THE MYSTERY SHOPPER: NESQUIK II

In the previous article, I concluded my discussion of Nesquik ingredients with salt. That is where the line-up of added vitamin and mineral compounds starts, as per the ingredient list found on Nesquik Powder 33% Less Sugar. However, because Nestlé offers another version of the powdered beverage that contains additional components, I will investigate them to ensure completeness of my analysis. Once again, the ingredient list is provided for convenience purposes:

SUGAR, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, SOYA LECITHIN, SALT, SODIUM ASCORBATE, CARRAGEENAN, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, NIACINAMIDE, VITAMIN A PALMIATE, FLAVOUR AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOUR. MAY CONTAIN MILK, SOY AND WHEAT.

Since the next ingredient on the list, sodium ascorbate, is a form of ascorbic acid or more commonly known vitamin C, I will refrain discussing it until later in the article. For simplicity purposes, all vitamins and minerals present in the powdered drink will be considered together, as I discuss the drawbacks of artificial fortification of processed foods.

Carrageenan follows sodium ascorbate and before I knew it, there was a pertinent piece by Prevention magazine before my eyes. The article urged banning carrageenan from consumption based on evidence that the compound causes inflammation of the digestive system, which can lead to ulcers and bleeding. Earlier studies- amazingly, concerns regarding this additive date back to 1960s- suggest the link between carrageenan and gastrointestinal disease in laboratory animals, including ulcerative colitis, intestinal lesions and colon cancer. What is really troubling, however, is that this red seaweed extract has no nutritional value and is only used for its emulsifying properties.  

As if to counteract the adverse effects of previous ingredients, Nestlé has a change of heart and adds vitamins and minerals. However, their benefit to health is questionable. According to the Internal Medicine physician, Dr. Matt Lederman, we absorb vitamins and minerals from our food better than we do from a supplement. And oftentimes, supplementation not only does not prevent or cure a chronic disease, but causes harm in increasing the rate of mortality (specifically, vitamin A, B and beta-carotine). You see, the commercial food producers have it backwards. First, the raw ingredients like cocoa are stripped of the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals through rather obscure refining processes by wholesalers, only to be re-fortified by manufacturers. By following this approach, Nestlé once again invalidates its own claims of seeking health and overall well-being for its customers by intentionally overriding the nature's order of things.

Nestlé's intentions have long been corrupted by the bottom line and the power its executives openly enjoy. 

The world's largest food and beverage corporation, it provides excessively well for its current CEO, Paul Bulcke, whose annual income is nearing CA$13.7M. The man who believes that any water in excess of 30 litres per day per capita is a commodity to be corporately owned and traded*. The man whose company openly uses GM ingredients in its products, insisting on their absolute safety for human health, never mind the exorbitant amount of pesticides used on GM crops and the unknown long-term effects of genetic experimentation on human health. The man who is married with three children, yet regards ours as clumps of dirt.

Thoroughly disgusted with my findings, I recognized the feeling of emptiness and numbness in my whole being. The understanding that this is not an isolated case of greed and sociopathic behaviour is daunting and makes me wonder how much longer I can walk in the murky waters of modern food production. Does anyone care enough to boycott the Nestlés of the world, ditch cardboard boxes and aluminum cans and allocate time for healthful food preparation at home? I really hope so, because if we breathe life into a monster, we can just as easily take it away.

*The notion of access to water as a human right was challenged by Nestlé’s 68-year-old former CEO and current Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, as well as Bulcke himself when he suggested at the World Water Week in Stockholm, if something isn't given value, people tend to waste it- a daring segue into corporate privatization of water. 

Cited Sources:
http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/carrageenan-natural-ingredient-you-should-ban-your-diet
http://www.rodale.com/carrageenan
Plant-Based Nutrition, Course Three: Principles In Practice, The Role of Supplements by Dr. Matt Lederman
http://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/articles/vitamins
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=8251118&ticker=NSRGY
http://aattp.org/nestle-ceo-water-not-a-right-should-be-given-a-market-value-and-privatized-video/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/7286179/Nestle-chief-executive-Paul-Bulcke-is-not-one-for-a-break-but-he-loves-his-Kit-Kat.html
http://www.nestle.com/media/newsandfeatures/world-water-week

THE MYSTERY SHOPPER: NESQUIK I

Ever since mid September, when my husband left for another work shift several hours north of Red Deer AB, I started blogging on the daily basis. Despite late nights and full days as a mother, a cook and a wanna-be writer, I managed to complete each assignment with a great sense of satisfaction and a vague hope that somewhere somebody will be affected by my ramblings and take the new course towards healthier living, as a result.

At times, I struggled to find the right words, but the burning desire to educate kept me going. Last night, however, the invisible switch was flicked off, leaving me in complete darkness. The writer's spirit migrated to what must have been a more efficient use of its time- someone, perhaps, with a thoroughly thought-through, step-by-step plan of what it is she was doing with her blogging. I, of course, do not possess such a plan or a set of blueprints to take me to the Promised Land as a successful author and educator. The only thing I know how to do is to take one day at a time- recipe by recipe, exposure by exposure, course by course- until someone notices.

If anyone can understand my drive to promote healthier living, it has got to be the Nestlé Company. After all, its corporate webpage confirms that achieving a balanced diet and overall well-being is in the core of its business, while understanding how food nurtures people and helps them to live well encourages production of the state-of-the-art consumer products. One of such products has got to be Nesquik- a fortified powdered beverage. 

While at Superstore Friday afternoon, I took several photos of various food items, including Nequik Powder 33% Less Sugar, and following Nestlé's own suggestion to read before you eat, I looked to see what ingredients it contained. Shying away on the lower part of the can, the ingredient list curled along the circumference like a python would curl around its prey before strangling it. The line-up of at least 11 ingredients- I say at least because the beverage is said to possibly contain milk, soy and wheat, as well as all the other additives that are not required to be listed- can also be found on Nestlé's product website. 

As I looked through the company's various websites, I came across another version of the same product, which seems to contain additional components and clues of absolute interest to an enthusiast investigator like myself. For convenience purposes, I will recount them here:

SUGAR, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI*, SOYA LECITHIN, SALT, SODIUM ASCORBATE, CARRAGEENAN, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, NIACINAMIDE, VITAMIN A PALMIATE, FLAVOUR AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOUR. MAY CONTAIN MILK, SOY AND WHEAT.  

Sugar is self-explanatory. It has been talked about ever since I remember, yet we continue to consume it in substantial quantities. Given that it is the first ingredient on Nesquik's list, it must be the primary component- hardly uplifting news for any dilettante vaguely aware of the harm in simple carbohydrates. Besides, this is not the minimally processed turbinado or raw sugar, but rather very cheap and common refined white sugar. And just to make things a touch more delicious, sugar is often filtered using animal bone char- essentially, charred cattle bones- in order to remove colourants and other so-called impurities.   

Perhaps, sugar is not the best way to ensure [our children's] overall well-being. But let us not make a swift judgement and continue exploring... After all, cocoa is full of nutrients. Right? Not quite when it is processed, since every level of refining strips the originally whole food off its beneficial contents like vitamins and minerals. According to Life Enhancement e-magazine, the process of treating cocoa with alkali, called Dutching, reduces the levels of ORAC (antioxidation efficacy), TP (total polyphenol content) and flavanols (procyanidins). 

Multiple studies confirm the beneficial effects of cocoa polyphenols and flavanols on human health, especially with regard to cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, metabolic disorders, and cancer prevention. Therefore, diminishing these elements through alkalization lessens the preventative and healing effects of cocoa. However, since labeling guidelines in the US and Canada do not oblige the product manufacturer to explain further what method of alkalization was used, it is nearly impossible to determine exactly what nutritional value is left in Nestlé's cocoa.

Next in line is soya lecithin... One of the top ten ingredients used in processed foods, soy lecithin is used for its emulsifying properties and according to Solae LLC- a global leader in developing soy-based technologies- lecithins enable quick and complete mixing of powdered drinks and foods to keep them property blended. Now, lecithin is also a by-product of soybean oil production, most of which is now done using hexane- a neurotoxic petrochemical listed as a hazardous air pollutant and neurotoxin by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control, respectively. So there you have it: soy lecithin is produced by treating genetically engineered soybeans with a hazardous neurotoxin. If I was ever skeptical of Nestlé's aspirations to help us achieve a balanced diet, I am now convinced of its absolute hypocrisy- for no balanced diet, overall well-being or health can be supported through the use of petrochemicals, GE technologies or heavily processed and nutritionally deprived ingredients. 

By now, the lucky Charlie Bucket should be on his way to the hospital... Meanwhile, I am ready to investigate the forth element on Nesquik's list: salt. Just like sugar, salt is heavily processed to arrive at what is commonly known as table salt. Stripped of naturally occurring trace minerals and augmented with anticaking agents (Health Canada lists 15 of them as permitted agents in salt), it has little nutritional value and potentially more harm. According to the American Heart Association, diets rich in sodium are partially responsible for failing cardiovascular health. Adding enough to place it the forth of the list of 11-13 ingredients is hardly the decision of a health-conscious executive.

It is hard to imagine that I as a child ate Nesquik by handfuls, not always mixing it with anything at all- just stuffing dry brown powder in my mouth, fine particles entering my airways and making me choke. Was it a healthier beverage back then, 16 years ago? That is hard to say and rather irrelevant, as many children today must practice similar rituals behind their parents' backs. While Nestlé masks its real intentions under the false pretense of promoting health and wellness in its customers, we as parents must remain vigilant and examine every food product in question with a fine comb. For no global food manufacturer like the Swiss giant will do that job for us... 

Fully aware that there are many more ingredients to research, I will pause here and try to get some much needed sleep. Tomorrow, provided that my muse stays with me, THE MYSTERY SHOPPER: NESQUIK II will make its explosive appearance and create a never-before-seen uproar...

*Some of Nestlé's products list cocoa instead of cocoa processed of alkali. Whether this means that Nestlé buys cocoa from various suppliers or Canadian labeling guidelines do not require that the processing by alkali be identified is unclear at this point.

Cited Sources:
http://www.corporate.nestle.ca/en/aboutus
http://products.nestle.ca/en/brands/beverages/nesquik/chocolate-powder-vitamin-enriched.aspx
http://www.nesquik.com/adults/products/nesquikpowder/chocolate109oz.aspx#
http://www.ncpad.org/610/2562/The~Key~Ingredients
http://www.peta.org/about/faq/Are-animal-ingredients-included-in-white-sugar.aspx
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2007issue4/2007_issue4_sugar.php
http://www.life-enhancement.com/magazine/article/2798-effect-of-treating-cocoa-with-alkali-the-dutching-process
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3488419/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3022066/
http://www.solae.com/soy-ingredients/lecithin/lecithin-applications.aspx
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBloodPressure/PreventionTreatmentofHighBloodPressure/Sea-Salt-Vs-Table-Salt_UCM_430992_Article.jsp
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/addit/list/1-anti-eng.php

THE MYSTERY SHOPPER: KRAFT DINNER

Container upon container, our 36" wide Samsung was officially at its holding capacity. Sooner or later, this sort of overload is bound to transpire when a woman already obsessed with food becomes entangled in the art of healthful eating, of which she later writes in her public diary. Seven days of driving home the message that eating well is affordable are all it took to fill up on ready meals waiting to be enjoyed at lunch time for an entire week. In fact, the count for servings of nutritious food was nine as of this morning. Needless to say, I could not go on with yet another dish, all the while perfectly good food was rotting in the fridge. Although not without some hesitation, the executive decision has been made to take a two-day break from chaotic measuring, cooking and photographing. Someone with a great deal of courage had to take on the incredibly challenging task of metabolizing all that food. And the humble hero was me...

But just so I avoid getting comfortable around this notion of temporary inactivity- both in the kitchen and online- I resolved to try on a role of an investigative journalist and ventured out to Superstore. Just the other day, while at another grocery store closer to my house, I came face to face with a visibly distraught woman who appeared to be in some kind of trouble. The look of concern and disbelief of her face was obvious and rather unsettling. "Don't they have Kraft Dinner?", she exclaimed. I suggested that it was probably in the neighbouring isle I just passed by- the packaged processed food isle. "I knew it! I just said to myself- there is NO WAY they don't have Kraft Dinner!", with which she rushed off like a lightning, leaving me completely clueless as to what it is in modified milk ingredients and tartrazine that is so darn appealing. I had to find out!

As I entered the building, I headed straight for the junk food isle. Immediately, the number of people wheeling passed me struck me. Carts of cans and boxes, they were many and they were hungry for more Sidekicks and Handi-Snacks. A term alienation came to me. The only one with an empty cart in a strange food isle, I felt overwhelmed and alone. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and cry like a baby all at the same time, but instead I launched the camera app on my iPhone and started snapping pictures. 

The first photo was of Kraft Dinner FamilySize. Immediately, I turned it over to see the list of ingredients. Other than the expected natural flavours and citric acid, there were less commonly known to the consumer yet rather widespread in modern food production SODIUM PHOSPHATES (note the plural of phosphates) and TARTRAZINE. Having done a little bit of digging, I found that the former is one of 45 types of phosphate-containing food additives used in hundreds of processed items like sodas and convenience foods, that have been linked to kidney disease and increased mortality rates. A study published in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International- the German Medical Association's official international science journal- confirms that inorganic phosphate in food additives, while very effectively absorbed by the human body, leads to vascular damage, e.g. endothelial dysfunction and vascular calcification. 

Slowly, I began to doubt that the lady I met earlier was particularly bent on finding her fix of sodium phosphate. Perhaps, it was tartrazine...  According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, tartrazine is a yellow azo dye that is used in making organic pigments and in coloring foods and drugs and that sometimes causes bronchoconstriction in individuals with asthma. Well, one could stop right here, but I wanted to know more. One of so-called Southampton 6 artificial food colouring additives, tartrazine has been linked to increased hyperactivity in young children, as well as allergic reactions in asthmatics and a multitude of other health conditions. Although some sources discredit significant correlation between the dye and various ailments it reportedly caused or promoted, I would die before letting my child taste the derivative of benzene- a colourless runoff from crude oil. 

The UK's Food Standards Agency must agree... In fact, they came out with a 36-page report under title Guidelines on approaches to the replacement of Tartrazine, Allura Red, Ponceau 4R, Quinoline Yellow, Sunset Yellow and Carmoisine in food and beverages. Ah... Why is it that Europe is always ahead of North America in so many aspects? They banned the import of GMO crops, prohibited the use of many pesticides still widely used in the US and Canada and introduced mandatory eco-labels (in France), where the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by any given food product, as it travels through the production chain, has to be specified. I find it rather ironic that the young countries of opportunity and limitless growth- or so they see themselves- are outpaced by the old world that Europe is...

And so I wonder... What is it that the KD lover I met earlier finds so undeniably entrancing in a poison box? Is it, perhaps, that she simply has not read the ingredients list? Will she ever and if she does, will she feel compelled to do more research before spending $2.79 on another doze of chemical chaos? I hope so...  Meanwhile, I will continue discrediting common foods we so often and without a second thought pitch to our children and consume ourselves. 

Cited Sources:

http://www.rodale.com/phosphate-foods

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3278747/

http://www.fitnessquests.com/2010/06/what-is-fdc-yellow-5-tartrazine.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/032169_tartrazine_food_colors.html

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/publication/guidelinessotonsixcolours.pdf

http://www.ats-sea.agr.gc.ca/eur/5646-eng.htm

GOURMET MEALS FOR $5 OR UNDER: MEAL 8 OF 25

BORSCH W/ SOUR CREAM
& A SIDE OF RUTABAGA SALAD

Total Cost: $1.60/serving

Total Preparation Time: 54 min

Yesterday, autumn decidedly set its foot in the small town of Red Deer AB. Daring wind blew in my face as I pushed the stroller on one of our regular family walks. A blessing to a normally hot and perspiring pug, it reddened Marcus' nose and hurt my inexplicably sensitive ears. +7°C is a stark fall from the hot early September days so many Albertans got to enjoy (or complain about, for that matter). And today, as Marcus and I ventured out for one of our routine trips to the grocery store, it was clear that fall was here to stay, only to progress to first frost and eventually, white mounds of snow.

This change in weather inspired tonight's dinner. I was drawn to one of the Russian classics BORSCH- the soup that for me will always be associated with motherly love and care. And as to others with no particular ties to the country of my origin, borsch coupled with RUTABAGA SALAD is the perfect solution for a visually pleasing and light, yet filling and incredibly nutritious meal.

First, I placed a pot with water on the stove and started grating rutabaga, turnip and carrots for the salad. Packed with minerals and vitamins, this side dish also contains phyto-chemicals isothiocyanates and indoles, both of which has been praised for their cancer fighting properties. 

MEASURE	WEIGHT (g)	INGREDIENT	COST PER PACKAGE ($)	TOTAL COST ($)	COST PER SERVING ($)
½ cup	78	Turnip	1.50/kg	0.12
N/A	200	Rutabaga	1.50/kg	0.30
3	108	Carrots, small	3.98/5lb	0.19
N/A	22	Cilantro	0.97/bunch (166g)	0.13
¼ cup	54	Extra virgin olive oil	7.99/500ml	0.86
½	42	Lemon’s juice	3.98/3lb	0.12
TOTAL				1.72*	0.57

*Makes 3 servings

As soon as the water reached boiling condition, I threw in several beef cubes, turned it down to low and covered with a lid. For the next half-hour, I wrapped up my salad and prepared vegetables for my borsch. First, I peeled red beets and cut them into small cubes, with the exception of one- finely grated instead, it helped achieve that beautiful garnet colour of the soup. Red beets are known for their blood cleansing and cancer fighting properties, and although some of the nutritional value is lost through cooking, this root vegetable still delivers incredible health benefits and aids in weight loss.

MEASURE	WEIGHT (g)	INGREDIENT	COST PER PACKAGE ($)	TOTAL COST ($)	COST PER SERVING ($)
N/A	153	Beef cubes	13.21/kg	2.02
2	58	Carrots, small	3.98/5lb	0.10
N/A	138	Mini potatoes	4.99/5lb	0.30
4	190	Red beets, small	2.50/lb	1.04
¼	56	Onion	1.97/3lb	0.08
1	5	Garlic, clove	2.98/lb	0.03
N/A	22	Cilantro	0.97/bunch (166g)	0.13
4	48	Brussel sprouts	5.47/kg	0.26
N/A	10	Leeks	2.98/bunch (400g)	0.07
		Salt & spices		0.10
TOTAL				4.13*	1.03

*Makes 4 servings

And the grand total is... the record low of $1.60! Now, where else would there be so much benefit at such a low cost? 

	TOTAL COST ($)	COST PER SERVING ($)
GRAND TOTAL	5.85	1.60

And all the while, an anonymous artist is maneuvering around town, painting the leaves brass, then tearing them off the trees as if in utter disappointment in his work...

Cited Sources:

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/health-benefits-turnips-6796.html

http://www.livestrong.com/article/463324-what-are-the-benefits-of-rutabagas/

http://voices.yahoo.com/15-health-benefits-beets-fight-cancer-more-805501.html?cat=51