You Thought MSG Was Bad? At least they admit that it's in there... well, mostly. Have you picked up a can of soup lately and noticed that the sodium levels are lower? Seen a label that said, "No MSG"? How about realizing that there is less sugar on the label of your favorite ice cream? Believe it or not, this is cause for concern.

This article has been especially hard to compose. "Why?", you may ask. There is simply not much information to be found on the subject. It has taken weeks of internet research to uncover the smidgeon of information that has been acquired.

A relatively young company, Senomyx, may be responsible for the sodium and sugar levels falling in your favorite grocery store item. How are they doing this without affecting the taste? The truth is, they may be putting chemicals into your food right now without you even realizing it and without telling you.

And guess what? They don't have to.

Senomyx has contracted with Kraft, Nestle, Coca Cola, Campbell Soup to put a chemical in foods that masks bitter flavors by turning off bitter flavor receptors on the tongue and enhancing salty and sweet flavors. This would allow the companies to tout claims such as "less sugar" or "lower sodium" by reducing the actual sugar and/or salt by approximately half, but the foods will retain the same level of sweetness or saltiness when they touch the tongue by fooling your brain.

All of the companies, although admitting the exclusive contracting rights, decline to identify which foods and beverages the chemical additives have been or will be added to.

These chemical compounds are not required to be listed separately on food labels. On the contrary, they will be lobbed under the umbrella of "artificial flavors" which is already found on most food labels.

The foods that seem to be most in jeopardy of an insurrection of these new chemicals: soups, juices (fruit and vegetable), ice cream, and sauces.

"We are helping companies clean up their labels," said Kent Snyder, chief executive of Senomyx.

Mark Zoller, Senomyx's chief scientist, says that his company has used the human genome sequence and identified hundreds of taste receptors. Senomyx's chemical compounds enhance those receptors to heighten the taste of salt or sugar. Under this premise, they go on to claim that their newly added chemicals are completely safe because they will be used in tiny quantities of less than one part per million whereas artificial sweeteners are used in 200-500 parts per million. This fact alone allows them to forgo the rigorous FDA approval process when introducing new food additives into the marketplace. Attaining the status of GRAS (generally recognized as safe) from the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association for their most advanced product that replaces MSG, took this fledgling company less than an 18 month time frame by introducing a safety study of rats conducted for 3 months.

Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Michael Jacobson, commended Senomyx's strides to reduce MSG, salt, and sugar but warned against introducing a new chemical additive into the food supply without strenuous testing. "A three-month study is completely inadequate," he said. "What you want is at least a two-year study on several species of animals."

After pouring a total of 30 million dollars into research and development, the companies that have invested into Senomyx's products have been secretive, to say the least, about their involvement within the company. Some, like Kraft, have declined to divulge any specifics regarding their relationship with Senomyx but instead stated that Kraft was committed "to reducing the sugar and salt levels in many products

Courtesy of Healthy Cooking Tips

Chef Tim Johnson

Remember...grace is upon you so eat to live!

We are what we eat, for better or for worse.

First, we go to a natural/organic food market and buy most of our food there. Organic is our first choice. Natural is the second choice.

"Organic" means that 95%+ of the ingredients are organic, excluding water and salt. "Natural" means at least 75% are organic.

What we can't find at a natural/organic food market, we buy at an upscale supermarket.

Most metropolitan areas have one or more upscale supermarkets. There are usually a number of downscale supermarkets, too, with Wal-Mart Supercenters usually the market share leader in the downscale segment.

When we discuss organic food with people, they always ask, "aren't organic foods too expensive?" Answer: not really. They're more expensive to buy, but you need less of them to feel satisfied. On a net basis, then, with organic foods, there is no real increase in your total food cost.

Many people asking the "too expensive" question cheerfully squander their food dollars on worthless, dangerous items like sodas, cold cereals, white bread, bottled water, junk meat, candy, baby food in jars, and bakery items - to name a few. People can save serious money by not buying these needless items, instead investing the savings into organic and natural foods, earning higher returns - better health and increased stamina.

Supermarkets today are sophisticated palaces of poisons. Their factory fresh "foods" come in cans and various kinds of packaging. They're loaded with excessive salt, sugar, toxic sugar substitutes, allergenic glutens, and questionable chemicals.

Sugar substitutes are particularly noxious.

* The most used is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It's in almost all packaged foods. It's used because corn is plentiful in the US, it's very cheap, sweet, and it significantly enhances people's appetites, thereby enhancing their waistlines, hips and chins and, at the same time, enhancing manufacturer profits.

* Aspartame (using brand names like Equal) is considered a leading toxin by professional toxicologists.

* Sucralose (Splenda is the big brand name) is a chlorocarbon, made by marrying chlorine and carbon molecules. Chlorine undermines the immune system.

So, avoid sugar substitutes, except for Xyitol and stevia.

What should you eat? Exercise guru, Jack La Lanne, on the "Larry King Show," answered that question recently, saying "If man made it, don't eat it." That says it all - very simply. We agree with Jack, age 93, and still able to work out strenuously for hours.

Not only is a supermarket a palace of poisons, it's also a perpetual P.T Barnum marketing circus. Barnum is famous for his quote, "there's a sucker born every minute."

Americans are vastly deceived when it comes to food.

They assume that the government (especially the FDA) would not allow manufacturers to make and market unsafe food. Wrong! Can you say, "campaign contributions for nice little boys and girls - senators and representatives - from agribusiness and huge food companies?"

I'm convinced that, similar to the cosmetics industry, the packaging of supermarket foods often costs the manufacturer more than the contents. The ambiance of today's upscale supermarkets is rather sad, if not bizarre. Examples:

1. Older people with poor teeth and poor posture shuffling along slowly, filling up baskets with soft foods (pudding, jello, white bread, cold cereal) to rot their remaining teeth even more and trash their brittle bones even faster.

2. Obese people waddling along laboriously and short of breath, pushing overflowing baskets of mostly snack junk food.

3. Small children lying on the floor screaming because Mom refuses to buy a worthless box of cold cereal, the package adorned by a monster or action hero.

4. Twenty-something women trying to stay slender, living on purchases of white wine and tasteless lettuce.

5. Working families and singles buying salt-laden, microwave boxed dinners for a fast meal.

6. Discovering an angel food cake with eight ingredients, including propylene glycol, a major ingredient in antifreeze.

Oh, well, it wouldn't freeze in the freezer, I guess, staying moist for 20 years perhaps. Thanks for small blessings.

7. And me, using a flimsy loaf of processed bread, standing in the isle and using the loaf as an accordion, squeezing it, and singing joyfully, pretending to be Lawrence Welk.

Upscale supermarkets offer more healthy foods than downscale supermarkets, which skillfully manipulate people with limited means, modest educations, and the pauper mindset with triple coupon "bargains" of huge bags of processed white flour, for example.

And, believe it or not, many poor inner city people have to buy their groceries at convenience stores, since no supermarket is nearby and they don't have autos. It's hard to be healthy consuming sodas and cupcakes for dinner.

Eat right, take nutritional supplements and vigorous exercise.

But if you eat poorly, health insurance, hospitals, doctors, synthetic drugs, exercise and supplements are all useless. If you refuse to stop eating poorly, it's a good idea to pre-plan your funeral now. Only an undertaker can give you the help you'll need, if you will not eat right.

If you put garbage in a can, it becomes a garbage can. Don't put garbage in your temple, your body.

Courtesy of Healthy Cooking Tips

Chef Tim Johnson

Remember...Grace is upon you so eat to live!