Tinned tomatoes - a health risk?

[Jeanied]

I'm with you on the SLS in toothpaste, Alison. It makes the inside of my mouth peel!

[Helgalush]

No, it tells me that new mums turn into from Chardonnay-guzzling chain smokers to neurotic organic food pregnancy yoga junkies and the marketing department has responded

The same marketing bods that will also promote products with 'nasties' in so long as there aint a law against it and they can make a profit from it. There's just as many people who want the cheapest product available, regardless of whats in it, as there are people who are mindful of ingredients and so on.

[Chocolate8me]

If we all believe every experiment on food & food containers then we would all starve.

One thing about tins that I was told years ago is you should never put a tin in the fridge, always put unused food it into plastic containers then refridgerate.

There are things that we use in this country that have been banned in other countries but I'm sure if we eat everything in moderation, there is very, very little harm if any.

[Two_Sheds]

The same marketing bods that will also promote products with 'nasties' in so long as there aint a law against it and they can make a profit from it.

Ain't that the truth.

See any recent health scare.

You have to read the info given, and make your own decision as to the risks.

[VirginVegGrower]

However, to make some of you think that I definitely am neurotic I thought I'd mention that my health has improved the most when I cut out using anything with SLS in it, used to have horible dry skin and quite a lot of lady problems. Using natural SLS free toothpaste, soap, shampoo etc and a crystal deoderant and am right as rain - save a fortune on moisturiser too

Sodium laureth sulphate and paraben free here. Two evils!

[snohare]

Bisphenol A has long been known to be an endocrine disruptor, with the potential to disrupt many of the body's regulatory systems, not least of which is the reproductive system, where it may cause epigenetic changes. (That is, affect the germ cells that create an embryo, so that development and metabolism in the embryo are altered, often in sexual development. Many changes may persist for generations, eg diabetes.) But, as the father of toxicology Paracelsus said, "All is in the dose" - in other words, everything is a poison if you get too much.
The reason that BPA is now higher profile is that the effects of pollutants, and endocrine disruptors in particular, are now considered to be synergistic; if you have one pollutant with a rating of 2, another with 4, and a third with 5, a person ingesting all three would end up with a score of 40, not 11, because the pollutants multiply each other's effects. As more and more chemicals turn out to be endocrine disruptors, the chances of BPA having major effects on future generations (ADHD, anyone ?) have come to be seen as increasingly high. PET in water bottles is also on that list; the email/spam warning about recycling water bottles is the only one I've ever seen based on sound science, rather than being urban myth.
You certainly can say that it is harmful if the FDA banned it. I consider them largely unfit for purpose. (This is the organisation that passed Nutrasweet as safe on a nod and a wink. Chlorinated sugar, it's a great way of killing ants...as chlorine is a biocide !) They are hamstrung by lack of resources and political will, not just outwith the FDA but in its own leadership; they always did have to pick their battles, but increasingly, only court action by advocacy groups will force them to take precautionary or even remedial action. By comparison, the Swedes, who are sh!tkickingly good at toxicology, banned all plasticisers several years ago, not just in baby jars but everything else. (Granted, any area with snowpack at high latitudes is where all these pollutants tend to end up, so they have a bigger problem already.)
Aluminium and Alzheimer's was a tenuous link; both known to involve neuronal tangles (which it now turns out appear with all sorts of inflammation) - end of story. BPA and other endocrine disruptors by comparison are comparatively settled science: robust findings on mechanisms of causation and effect. Having learned years ago that the coatings in tins are often changed due to discovery of leachates, (tomato and fish are the worst) I now use glass for food wherever possible, particularly in the freezer and microwave, and avoid any plastics in contact with foods (eg clingfilm, cheese wrappers.). And yes, once exposed to air, any acidic matter in a tin will start to leach out metals in seconds, so bung it in a cup !
If you want to read about the subject, I can recommend Deborah Cadbury's "The Feminisation of Nature", which is probably one of the easiest to read science books I've ever come across.
If you are older it isn't too depressing, but if you are a young couple wanting to start a family, you will not like it... fairly lays a turd in the nest.
<And breathe>

[Hilary B]

Serious question... could the prevalence of endocrine disrupters be part of the reason why weight difficulties are increasingly prevalent?
I know that a lot of it is that people simply eat more than they burn off, but could there be a link betwee excess APPETITE and this sort of thing?

[Potstubsdustbins]

Don't know about that Hilary I think an awful lot of it is down to over eating and lack of exercise.

When I was young we were eating food that would disgust most people today, bread & dripping sarney with loads of salt was one of my favourite snacks. No one had a lot of money so Sat tea was 'chicklings' then it was fish & chips in lard of course, plus loads of fry ups etc.

But with no tele. no games consoles, no internet it was footy, cowboys and indians, cops and robbers, all games where we got loads of exercise. There was no school run I had a 2 mile walk to my secondary school and if you were late you ran, after all it was the strap if you were late. School sports were still complusory and competitive so we burnt of the fat. There were fat people, even obese people of course but far far fewer than today.

What seems to be happening is the children are getting overweight earlier, they then take less and less exercise and so the problem becomes worse with age.

Colin

[BroadRipple]

Hello chaps - bit late to this but yes feel strongly about it too...and with you VVG re: parabens and SLS...I recommend No More Dirty Looks as a very accessible book about avoiding them both in products...it's very depressing, isn't it? sometimes the number of scary things to avoid is overwhelming (and no I'm not in the Daily Mail 'everything causes or cures cancer' camp, just quite keen to, er, avoid cancer)...
Fantastic post SnoHare, thank you for it.

[veggiechicken]

Lots of the things you mention Potty, and that I remember, are frowned upon these days. Can you still buy "Chicklings"- Chitterlings to the unitiated - or real beef dripping in butcher's shops? Cowboys and Indians and cops and robbers are not allowed for various politically correct reasons. Children aren't allowed out to play on their own for fears of whoever may be lurking and schools cannot use any form of physical deterrent.
I find it all very sad that children do not have the freedom which we enjoyed. This is not intended to be a challenge to the younger forum members to argue for or against what I have said. It is merely a statement of fact - of how I grew up - and I would not swap that for one moment for the chance to be a child these days.

[SarzWix]

Yes, you can still buy beef dripping in butchers shops. And fresh suet.

Cowboys and indians wasn't really a good game though was it? Unless you're all for colonisation and driving indigenous peoples off their land...

[veggiechicken]

But we were all too young and innocent to associate it with real people and history. We watched the cowboy films at Saturday morning pictures and cheered the goodies in the white hats and booed the baddies in black. Then the game continued in the street and the back lanes. You just chose to be a goodie or a baddie and that was it!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Like you VC I wouldn't swap it for todays childhood. There must have been child molesters back then but I don't remember it being prevalent maybe we are just better informed these days. But my own very personal opinion is that we have gone soft on all types of crim's, punishments just don't seem to fit the crime anymore.

As to chicklings (as we call them) I had some just before Christmas, they are rare nowadays but with a little salt & vinegar and some B&B they are worth the effort. As to dripping last time I came across it was in a chippey just outside Leeds, they were still frying in dripping and drew customers from miles around.

And for our healthy eaters if you don't know what Chicklings are don't ask you will never speak to me again.

Colin

[Potstubsdustbins]

Sarz, your judging yester-years behavour by todays standards and it just does not work I am afraid.

Corporal & capital punishment were still around and PC hadn't been invented.

Colin

[VirginVegGrower]

Serious question... could the prevalence of endocrine disrupters be part of the reason why weight difficulties are increasingly prevalent?
I know that a lot of it is that people simply eat more than they burn off, but could there be a link betwee excess APPETITE and this sort of thing?

Quite possibly! Endocrine system = homones = instability of system/metabolism. My children have never been fed any meat other than organic at home. My daughter is one of only two in her year that fits her age group's clothes. I wonder how much of that is down to our meat chain. I forgot to add, the other girl is veggie.