Don’t be fooled by the ads: “It looks like butter; it tastes like butter… It must be butter.”
Chances are it’s toxic filth called diacetyl, which the food industry laughingly calls “butter flavor”.
Chronic exposure to diacetyl, may worsen the harmful effects of a protein in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study conducted by the University of Minnesota and published in the Aug 2012 issue of the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
The structure of diacetyl is similar to beta-amyloid proteins, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.
Diacetyl is used to give a buttery taste and aroma to common food items such as margarines, snack foods, candy, baked goods, pet foods and other products.
It’s already known to cause respiratory and other health problems among workers at microwave popcorn and food-flavoring plants.
Now diacetyl has been found to increase the amount of beta-amyloid clumping in the brain. And it worsened the beta-amyloid protein’s harmful effects on nerve cells grown in a lab.
Unfortunately, diacetyl is one of only a few chemicals which can cross the “blood-brain barrier,” and get into places where it is dangerous. Diacetyl also prevents a beneficial protein from protecting nerve cells.
Same message as always: eat only fresh whole and NEVER trust the food industry to care about health and safety above profits.
[SOURCE: American Chemical Society, news release, Aug. 1, 2012]