Eating these popular foods can be disastrous for your health

A new study finds that routine consumption of products high in preservatives can dramatically reduce one’s immune response as well as the effectiveness of vaccines—including doses targeted against COVID-19.

The new paper was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

The preliminary analysis additionally supports preservatives potentially surging a consumer’s risk for cancer, neurodegeneration, and hormone disruption.

“The pandemic has focused public and scientific attention on environmental factors that can impact the immune system,” explains the study’s lead author, Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., study and EWG vice president for science investigations, in a media release.

“Before the pandemic, chemicals that may harm the immune system’s defense against infection or cancer did not receive sufficient attention from public health agencies. To protect public health, this must change.”

The research centers around a common chemical preservative found in over 1,250 food items called, tert-butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ.

TBHQ is found the most abundantly in snack crackers, noodles, frozen foods, and dessert and breakfast products like Pop-Tarts and Rice Krispies Treats.

Despite the chemical’s prevalence, there isn’t much research literature on its toxicity.

The new paper observed data logged in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxicity Forecaster (ToxCast) to staff their new findings.

Toxicology screenings on both animal and human models revealed that TBHQ dramatically impairs the function of immune cell proteins. The pervasive was also determined to blunt the efficacy of flu vaccines and compound food allergies in some samples.

Moreover, “forever chemicals,” (chemicals that keep packaging material from breaking down under typical environmental conditions) can transfer from packaging to the food inside the packaging.

Recent literature, albeit limited in depth, indicated that forever chemicals, alternatively referred to as PFAS, may increase one’s chances of suffering severe manifestations of COVID-19 after contracting the preceding virus, SARS-CoV-2.

“Food manufacturers have no incentive to change their formulas,” adds Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at EWG. “Too often, the FDA allows the food and chemical industry to determine which ingredients are safe for consumption. Our research shows how important it is that the FDA take a second look at these ingredients and test all food chemicals for safety.”

Unfortunately, not all food packaging lists TBHQ as a prominent ingredient. The researchers responsible for the findings indexed above intend to encourage manufacturers to develop alternative methods of food preservation in the near future.

“Joint consideration of toxicological and high-throughput screening data suggests that chemicals directly or indirectly added to food for decades—such as PFAS and TBHQ—may show previously unanticipated effects on the immune system. From the public policy perspective, the discovery of impacts on human health of substances that have long been used in consumer products and food products suggests that the pre-market safety evaluation of these substances was inadequate,” the authors concluded in the report.

“We recommend that immunotoxicity testing should be prioritized in order to protect public health, and immunotoxicity analysis should be, in our estimate, an integral part of chemical safety assessment.”