9 reasons to avoid canned foods

Canned foods are the most convenient way to churn up a meal! Read on to know how safe it is to use canned preparations for the children and adults in your household.

Canned foods use canning technique and preservatives to provide the food with a longer shelf life. However, these food products that simplify our life can harm the body as well. Read on to know the effects of canned foods that you so dearly enjoyed for years.

It has Bisphenol (BPA). Most of the cans have a coating of BPA, particularly the aluminum cans. This chemical can imitate hormones of our body and hence are harmful to our health. BPA can result in reproductive disorders, heart disease, male impotence, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes etc. So, buy cans which are labeled BPA free to save yourself from its harmful effects.

It contains Azodicarbonamide (ADA). The bleaching agent ADA might be present in some canned products, particularly the canned raisin brown bread. This ‘yoga mat chemical’ has been reported to increase the risk of asthma and cancer.

Sodium nitrate and sulfites. Preservatives such as sulfites and sodium nitrate are most commonly used that can severely harm people who have been advised a low-salt diet, especially if they eat canned preparations very often. So, rinse the canned food in water several times to get rid of some of the salt.

Low nutritional content. Canned foods are mostly processed in some way or the other by use of pressure, heat, and food additives. All of these processing techniques lower the nutritive value of food. Also, the air tight containers lack oxygen that further decreases the vitamin content of the food product. To top it all, no food product can match the taste, flavor, and nutritional content of the fresh product.

Use of artificial flavors and colors. It has been studied that many “natural” flavors may also contain synthetic chemicals, so try to avoid canned foods containing both natural and artificial flavors.

Uncertain quality assurance. With the large scale production of food products, it is quite possible that some canned food, which otherwise does not qualify for quality approval, may, by mistake, be carrying the label of quality approval.

Oxidation. We store opened canned goods in the refrigerator to save them from turning bad. But, this actually has a reverse effect on the food as the material that is used in making cans gets oxidized easily due to the presence of oxygen in the refrigerator. So, you must transfer the canned food products in another non-reactive material for safe storage.

Acidic reaction with the tin. Acidic foods like fruit juice and tomatoes tend to react with the iron and tin used in making the food storage cans, which gives a metallic taste to the food. It can lead to tin poisoning, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea as well.

Using suboptimal quality of ingredients. Most large scale food manufacturers use suboptimal quality of ingredients or the leftover of the farmers market to manufacture their product. So, this may very well not be something that you would like to pay for, right?