Truly Terrifying Treats

Ready to dive into your Halloween candy?  Not me.  PGPR?  Vanillin?  TBHQ?   Those are the ingredients found in many chocolate products, including Twix, Mounds, Reese’s, and Hershey’s.  My kid’s pre-school gave us a box of these petroleum and lighter-fluid-filled products to sell to raise money.  (I will be making alternative suggestions for next year’s fund-raiser.)

PGPR, or polyglycerol polyricinoleate, is derived from castor oil and replaces cocoa butter.  That doesn’t sound too bad, aside from cheapening the product, except cocoa butter is where the phenols (potent antioxidants) and the stearic acid come from.  These  prevent cholesterol from building up in arteries and increase the good LDL in the blood.  Beware of health labels touting dark chocolate as an antioxidant if they’ve replaced the cocoa butter with castor oil.  Wikipedia details this: 

• Castor oil and its derivatives have applications in the manufacturing of soaps, lubricants, hydraulic and brake fluids, paints, dyes, coatings, inks, cold resistant plastics, waxes and polishes, nylon, pharmaceuticals and perfumes.[5]  
• The castor seed contains ricin, a toxic protein. Harvesting castor beans is not without risk.[6] Allergenic compounds found on the plant surface can cause permanent nerve damage, making the harvest of castor beans a human health risk. India, Brazil, and China are the major crop producers, and the workers suffer harmful side effects from working with these plants.[7] These health issues, in addition to concerns about the toxic byproduct (ricin) from castor oil production, have encouraged the quest for alternative sources for hydroxy fatty acids.[8][9] 
• Alternatively, some researchers are trying to genetically modify the castor plant to prevent the synthesis of ricin.[10]”   

Vanillin  is our next villain.  Beside being a cheap imitation of vanilla, is a petroleum product.  It is made from guaiacol – a petrochemical, because it’s cheaper.  It’s supposedly safe, but how much petroleum is safe to consume?  Think about it: If most of what you eat comes from processed foods, what artificial and chemically-derived ingredients are building up in your system?  How can a combination of these additives, used to make “food” cheaper to produce and last longer, effect your health?

Finally, what is TBHQ?  Officially, Tertiary Butylhydroquinone.  In plain English, it’s lighter fluid.  The FDA allows foods to contain up to 0.02% TBHQ in the total oils.  This is not just a candy additive to prevent rancidity, but found in processed foods, convenience foods, and McDonald’s chicken nuggets.  Natural News states:

• Consuming high doses (between 1 and 4 grams) of TBHQ can cause nausea, delirium, collapse, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and vomiting. 
• There are also suggestions that it may lead to hyperactivity in children as well as asthma, rhinitis and dermatitis. It may also further aggravate ADHD symptoms and cause restlessness. 
• Long term, high doses of TBHQ in laboratory animals have shown a tendency for them to develop cancerous precursors in their stomachs, as well as cause DNA damage to them. It is also suggested that it may be responsible for affecting estrogen levels in women.

While it’s rare for my family to buy fast food (we prefer Wendy’s or Dunkin Donuts when we do need food on the run), I will not eat a fast food chicken nugget again or serve butane-tainted food to my family.  This does not make for a happy meal.

One way to avoid these toxins and support sustainability is to give out sustainable chocolate.    These chocolates have the cocoa butter and anti-oxidants without cutting down rain forests or supporting child labor.  Here are a few good brands: GREEN HALLOWEEN.  You could also give out  apples, toys, and home-made treats.  A little known fact: The first news story about the razor in the apple was faked, but it certainly helped the candy companies.  Why fear the food companies when we can fear each other?