BS: What constitutes processed food?

Subject: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 02:29 AM

With all the hype about the dangers of processed food being linked to colon cancer, I just got to wondering which products come under that category.

for example is soup processed?

Is there a certain ingredient that typifies processed food?

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Sooz
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 02:50 AM

If you start from raw ingredients in your kitchen and eat the food as soon as it is cooked it isn't "processed". When food is made commercially it requires various processing aids such as stabilisiers, preservatives, colourings and flavour enhancers so that it can be stored. That food is "processed".

Soup in a packet or tin is "processed". Very easy to make your own though. Do you need recipes?

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 02:59 AM

It depends on the soup.

Canned concentrated and liquid soup is usually fairly innocuous but has been boiled to buggery in the canning process. Powdered instant soup is made in a similar way and then freeze dried and powdered. Salt ratios are higher in powdered soup (8.6g on my packet of mixed veg) when compared with canned soup (6.6 with my neighbours veg soup), presumably to enhance the flavours lost when freeze drying.

Processed really just means 'worked', so the more things a grain of wheat goes through (washing, grinding, milling, sifting, fine milling, etc), the more goodness and taste it loses.

The general rule is, the more 'convenient' it is, the more it's processed. of course, the exception to this rule is fresh fruit or vegetables.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 03:25 AM

Inge does do her own soups occasionally Sooz. Dutch Pea Soup called Erwten Soup. A meal in itself.

Why did they say that things like bacon and packed sliced meat should be avaoided, but didn't seem to go any further. Surely there must be something additional that singles out these sort of products

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Emma B
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 04:59 AM

"Some well-known brands of ham contain more water and additives and less meat than you'd expect. One brand had almost as much water and additives as meat, Which? tests have uncovered."

from "Sham Ham" a Which report

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 05:24 AM

Is that the cuase of Colon Cancer Emma?

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 05:54 AM

It's the high level of nitrates in cured meats that are bad for you. Studies have shown a higher risk of lung diseases in people who eat a lot of preserved and cured meat such as bacon, ham and pastrami.

And that's not including the damage that red meat and fat will do to you!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 06:39 AM

So its the cured meats that seem to be the real problem.

So does ham fall into the same category?

Do soups have this nitrate in it?

What I am finding hard to understand, is that the majority of people eat theses sort of products, but not everybody gets colon cancer. So where is the link.

This diet that people have been on where you eat lots of bacon and products like that could be a possible cause.

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 08:26 AM

Colon cancer is 'caused' by:

Diet - high fat, low fibre diets are not good.
Age - is a factor, as most people over 50 will have colonic polyps.
Diabetes - insulin dependency contributes significantly to colon cancer development.
Alcohol - although red wine can help, other forms of alcohol, particularly distilled spirits like Vodka or whisky are contributing factors.
Ethnicity - studies have shown that people with particular ethnic backgrounds are more susceptible to developing colon cancer. Ashkenazi Jews have been identified as one of those ethnic backgrounds. Similarly people who are genetically prone to cancers are high risk.
Smokers - are more likely to develop cancer as inhaled carcenogens are transferred through the body to the colon and tobacco use increases the size of polyps.
Overweight - obesity and sedentary habits increase the risk, as does
Irritable Bowel Syndrome - which can create polyps which can in turn, become cancerous.

Not everyone gets colon cancer, you're right... but add in some of these other factors and you might find you're sitting on a time bomb.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 09:23 AM

Not everyone gets lung cancer either, but smoking or being around second-hand smoke will increase the risk of it.

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 12:33 PM

Thanks LTS That helps a lot.

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: MMario
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 12:46 PM

As mentioned above - the more things done to a food item the less healthy it (probably) is for you. (There are exceptions)

For example - raw carrots probably better for you then steamed. Steamed sliced carrots better then pureed. Pureed better then dried reconstituted.

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 12:53 PM

Yep. And the longer a piece of food has been clinically dead...the less useful it is in an edible sense...as should be fairly obvious if one stops to think about it.

Vultures and other such scavengers don't mind, though, if something's have been dead a long time...so it all depends what species you are most closely attuned to, I guess. ;-) I like my food fresh, and as close to its natural state as possible. That's why I like Japanese cuisine in particular. They do not tend to overcook things.

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Peace
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 12:54 PM

"Is there a certain ingredient that typifies processed food?"

Have you read the diarrhoea thread? That's the main constituent of processed food, imo.

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: DougR
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 03:28 PM

"Sitting on a time bomb." A nice way to put it, LTS.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Rowan
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 04:33 PM

Yes, Liz does have a way with words.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 06:16 PM

It's what would have killed my father in law, if the pancreatitis hadn't got him first.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 Nov 07 - 11:49 AM

It's likely you get fewer of some nutrients from raw carrots than lightly steamed carrots: plant cell walls are hard to get through. Much of a raw vegetable goes through you rather than being able to be absorbed. There's a reason foods are cooked. The trick is not to over-cook, and to get a good balance of raw and cooked because some of that intestinal scouring by raw plant fiber is a good idea.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Nov 07 - 12:12 PM

Good point, Becky. Yes, cooking does make certain foods far easier to chew and to digest, and that's probably why people starting cooking food in the first place. Lightly steamed vegetables are great. The one thing you must not do with most vegetables is to overcook them, because it absolutely ruins them. They mostly turn into a tasteless much. Then there's asparagus...when it is overcooked it develops a really unpleasant taste, as do brussels sprouts also.

Fresh peas are marvelous raw...if they're young enough. If not, then they are best cooked, but very lightly.

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Nov 07 - 12:13 PM

Sprouts could NEVER taste unpleasant!!

LTS - sprout lover.

Subject: RE: BS: What constitutes processed food?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Nov 07 - 12:17 PM

Well....I once had the worst "Chinese" food EVER at a crummy Chinese-Canadian restaurant in a small town near here. The Chow Mein and other stuff had been heating in the steam tray for so long that the sprouts had all completely wilted in a most horrible fashion. They did not taste good. Neither did any of the rest of it. I ate barely any, and asked for my money back. I can't figure how they even stayed in business.