is crammed full of people.....meanwhile the whole aisle of the bus right to the back is free and empty with plenty of room for standing.

WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS?

I used to bus to work every day and marvelled at this strange phenomenon of human behaviour. As they'd get on the bus they'd look very briefly down the aisles to see if there were any seats, and sometimes even if there WERE a few free, they'd still crowd right at the front. Then whenever somebody else wanted to get off, they'd have to negotiate this dense ball of humans all struggling to hang onto the luggage rack - bloody nightmare when you had a big bag with you as I invariably did (cue lots of tuts as I dragged my bag past them, injuring them in the process). It's also not good for the old people as they aren't as strong at pushing past!!

If the bus was crowded when I got on I'd push past them all at the front and walk right to the back and stand there - but still none of them copied me. Are they that scared of maybe a few people staring at them as they walked the length of the bus??

The bus driver doesn't help by never insisting that they "step to the rear" or move down. One time he DID do this, and the idiots shuffled down a few feet and then stayed grouped together. Were they on a group-pheromone trip and didn't want to leave eachother's scent??? I wanted to scream at them "FOR F*CKS SAKE ARE YOU STUPID, LOOK HOW MUCH SPACE THERE IS!!!!!"

I vote for electrically-charged luggage racks, so that if anyone stands next to them the bus driver can zap them until they move.

"Phenylalanine for tea please dear"

If I put the following chemicals in front of you, in liquid or powdered form - and asked you to eat them, I fear you would tell me to feck off:

Acidity regulator (Sodium Diacetate), colour (Paprika extract), sweetener (aspartame), Lactose, glucose syrup, sugar, drier whey, malt extract, raising agents (Ammonium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate), flavour enhancer (monosodium glutamate), lactic acid, pepper extracts, contains a source of phenylalanine.

These are from the ingredients list of "Cheesy Beans" flavour Mini-Cheddars. They taste BLOODY FANTASTIC but LOOK HOW CHEMICAL THEY ARE.

Are our bodies made to process such chemicals? What sort of strain does this put on our liver? Did you know that the average human body today contains 500 more chemicals than our relations of 50 years ago? The advances in toiletries and processed foods have caused this. Have we adapted to deal with them?

But what's more worrying is the presence of two ingredients - aspartame and phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is a hidden danger to anyone consuming aspartame. Most consumers don't know that too much Phenylalanine is a neurotoxin and excites the neurons in the brain to the point of cellular death.

The 1976 Groliers encyclopedia states cancer cannot live without phenylalanine. Phenylalanine makes up 50% of aspartame.

But it's also one of the essential amino acids found in proteins, and is found naturally in foods such as eggs, milk, bananas, and meat. I'm confused now - is it OK to eat or not? This website HERE says that we should avoid anything with isolated amino acids, and eat them in combination.

Are Mini-Cheddars potentially lethal then? Are a lot of these chemically-pumped foods? And if so, why are they still being sold? Think about how many chemicals you consume in one day - I dare you to keep a chemical diary of all the foods you eat, it will probably scare the crap out of you! Next time you go to Asda, read the label before putting it in your trolley.....

Our bodies don't need this crap - yes, Cheesy Bean mini-cheddars taste fab but it's not worth it!