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Your Food Is Full of Microplastics — and Now We Know Why
A study published this week delves into the mystery of how the plastic objects we interact with daily shed tiny particles that creep into our bodies, brains and guts.
While the scientific focus has long been on how microplastics pollute our environment and impact wildlife, researchers are increasingly raising alarms about how the same contaminants can wreak havoc in the human body.
The new research, published in the journal NPJ Science of Food, wove together data from 100 previous papers that studied microplastics, nanoplastics and plastic particles. The results were compiled into an open database published by the Food Packaging Forum, a Swiss nonprofit that examines chemicals in food packaging.
Microplastics and nanoplastics are plastic particles in the millimeter to nanometer range, with the latter causing even more concern among scientists because their tiny size makes them able to slip into human cells.
Oklahoma Requests Soda, Candy Be Excluded From Food Stamp Purchases
Oklahoma has become the latest state to request federal permission to exclude soft drinks and candy from the list of items that can be purchased through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly known as food stamps, Gov. Kevin Stitt announced on June 26. Stitt made the announcement during an event at the state Capitol, alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as part of his “Make Oklahoma Healthy Again” campaign.
According to Stitt’s office, the campaign is a state-level extension of the national Make America Healthy Again movement championed by President Donald Trump and Kennedy. “For far too long, we have settled for food that has made us sicker as a nation,” said Stitt. “In Oklahoma, we’re choosing common sense, medical freedom, and personal responsibility.”
Stitt said Oklahoma formally submitted the federal waiver to the U.S. Department of Agriculture amid growing bipartisan concern about the link between processed food consumption and chronic illnesses.
Nestlé Says It Will Remove Artificial Dyes From U.S. Foods by 2026
Nestle said Wednesday it will eliminate artificial colors from its U.S. food and beverages by the middle of 2026. It’s the latest big food company making that pledge. Last week, Kraft Heinz and General Mills said they would remove artificial dyes from their U.S. products by 2027. General Mills also said it plans to remove artificial dyes from its U.S. cereals and from all foods served in K-12 schools by the middle of 2026. The move has broad support.
About two-thirds of Americans favor restricting or reformulating processed foods to remove ingredients like added sugar or dyes, according to an AP-NORC poll. Both California and West Virginia have recently banned artificial dyes in foods served in schools.
On Sunday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed a bill requiring foods made with artificial dyes or additives to contain a new safety label starting in 2027. The label would say they contain ingredients “not recommended for human consumption” in Australia, Canada, the European Union or the U.K.
JM Smucker Latest Food Maker to Commit to Removing Artificial Dyes
After Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urged the industry in April to voluntarily remove six synthetic dyes by 2027, most food manufacturers were largely silent. But there is now growing momentum as companies race to ensure they’re not left behind their competitors.
“This work is ongoing, and we are consistently evaluating consumer behavior to ensure we are addressing any notable changes while maintaining our commitment to offer choice,” Mark Smucker, the company’s CEO, said in a statement. This “represents the latest example of our desire to evolve and our ability to continue to innovate to deliver on the expectations of our consumers.”
Smucker noted it previously removed high-fructose corn syrup from its Uncrustables sandwiches and introduced fruit spreads featuring ingredients from all-natural sources as well as reduced sugar options.
32% of US Adults Consumed Fast Food on a Given Day in 2021 to 2023
Over thirty percent of adults and children consumed fast food on a given day during August 2021 to August 2023, according to two reports from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Nimit N. Shah, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues estimated fast food consumption among U.S. adults during August 2021 to August 2023 using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The researchers found that on a given day, about one-third (32%) of adults aged 20 years and older consumed fast food. Adults consumed 11.7% of calories from fast food, with the percentage decreasing with age.
Among adults, the percentage of calories consumed from fast food decreased from 14.1% during 2013-2014 to 11.7% during August 2021-August 2023. In a second report, Shah and colleagues present updated estimates of fast-food consumption among children (ages two to 11) and adolescents (aged 12 to 19) from August 2021 to August 2023.
The researchers found that 30.1% of youth ages two to 19 years consumed fast food on a given day during August 2021 to August 2023, with youth consuming 11.4% of their daily calories from fast food. The mean percentage of calories consumed from fast food was 8.5% and 14.6% for children and adolescents, respectively.
Feds Have Lost the Plot on Nutrition
The Alliance for Natural Health USA reported:
A Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich or biscuits and gravy for diabetes? A 50-ingredient cheeseburger for cancer or heart disease? It sounds like a joke, but these are the real offerings of companies selling “medically tailored meals” to Medicaid patients…and making millions of dollars a year doing so. It’s all part of the perversion of the “food is medicine” principle that we’ve been writing about recently.
The government is handing millions of dollars to companies feeding junk food to ill patients ostensibly to help manage their diseases. At the same time, current federal rules severely limit access to products like medical foods that can actually make a difference in our health. It’s another example of the rampant cronyism that dominates our health system and keeps us sick.
This is a critical issue. We’re living under a health system that has been deliberately set up such that only drugs can be “medicine” — that is, only drugs can claim to treat or prevent disease. But ancient wisdom and modern science tell a different story. We’re learning that true healing — not just symptom management — is something the body itself can accomplish with the treasure trove of foods and nutrients provided by nature. We need to fight for a healthcare transformation that recognizes the very real therapeutic effects that foods can have.
