The Debate Continues: Organic foods are better for you and your family. Posted on August 7, 2018 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on The Debate Continues: Organic foods are better for you and your family. There is so much written about the organic certification of foods and food safety standards in general. Unfortunately, much of it is written by individuals working for companies who either don’t know any better or who are trying to confuse consumers. Should claims be made that agrichemicals are “cooked off” when a food product, such as an enteral formula, is heated. This is either wishful thinking or someone working from the ‘say it and it must be true’ model. I must admit as an advocate for organic and sustainable farming these past 28 years, it strikes a nerve when I see this information. No wonder there is so much confusion around the better choices we can make when this kind of misinformation is present. While research indicates that some agrichemicals (there’s a lot more to being organic than eliminating pesticides) may be more susceptible to heat and high heat processing, they are not the norm. Out of all of the fumigants, fungicides, herbicides, pesticides and antibiotics used in conventional farming, only a small number drop off to lower levels after extended cooking times (1,2). No one should say that extended cooking eliminates chemicals, it is simply not true. Continue reading →
Obesogens: No safe limit for our food or our skin. Posted on April 3, 2018 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on Obesogens: No safe limit for our food or our skin. Functional Formularies hopes to raise awareness around a group of chemicals, ingredients, and common household toxins that are proven to contribute to obesity and insulin resistance. Collectively described as obesogenic, these substances interfere with communication channels within our cells and alter our metabolism. Some of these obesogens are well studied and have become more familiar to consumers as they appear in headlines. Others are less known by most Americans but are often just as damaging to human health. There are numerous mechanisms by which they disrupt normal processes in the body. Many are also classified as endocrine disruptors because they create a very potent estrogen-like effect on cells and a few are also carcinogenic, with strong links to specific types of cancer. All of them however, are proven to increase a child’s risk of becoming obese. Of course sugar consumption and a lack of physical activity are major causes, but the addition of these molecules to an individual’s chemistry creates an even more likely pattern of metabolic disease. Continue reading →