Empowering Reading Unsafe at Any Meal: A Must-Read Book for All

… But especially a must-read for parents, grandparents, and people planning to have children.

Unsafe at Any Meal: What the FDA Does Not Want You to Know About the Foods You Eat, by Dr. Renee Joy Dufault. 2017. ISBN: 0757004369

This book should be a best-seller, placed into the hands of everyone looking to eat better and healthier… while not being poisoned by hidden ingredients in most conventional and convenience foods.

Every parent, every person thinking of having children, and every grandparent should have a particular interest in this book, as these food issues are especially critical for developing children, from conception to at least teens (and really for the rest of their lives).

This book is about the toxic metals that are allowed to be in our foods, and this information will be eye-opening to many, but beyond that, it is also a very well-written book about the connection between our foods and our health and offers excellent advice about the types of foods we should be eating for optimal health.

Dr. Dufault is an acclaimed scientist, with a doctorate in health education and many peer-reviewed articles and publications. The focus of this book comes from her work at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where she discovered unusual levels of mercury residue, a toxic metal, in the plumbing systems of food manufacturers, specifically those producing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), vegetable oils, and food coloring.

The FDA permits many questionable ingredients and additives to be listed as GRAS: generally recognized as safe. This means that food manufacturers can use them at will in the processing of their food products, even though the vast majority were never tested, but allowed by petition from those same food manufacturers. Amazingly, high fructose corn syrup, one of the leading causes of our metabolic health crisis, is a GRAS ingredient.

After disclosing her findings about the mercury to her bosses, she was blocked from publishing her findings, which led her to become a whistleblower on our behalf. After she left the FDA, she formed the nonprofit Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute (FIHRI).

In her own words: “This book is about creating a food supply in your home that is safe and free of toxic substances. These toxic substances include heavy metals (such as mercury) and pesticides… I illustrate how such substances (as well as our diets in general) are contributing to Western diseases like diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and more.”

But in case my passion for the book is not enough to convince you to buy the book, here are just some of the highlights.

Highlights from Unsafe at Any Meal

Here is a baker’s dozen of insights from this powerful book.

1. Heavy metal exposure comes from eating foods that were processed a certain way, but also from conventional farming poisoning the soils with high usage of synthetic pesticides. Some of these heavy metals include arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. All foods can contain pesticide residue, but especially those made with wheat and grains.

2. Heavy metals are a concern because they gradually build up in the blood and tissues, which can then lead to interference with gene functioning, which affects both body and brain health, as well as metabolism.

3. All convenience foods that contain ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup (which also goes by about eight other names to confuse consumers), vegetable oils, food coloring, and preservatives are most likely contaminated with heavy metals.

4. Some chemicals used extensively to manufacture foods are never listed on the ingredients list because it is not required to do so. These chemicals include chlorine, hydrogen chloride (hydrochloric acid), and sodium hydroxide (lye).

5. All sweeteners derived from corn increase the risk of mercury contamination, including corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, modified corn starch, and dextrose. The reason is that during the corn sweetener refining process, several chemicals are added to the mix. And in case you were unaware, corn sweeteners – because growing corn is subsidized by the U.S. government – are some of the cheapest and most widely used sweeteners in ultra-processed foods and beverages.

6. Unlike other parts of the world, the FDA allows the use of synthetic food coloring derived from sodium hydroxide and petroleum, which can contain amounts of heavy metal contamination. Dr. Dufault highlights the worst offenders: Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Red 40. The good news is that the danger of these dyes are being discussed at both the state and federal levels, with changes coming soon, hopefully.

7. A whole chapter discussing the many problems with the Western diet of ultra-processed foods, beverages, and snacks. As I and others have discussed elsewhere, this diet has led to a host of health conditions, especially in children and young people, including weight gain and obesity, diabetes, dementia, strokes, heart disease, and cancer. We are seeing many conditions in younger generations that in the past were only seen in people of advanced ages.

8. Because food production has changed so dramatically in just one generation – between 1970 and 2010, just 40 years – Americans have increased vegetable oil consumption by 250 percent and high fructose corn syrup consumption by 8,833 percent! I love how Dr. Dufault classifies HFCS as a refined sugar and vegetable oils as refined fats.

9. To improve your health, avoid ultra-processed foods and focus on a mix of these: organic fruits and vegetables, cold-pressed olive oil, grassfed beef and dairy, pastured chicken, low-mercury fish, nuts, legumes, and organic whole grains.

10. Regarding the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders, she states, “Most scientists now agree that the root causes of autism and ADHD are related to gene-environment interactions associated with toxic substance exposures, either in the mother’s womb or after the child is born.” These exposures come from lead and pesticide residue, especially organophosphate chemicals used in both farming and on lawns. These exposures include eating conventionally-raised foods of all kinds, which are most foods in the grocery store, including most baby formulas and foods.

11. Memorize this statement: “It is important to acknowledge at the onset that food labels are deceptive in their marketing, and this is how toxic substances enter our food supply. The labels omit trace contaminants and processing chemicals that the FDA does not require.” Ironic, because as mentioned, one of the most dangerous ingredients is right in plain sight, but listed as “generally accepted as safe” (GRAS): high fructose corn syrup.

12. Many people may be confused about what the FDA actually does for us as consumers. The FDA is only an enforcement agency; it does not determine whether a food ingredient is safe or not. The FDA is simply an agency that determines if food producers are following the rules.

13. Many food producers make unfounded health claims that contribute to the confusion of consumers who are seeking healthier choices. “Many claims made by manufacturers on food packaging are indeed, false or misleading.”

Final Thoughts About Unsafe at Any Meal

This book is a tour de force on the health dangers that lurk in our food system, especially for pregnant mothers and young children, and should be on everyone’s bookshelf.

I suggest making this book a gift for all occasions because it is imperative that we understand how dangerous our food system is to our health.

Our Standard American Diet (SAD) is a slow killer that leads many down the path of chronic conditions and premature death. But beyond how bad these foods are for us, the potential for heavy metal accumulation is also a danger.

High fructose corn syrup, vegetable oils, heavy metals, and organophosphate pesticides are in many conventionally produced processed and ultra-processed packaged, frozen, takeout, and convenience foods.

Buying organic helps tremendously to lower all these toxic elements, though organic is not perfect either. My current recommendation is to find farms and ranches raising food regeneratively and organically, which provides the most nutrient-dense foods.

Buy this book today!