Acrylamide

Cooking causes changes in the chemical makeup of what once was living foods, depletes them of oxygen, and invites proliferation of suspected cancer-causing substances.

A recent Swedish study has grabbed headlines worldwide and puts another piece in place for the scientific proof that a raw food diet is the safest and most beneficial diet known to humankind.

The Swedish study found that high-carbohydrate foods such as bread, pasta, French fries, chips, cereals, rice, etc. contain a substance called acrylamide in very high concentrations. Acrylamide is known to cause cancerous tumors in rats. Acrylamide is NOT present in the same foods when they are uncooked. Frying, baking, roasting and grilling causes acrylamide to develop.

The World Health Organization will meet later this month to study the issue and provide guidelines to help consumers make appropriate choices. But if the preliminary recommendations put out by government and industry groups are any indication, then "conscious" consumers will have to provide suitable guidelines for themselves.

In a joint statement, the British Retail Consortium and the Food and Drink Federation said that they would work with the Food Standards Agency and internationally to establish the significance of the finding for public health and to reduce consumers' exposure. Until then, they said, there is little consumers can do to avoid acrylamide.

The British Food Standards Agency (BFS) said in a briefing note, "Eating is not a completely risk-free activity. Acrylamide is one of many things we are exposed to in food that may be detrimental to our health, including immediate risks such as food poisoning from not cooking food thoroughly. There are no practical ways it can be avoided."

We beg to differ on both counts. Consumers could, if they were aware, switch to the raw food diet provided by Nature -- acrylamide-free. There is much consumers can do, and there ARE PRACTICAL WAYS TO AVOID ACRYLAMIDE.

• Just don't cook food. Simple, easy and safe.
• Clean up the conditions under which food is produced, grown and handled, and it will be clean. Contrary to the disinformation in the BFS quote above, food poisoning is not caused from "not cooking food thoroughly." It's caused from filthy conditions and procedures that contaminate food with virulent organisms.

Aren't you glad that you are a raw food enthusiast and don't have to worry about acrylamide lurking in your food?!!

For more info about this, contact Rhio at rhio@aol.com.