What's in YOUR Ice Cream?

With the holidays upon us, a popular item around my house is eggnog ice cream. Most of my family loves eggnog, and eggnog ice cream mixed with milk makes an outstanding eggnog shake. The other day, while waiting on my shake to blend, I reached for the carton of eggnog ice cream and, being the label reader that I am, I started perusing the ingredients list. What I found there nearly caused me to drop the container and flush the whole thing down the garbage disposal.

Past the sugar, whey, lactose, etc that you expect to find on an ice cream label, there was listed, among other scientific sounding ingredients, one word that I recognized - propylene glycol. To those of you who aren't as avid (or rabid) about eliminating chemicals from our foods as I am, this is one of the main ingredients in anti freeze, among other things. See the link in the title above for more places where this very versatile chemical is used.

Now, I'm sure some of you think I'm overreacting and hyper-sensitive about these kinds of things, but I firmly believe that our environment and our bodies are constantly inundated with a barrage of hazardous substances like this in our daily lives. Don't believe me? Read the labels of the products you use every day and the list of chemicals used in and on the products you come in contact with at home, work and in your car. Really look, find out what's in the paint on the walls, what was used to stain the trim on the woodwork in your house, what pollutants may be leeching from the pipes in your plumbing in your house or office, what chemicals were used, and may remain, on the clothes you wear or the detergent you wash them in? We rarely give a thought to these things, yet they impact our health in ways we have yet to fully understand.

Studies are still underway to prove the ill effects that even relatively low levels of exposure to these substances can cause to our health. The potential risks are already widely recognized. What many people fail to take into account is the many sources of exposure. Too often we think of only what we eat, drink, breathe or directly apply to our skin are the only methods of exposure, but think about your environment; could you possibly be inhaling fumes from the paint in the room you're in, or off a chair that you recently purchased, or from wood stain on the trim, doors or cabinets around you?

And do you really know what's in your ice cream? Read the labels of everything you eat - you may be amazed at the proliferation of chemicals in an average American diet. Various chemicals are used for everything from preserving freshness, color, smell and taste to enhancing the taste of the food that we eat. All at the lowest possible cost to the manufacturer, of course.

The star of this article, propylene glycol, is found not only in antifreeze, but also in skin care products, pesticides, fungicides, and air fresheners. What is it doing in my ice cream, you may wonder? I wondered that too, and a little research led me to discover that one use of propylene glycol in the food industry is as what they call a flavor carrier. Now, why they need a flavor carrier rather than just dumping the flavoring into the ice cream before it's mixed and frozen is beyond me.

If you take nothing else away from this article, please think about what you're putting into or onto your body and try to be more aware of the impact you make on your health not only by using those products and devices, but what impact they make on our environment. There are healthier, greener choices out there, and you can make a difference by using them. Together, we can make the world a better place for our children, for it is they who will inherit the toxic aftermath of our greed for easier, faster, instantly-gratifying lifestyle choices.

Check back later for more articles about opportunities to make healthier choices for you and your family, or see the links section of our website at www.starleafva.com/links for a list of some of our favorite earth-friendly products.