Attention Mothers! Beware of ready-made dips & spreads this summer….

Attention mothers….

Now vacation has started and your child will

demand varieties in food. And you are more likely

to give them ready to eat food. But, beware of

ready-made dips and spreads this summer! Children seem to

adore something smooth and easy to eat in sandwich, bread, toast or

finger chips. They are your child’s favourite. You also

like to use them because they are

readily available and never before large variety of

dips and spreads are available in the market. Don’t

get attracted by the packaging and title of

the dip, as the titles are always to

attract innocent people like you. It is

the manufacturing company’s marketing strategy. Let’s

understand it with a real example:

The label of this known company tells us that it is a

CHEESE AND JALEPENO DIP. Now, let’s take a

deep dive in the ingredients of this dip to

know what is the fact!!!

This particular dip having the name of cheese and jalapeno is actually

having only 2.4% CHEESE POWDER & 4.3% JALAPENO!!!

In addition, it contains:

• Synthetic vinegar-acetic acid (INS260)
• Emulsifiers & stabilizers-(INS1442, INS1450, INS145)
• Acidity regulator-(INS330)
• Preservatives- (INS211, INS202)
• Antioxidant- ( INS319)
• Sequestrant- (INS 385)

There are 9 artificial chemicals! And

even that’s not all…. The food industry is allowed

to use more than 3000 food additives in the

processing of food. And just because

many of these additives and chemicals used in the

processing of your child’s foods are deemed safe, it does

not mean that they are safe. So, chemicals, food additives,

colouring agents, sweeteners, artificial flavours, dyes,

preservative to prevent spoilage,

emulsifiers to maintain consistency are

all entering into your child’s body via

these ready to eat foods.  And company fools you by

adding these artificial flavouring substances- as it

is not even mentioned how many chemicals are used for artificial

flavouring substances which gives you and

your child false feeling that you are

actually eating cheese and jalapeno. When

in fact, even their total is not more than 6.7%.

 

These processed foods can cause

allergic reaction, stress on liver to

process such chemicals, many of which can cause

cancer in letter life due to accumulative effect. Your children

exposed to such processed food can become

hyperactive, increase irritability and display learning difficulties.

We have discussed about the harmful effects of

processed foods on your child’s health in

our previous blog. To re-visit the blog, click here.

 

What to do?

Home made fresh chatnis are best!

As they are fresh.

And, if your child likes more of continental food, then

you can also prepare

• hummus
• peanut butter
• bell pepper dip
• yogurt dip

They will not only satisfy your child’s desire for taste, but

will also provide many other nutrients. It is

highly unlikely that if you will make them at home, you will

be using any of the artificial chemicals that are

literally loaded in those available in malls…

Wish you happy summer vacation.

See you next Tuesday with another Tuesday Tip.

Till then…..

Take care.

Providing simple solutions for the complexities of life

Dr. Bhumita makwana

Your Dietitian & Cosmetic Clinician.