Why is Trisodium Phosphate in Our Food?
Why is Trisodium Phosphate in Our Food?
(Originally posted on Mar 25, 2013)
Using the example of Banana Nut Cheerios, let’s just forget for a minute that there are GMO ingredients in this cereal. And let’s also forget that it contains A LOT of sugar…check this out:
- Sugar
- Brown Sugar Syrup
- Corn Syrup
…and if that wasn’t enough sugar, it also has
- Dried Corn Syrup
(Yeah…“Heart Healthy Cereal” …wink- wink)
So besides all that sugar, could someone please explain to me why this cereal contains Trisodium Phosphate? And it’s not just limited to this cereal; in fact, it is found in many other cereals and other types of food as well!
Per the Website In R Food, Trisodium Phosphate has the potential for the following adverse health effects:
“The FDA claims that Trisodium phosphate in certain amounts is not a risk in food, but some reports and agencies have deemed it a hazardous substance. The Clean Water Act has taken steps to limit the use of TSP in cleaning supplies because it damages the environment. Phosphates are required of the human body, however trisodium phosphate is an inorganic chemical phosphate. There are other organic sources of necessary phosphates that are proven to be safe and beneficial for consumption.
TSP has not been proven to be toxic to humans as a food additive, but has shown to be severely irritating to the gastric mucosa unless part of a buffered solution. Trisodium phosphate may reduce accumulation of lactic acid in muscles. Excess intake of TSP may produce an imbalance of minerals that lead to loss of calcium from bone and a calcification of the kidneys. The daily limit of trisodium phosphate is recommended to be 70mg. TSP consumed as part of a Western junk food diet sometimes reaches upwards of 500mg, which leads to an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.”
So the FDA states that Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) is “Not a risk in food”, yet on the website PAN Pesticides Database – Chemicals it clearly states to “Avoid all Contact”!
You may be interested in knowing that TSP is also found in:
- Processed meat products
- Processed cheeses
- Many canned soups
- Acts as a leavening agent in many commercial cakes and baked goods
As well as:
- Toothpaste
- Whitening Toothpaste
- Baby Toothpaste
- Mouthwash
- Hair coloring and bleaching agents
When you think about all of the health problems in this country, and what the FDA allows in our food, you can’t help but wonder if there is a purposeful connection.
What do you think?
Update: It appears that as of 2017, Banana Nut Cheerios have been discontinued…per Cheerios replying to disappointed customers,
“We’re so sorry for the disappointment!
Sometimes products aren’t as successful as we anticipate, and so ultimately, we have to make the decision to discontinue them.
We’ll make sure to let our product team know how much you miss them.
Thank you!”
Hmmmmm…..interesting! 😉
Resources
- Trisodium Phosphate in Toothpaste Guide
- PAN Pesticides Database – Chemicals
- Ingredient Information Trisodium Phosphate
- Banana Nut Cheerios
is a board-certified Chiropractic Physician and Life Coach who also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Biology, and a minor in Medical Research. She is a life-long athlete who after curing herself 100% naturally from MS and anxiety, became an avid nutrition health researcher/promoter.
She has been featured in many Health magazines and has been a guest on radio talk shows in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia. She is the author of Health Freedom Revolution: Exposing the Lies, Deceit and Greed of the Medical Profession, Founder of Online Holistic Health, and a contributing writer for other popular informative health website/blogs.
She is the host of Holistic Health Radio – where she discusses how she recovered her health as well as other hot health topics, and she is also co-founder of Crazy Meets Common Sense! – The Podcast that Makes Sense Out of the Crazy, to Help You Live a More Healthy, Fulfilling and Empowering Life!
Illness vs. Industry: Will Scientists Ever Find a “Cure” for Cancer? | Wake Up World
May 23, 2013 @ 9:01 am
[…] Fluoride, and other dangerous chemicals […]
Jim Collier
December 27, 2013 @ 10:45 am
They list it because they don’t trust themselves to rinse their equipment after cleanings. Water is money. 🙁
Health & Organic Wellbeing ( H.O.W )
December 27, 2013 @ 10:45 am
Thank you for sharing this information!
June 20, 2014 @ 12:06 pm
Okay I’m not happy about this substance being in breakfast cereal but I still don’t know why is it there. This is the second article I have read and I am still non the wiser as to why it is in there. Answers please!
June 24, 2014 @ 1:00 pm
what a load of BS–TSP is nothing more then sodium and phophorus which can increase health valuefor the boy—increase ATP production—stablize heart–remove fatty build up in the liver and gall bladder—and reduce lactic acid—in a balance with potassium will increase stamina and strenght—and people say it is a cleaning agent—so is vinegar and vinegar which ever form has benefits —alot of angst and BS over nothing this also regulates calcium deposits and can restore calcium back to it’s proper place—
fear mongering and over zealous nonsense—you may want to stop eating all yur veges as well due to the arsenic plants have in them as a defence mechanism—such foolishness
Anon
July 24, 2014 @ 10:17 am
Hello Anon, thank you for your very passionate response! There is a big difference between what occurs in nature, and what has been made chemically in a lab. Anything can be combined or taken apart… such as water for example. H2O as you know is basically harmless. However when taken apart…hydrogen and oxygen, then become two very different elements; potentially extremely dangerous.
I totally agreed with your comment regarding arsenic. Arsenic is found nearly everywhere, and has the potential to kill you. However, it is the main component of apricot seeds that actually “kills” cancer cells. Yet, I still would not want to see arsenic added to food…or Cheerios (since this is the topic here).
I am sorry that you see this as “fear mongering” 🙁
What I consider to be fear mongering are all the commercials on TV that try to convince people that we need this or that drug! (my favorite is “when diet and exercise are not enough”)
After curing myself 100% naturally from MS, what support is organic, holistic living. And there is nothing “fearful” about that! 🙂
Thanks for your comment!
July 24, 2014 @ 10:25 am
I agree with you Neil. Supposedly it is there to maintain freshness. However, organic cereals (or other foods) seem to maintain freshness without these additives. With that said, I personally do not need cereal to last for months (or years)! Foods are meant to go bad over time. Have you come across the McDonald’s experiments that have been all over internet? Their food apparently never goes bad. For me…this is a problem. Because whatever is causing these foods to not decay, is likely something not natural and unrecognizable to digestion.
August 3, 2014 @ 1:47 pm
I had a friend who used trisodium phosphate in his carpet cleaning business. One day he told me that they had banned the substance from use as a cleaner because they found out it was bad for the environment. Now they put it in our food? No wonder people are getting sick. Recently I found out that they are putting propylene glycol in our food too. I saw it on an ingredient list for ice cream two days ago. Propylene Glycol is Anti-freeze. My dog licked a bottle of anti-freeze one day and that night he died! To me, such things should not be in our food.
How did you help your health? What did you do to eat better?
August 7, 2014 @ 1:54 pm
Hi John, Thanks for your comment! I totally agree!I eat only organic whole foods including organically raised animal protein. I also eat quite a bit of fats such as avocado, coconut, nuts, and of course animal fats (butter, etc). And LOTS of filtered water! Nearly a gallon a day! 😉
October 13, 2014 @ 3:54 pm
It seems that a doctor would do a little research and not rely on internet myths. Not to mention the bs organic fallacy. Natural is not always better or safer.
http://skepticalteacher.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/the-myth-of-the-non-decomposing-mcdonalds-hamburger/
October 13, 2014 @ 7:59 pm
Wow…quackery has no patience for truth. Make lots of money…
October 14, 2014 @ 9:11 am
Hi Dr. Kmiec,
Im really new to learning about GMO’s and clean eating. Ive started including organic in my diet but would like to continue to improve my familys health. Do you have any websites where I can learn more about healthy eating? Also, my mom has MS and I may also have it. What could you recommend we do to improve our health and help heal. Or maybe a website that lists things to help cure MS? I really appreciate your time and any advise you can give.
Thank you,
Jessica
October 14, 2014 @ 10:07 am
The “quackery” IS making lots of money! It’s called chemical-ridden food, which in the end causes people to get sick with only one medical answer – Big Pharma! Profiting billions and billions of dollars per year! And have you noticed…people are still getting sicker!
October 14, 2014 @ 10:08 am
Hmmmmm…is your link an example of “research”? Thanks.. 😉
October 15, 2014 @ 8:02 am
Back off topic.. to John’s comment about anti freeze. Propylene glycol is a water absorber. Diethylene or ethylene glycol is the dangerous ingredient in anti freeze. PG is used as a dehydrator, a thickener.. many foods. Not saying it’s safe. But just listing the difference to clarify.
TSP… not safe. But also listed in its safety is ability to consume not on its own as a dry substance (very harmful) but when mixed with other ingredients, in small amounts. So yes, eating a whole box of lucky charms might make you sick not only from the sugar content, but from its other ingredients also.
October 15, 2014 @ 8:13 am
Dr. kmiec, you say you cured yourself of MS, i woukd like to know exactly how you did this! I also have MS, and every bit of information I have and found there is no cure. You can live very successfully with it and exibit no symptoms like I do. But there is still no cure. I can not remylinate my nerve tracts, or heal the scars with new mylin. Are you stating a actual cure or just a complete remission of the MS with ni symptoms?
October 15, 2014 @ 8:40 am
Hi Thomas! I sure did, and it wasn’t easy. It took many years of changing everything in my life: diet, mega nutrition, and my “way of thinking”…and it was all worth it! Much like many people who have cured themselves of cancer, ALS and diabetes, curing MS is just as possible!
MY brief story can be found here, and coming early this November is my story (via video) in detail regarding MS and Anxiety!
https://www.onlineholistichealth.com/control-life-health/
Regarding ALS: https://www.onlineholistichealth.com/als-does-not-have-to-be-a-death-sentence/
October 15, 2014 @ 10:38 am
Ms. Kmiec, you deserve a pass on this article, because your education is in Human Biology, not Organic Chemistry, I can understand why you fail to grasp the properties of TSP and its uses. Anon’s comment above touched on many of the positives uses for TSP in food, but you disregarded many of his facts. I would read up on some of those uses and then come back to edit your editorial.
October 15, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
Hi, I have a question as far as the organic eating. Being on a fixed income with four people to feed, the prices are high and you don’t get nearly the amount of food needed to even last three days…I have tried. I suffer from hypothyroidism and have actually managed to lowered my dosage of medication all with changing certain foods in and out of my diet…however, I did not achieve it with organic foods. I would love to eat healthier foods where I know the chicken I feed my family wasn’t being given hormone injections and whatnot. Any suggestions on how to buy healthier wholesome foods such as meat at an affordable price?
October 15, 2014 @ 1:51 pm
Thanks for the “pass”, but I stand by the article as it currently stands. Whenever “positive uses” of any substances affects human health, it’s time to reevaluate how it is being used. Especially when it is an unnecessary ingredient. Not surprising though as many similar arguments have been made regarding other so-called “safe” food additives. So I guess it boils down to which research, and which evidence you choose to abide by.
October 15, 2014 @ 2:04 pm
Hi Sharon! Yes it can be quite expensive to eat organic foods. Too bad organic farmers have to pay ridiculous high fees to the government in order to have the organic label.
More and more grocery stores are now carrying their own organic food lines, which are less expensive than it use to be. Even stores such as Walmart now carry many organic foods. I don’t know where you live, but many places have farmer’s markets that offer affordable organic food. And even if the food isn’t “organic”, you have the opportunity to speak directly with the farmers and ask about their farming practices.
Choosing to eat organic takes much of the chemical burden off the body, which of course is a good thing. However, depending on the state of health of the individual, supplementing any nutritional deficiencies that have occurred may also (likely) be required. This is what I needed to do when I decided to cure myself naturally from MS – Because I was in a disease state, my body required mega nutrition. And though many results happened within a few months, other healing took up to 3 years.
October 16, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/tsp.asp
Dosage makes the poison. There are naturally occurring poisons in organic food, some in greater concentrations than some manufactured products.
October 16, 2014 @ 11:36 pm
Please clarify, heals type two diabetes as type one can’t be reversed or healed. No beta cells means no beta cells!
October 17, 2014 @ 2:08 am
I have to respectfully disagree with your statement “There is a big difference between what occurs in nature, and what has been made chemically in a lab”. I believe I know what you meant when you said this, but this statement, on it’s own, is patently false. Chemistry does not care if you put together two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen in a lab or it happens accidentally in nature. In both cases you get water and that water is indistinguishable from any other method of producing the substance. Chemicals are chemicals and trisodium phosphate made in a lab is exactly the same substance as trisodium phosphate found in nature.
That said, there is a big difference in how a chemical is used, and this is in part determined by the environment the chemical is in. For example, trisodium phosphate in large quantities in our lakes and rivers isn’t such a good thing for a lot of different reasons. But in our bodies it is basically as inert as the nitrogen you’re breathing. It simply does nothing for you. (Well, now that I think about it, it could help cure an over acidic stomach…)
Remember people, we have one of the world’s most powerful acids in the form of the HCL in our stomachs. That’s not good for the environment either if you were to turn it loose. You’ve got to stop thinking “bad for the environment = bad to be eaten. I know that sounds strange, but the equation is quite false.
Is trisodium phosphate needed in cereal? Probably not. Is trisodium phosphate harmful in your cereal? Probably not.
October 17, 2014 @ 8:49 am
I love TSP for cleaning walls prior to painting…the fact that it is in the favorite childhood cereals is appalling…was it in the cereal when we were consuming it 25+ years ago? Time to change my family’s way of thinking because those foods are out!!!! Unbelievable!!!
October 17, 2014 @ 10:17 am
Hi Sharon, like many food additives and chemicals of today, they were not in food decades ago.
October 17, 2014 @ 10:30 am
Hi Courtney, respectfully I also disagree with your comment. Can an apple, for example, be made in a lab? If broken down, an apple is merely a bunch of chemicals correct? Furthermore, we are also “nature” as we are organic beings. People are sicker today than they have ever been, despite all the pharmaceuticals. However we do have something that is very different regarding our food…more and more artificial chemicals as food additives. I mean, we even have “ice cream” sandwiches that do not melt in the heat? Perhaps if we all as a society turned our diets back to nature, then less drugs would be needed to mask the symptoms that the chemical foods have caused. After I cured myself from MS 100% naturally, and after eating only organic foods for years now, my body quickly reacts to any lab- made chemical in food that I may eat in a restaurant. Now, we all have our opinions, and I respect and enjoy debates, because I feel all sides should be seen by the public. So Thank you for sharing your side of this important disagreement! 🙂
October 17, 2014 @ 10:49 am
Hi Tom, diabetes type 2 is easily cured! Even allistic conventional medicine agrees with that. I agree, Type 1 diabetes is far more difficult to treat, however if caught early, diabetic neuropathy can be prevented with high-dose thiamine therapy…for example. Here are 2 articles that I found very interesting.
DIABETES AND THIAMINE: A NOVEL TREATMENT OPPORTUNITY http://www.hormonesmatter.com/diabetes-thiamine-treatment-opportunity/
Special Investigative Report: Curing Diabetes Naturally and Holistically http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/252-special-investigative-report-curing-diabetes-naturally-and-holistically.html
October 17, 2014 @ 10:53 am
You are so right Aron! Even a little arsenic will not kill…though I still would prefer not eating it on a daily basis. Plus, even water can be deadly! For me the bottom line question is why have any poison in food at all at any dosage…especially when it is not necessary?
October 17, 2014 @ 11:04 am
Half the time I read these angry troll-like, mechanical and industry insiderish responses, about how organic is a lie, or how non-naturally-chelated and created chemicals (less the residual solvents and contaminants or nature-equalized balance) are the same – I wonder what the possible motivation could be beyond programming, sides-taking, or a feeling of powerlessness (fluoride, tsp, and propylene glycol are good examples).
Then again, we seem to have a history in this country of caveman-centric values, and remaining on the wrong side of history, until education and evolution catch up. Or civil war. It seems the angry “Anon”s of this world are meant to polarize and galvanize those that want more (or less) from nature (but not necessarily “natural” as we’ve seen from special interest controls of the FDA).
October 17, 2014 @ 2:03 pm
It’s a salt! Have a seat.
October 18, 2014 @ 2:59 pm
It’s a no-brainer. Eat what nature provides as a whole food, and which has been consumed for millenia. But introduce an isolated or lab-created compound into food (or even “as food” itself) and it essentially becomes a drug. And with drugs, the long-term side effects are always unpredictable, as is clearly shown by the number of medical drugs once approved by the FDA, but later recalled by the FDA and/or sued over. Isolate a specific compound/molecule from a medicinal herb and it becomes a drug. With processed foods, we are essentially eating drug-infused foods…with the only difference being that it doesn’t come in a pill form (yet).
Yes, some drugs or isolated compounds, whether they can be found in whole foods or can only be lab-created, are relatively safe…such as certain vitamins, minerals, hydrogen peroxide, herbal extracts, and even a small handful of medical drugs (eg, old school drugs like metformin, morphine, digitalis, lidocaine, etc.) if used reasonably or short term only.
Whole (full spectrum) foods have a track record of safety spanning thousands of years. I don’t recall anyone dying from consuming apples, unless they accidentally choked on it. But the emergence of numerous freak (mostly autoimmune) diseases has become a global epidemic…no doubt the result of vaccines, junk food, food additives, GMO’s, industrial toxins, pesticides, medical drugs, and so on.
Kind of hard to wrap my head around the idea that these freak diseases could’ve come from eating whole, unadulturated, uncontaminated foods! Of course the drug & food giants will have the people believing there’s no solid evidence their chemicals are harmful, because they know that science will take decades to confirm they are harmful…all the while they make millions, people get sicker, food becomes inedible, and the globalist (fascist elite) agenda continues on.
October 20, 2014 @ 2:20 pm
Everyone should be reading Silent Spring. It may have been written in the 60’s but it’s relevant today.
October 21, 2014 @ 2:42 pm
Agreed! Thank you! Here is a link to the book!
http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Spring-Rachel-Carson/dp/0618249060
October 28, 2014 @ 12:28 am
15 years ago I wondered why there was TSP in Cheerios, so I called the phone number on the box. they said it was used as a acid nuetrailizer. You can buy food grade TSP, and in the PROPER CONTEXT it can be good for you.
November 5, 2014 @ 11:34 pm
ED: Why does Cheerios need an “acid neutralizer”?
January 11, 2015 @ 5:06 pm
Hello, I am 8 year old Suzannah Cole and I am doing a report on cancer and this is one of the main reasons. Why do they put this stuff in our food. Now I can’t have my favorite cereal Lucky Charms. I bet the cereal will taste just as good as if it didn’t. There are making lots and lots of money for killing or putting people in the hospital that is not right. I think they should try making the cereals without this I mean it is just ridiculous. Why are they getting rewarded with something that is wrong. If I could change one thing about this world it would be not letting people hurt or kill themselves by telling the general mills company that they can not sell anymore of this cereal. Did you know that some energy drinks have this too. Thanks for hearing what I half to say.
-Suzannah Cole
January 15, 2015 @ 1:56 pm
Hello Suzannah, Yes I hear your frustration and I feel exactly the same way! Although many other common carcinogenic ingredients are allowed in food than Trisodium Phosphate. I think you’d be interested in also reading another article ‘ADHD & Cancer Linked to Food Dyes‘ (which includes your favorite cereal Lucky Charms – sorry to say).
March 11, 2015 @ 11:06 am
Hi, I came across your site by researching something totally different. But none the less I am here. I just wanted to applaud you for your work and also taking the time out to share your story. You are a great motivation to myself who has one child 11 years old who I wasn’t so Heath conscious with, and now I have a 5 month old and I find myself turning into a health FREAK. I do not and WILL not feed my baby, baby food. All veggies fruits are blended organically and even though I am not living the healthiest lifestyle I TRY to make sure my children make better decisions than the ones that I was given as a child. When you were RAISED eating badly it’s VERY hard to steer away from that lifestyle but not IMPOSSIBLE. Manade sugars and salty foods are a REAL addiction for me so I along SURE that my child is not even introduced to it, PERIOD. Please ignore the negative responses and know that you have truly inspired me
March 16, 2015 @ 11:59 am
Thank you so much Tabitha! I appreciate your kind words! You are also an inspiration to those who read your message! Thank you for sharing!
Plastic Cheese Exposed: Who Would Seriously Eat This Stuff?? | The Vision Times
March 25, 2015 @ 5:39 am
[…] stabilizer found in processed cheese is trisodium phosphate. This inorganic chemical compound is also used as a strain remover, lubricant, and a degreaser. […]
March 29, 2015 @ 8:55 am
Believe it or not doc, I found about this from a goofball guy saying a mouthwash from trisodium phosphate, baking soda and distilled water can help teeth regenerate. I actually think he might be up to something here, although I would consider this as a special, temporary treatment.
It seems this thing really balances some minerals for the teeth and it is phosphorus with sodium after all. You would also see that it was seen as an athletic enhancer.
Definitely no place in DAILY food though. I don’t think we used to make oats or cereals back in the day NEEDING this. Some crazy chemist just decided its a good idea to reduce the acidity of a food that was too shitty, by making it more shitty.
April 10, 2015 @ 4:22 am
Doctor, I agree with you. My particular issue is with MSG, monosodium glutamate, and how many processed foods this stuff is in. I am very allergic to this stuff and yet the industry will simply ignore people like me and say we are not allergic, we are just ‘sensitive’ or ‘intolerant’ to msg. Well and fine except that estimates range between 10-20% of the population are ‘sensitive’ to msg with myriad consequences from ingesting this poison.
I can accept that glutamates occur naturally in foods but the manufactured, synthesized, processed food type are a killer for me. Within a half hour of ingesting the stuff I will have a migraine headache which will last from 24-48 hrs. depending on my dosage and then I need a full day to recover. So no, I don’t have a anaphylactic reaction and probably won’t die from msg like some do with peanuts or shell fish, but it causes severe reactions that are painful and costly in my life. Oh but nevermind, it has so many cost benefits to the food industry that a few headaches are nothing compared to the money to be made.
April 10, 2015 @ 5:32 am
Reference the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for TSP:
http://www.realmilkpaint.com/msds_tsp.html
Also, read warnings at paint shops about using care when cleaning with TSP. Reports say it was banned because of widespread use and harm to the environment, e.g. doing your laundry, but you have to be careful simply using this to clean walls in paint prep.
April 13, 2015 @ 5:03 pm
I have to agree with Anon that TSP is fine – it is only sodium and phosphorus in a non toxic chemical compound. it truly is non toxic. It is caustic and irritating if it is concentrated. Another example would by lye, or NaOh, which caused a ruckus from being in babyfood. it was only there as an acidity regulator and is 100% non toxic in a diluted presentation. Now, if we stop looking at the dust that is on the bullet, and look at the bullet itself, COLD CEREAL is generally toxic. Even whole grain puffs with NO ADDED INGREDIENTS other than whole wheat actually kill rats who are fed a diet of it, quicker than starving them on water only! The processing of cold cereals is done at about 200psi and over 400 degrees C, according to the American Association of Cereal Chemists. results in a tasty flaky light product filled with toxic byproducts from the extreme heat and pressure. But the research I saw was strictly gagged because the cold cereal industry is worth billions, yes I said billions of dollars.
June 18, 2015 @ 10:25 am
While I generally avoid food additives as much as possible, I did some research on TSP and it doesn’t seem all that bad. The EWG rates it as 0 so they are saying that it is not a concern and it is also recognized as safe by the European regulating agencies and since they have much higher standards than the FDA I tend to see what they have to say rather than the FDA.
June 21, 2015 @ 2:15 am
I loved your attention to detail, no it has no place in our food but GM buys excess crap from the chemical manufacturing companies in bulk because it’s cheap. My children I can count on one hand how many times they’ve even had store bought cereal, no need for it, there’s always a juicy, delicious selection of fruits and vegetables in our Southern climate to eat. Great site!
August 3, 2015 @ 5:36 am
Nice article. Here we see the problem in the responses to it. We ALLOW these ingredients in our food, fabrics, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, soaps, etc. by believing the lies of the industry and taking a passive position. And not even the food suppliers as the biggest culprit, but the chemical manufacturers themselves with their bogus reports, studies, and billions of dollars for lobbying to protect the lack of laws that govern their use. The FDA and EPA don’t do as much testing as people think. And their hands are tied in the matter. There are laws still in place today that prevent any agency from saying anything other than “recognized as safe” for most of the chemicals in use. Watch the movie “The Human Experiment”. They made my job and explanation easier.
We think it’s safe because people eat these things their whole lives and aren’t sick right away. They are sick actually but don’t know it. They have GI problems or anxiety or ADD or sleep problems etc. and call it genetics or, even better, “environmental factors”. But the life threatening issues don’t show up usually until later in life. The issue isn’t one single chemical. It’s our low level chronic exposure and consumption of these chemicals over a lifetime. It’s slow to act in a life-threatening manner and we’re fooled into thinking the diseases we get are “mysterious”. It’s not a mystery. And it’s not debatable either. It’s a fact. If you feel you need scientific evidence, then you’ve been fooled. None are coming. Throughout history, money has always ruled. And in this country, the corporations rule. They buy the laws, and they protect themselves with them.
Everyone feels that our science is so advanced and if it can’t prove that fruits, vegetables, and herbs have healing properties, then they must not. Or if they can’t prove a chemical is harmful, then it isn’t. But that’s not the case. Our science is limited and in addition, a study is only as good as it’s designed. They’re a lot like statistics, you can show any result you want depending on how you design it. And most are designed with a predetermined result in mind to protect business and economy. Just look at numbers, the deaths and diseases are most beneficial to the 1% by supporting all business industry. Those that cause them, and those claiming to heal them.
The fact is that these chemicals are killing us softly. And every time we opt for these deadly foods, not only are we taking in the chemicals, but we’re missing an opportunity to take in the most amazing nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that our bodies are designed/evolved to function with. So now we’re adding those toxins, AND missing out on the things that our bodies use to eliminate them, not to mention FUNCTION properly. What baffles me is that everyone instinctively and inherently knows this to be true. We don’t even NEED science to make sense of it. As a professional in the field of holistic health…I’ve seen to much healing to deny it.
August 4, 2015 @ 9:07 am
Great article! I am always trying to bolster reasoning to cut out any processed rubbish in the foods my partner and myself feed ourselves and our two young kids. Unfortunately My partner isn’t so easily convinced and can be somewhat guarded about change. To my dismay she continues to buy Nestle Clusters cereal for the kids breakfast! (Although thankfully they have porridge or our homemade bread most days)
Thanks to Philip B, you summed it all up perfectly!
5 little-known facts about chicken meat that can affect your health
August 12, 2015 @ 6:09 am
[…] to avoid contamination and make the meat microbiologically safe, chicken meat is treated with trisodium phosphate, chlorinated water, acidified sodium chlorite or peracetic acid all left on the meat after […]
September 10, 2015 @ 9:07 am
Curious as to where you purchase all of your organic food and how much money a month you spend on it. Thanks.
September 13, 2015 @ 9:26 pm
Hi Dr. Kmiec,
I am very interested in how you cured MS. I have someone close to me that has MS and am hoping you will email me or post what you did to cure yourself of the disease.
Thanks,
Cindy
September 13, 2015 @ 9:39 pm
I see your posts! LOL Sorry. When I read your post of curing MS I rushed to the bottom of the page to make my comment. Thanks for all your good information. I have done a lot of research working in the medical field and college and I think a lot of people would be shocked to know just how much is on the shelves that are toxic and unhealthy. It’s unbelievable. I am convinced diet soda and other chemicals consumed is what is causing all the Autism. I am 53 years young and MS, Autism, & Breast cancer was NOT common as it is now.
Thanks,
Cindy
September 14, 2015 @ 6:31 am
Hello! There are many places that you can purchase organic food (EI. most major grocery stores carry organic food). Farmer’s markets are also a great place to check out because you can speak to the farmers directly. I do spend a bit more than if I bought chemical-ridden conventional food, but for me it is worth it – especially after recovery from MS 100% naturally! As to how much I spend, that is difficult question to answer because I eat a modified Paleo diet, which is more expensive than a vegan or vegetarian diet. Also, my metabolism is extremely high, so I tend to eat more than a typical female. Let’s say I spend an average of about $50/week – though I am certain I could spend far less.
September 14, 2015 @ 6:32 am
Hello Cindy,
You may email me at drmichelle@www.onlineholistichealth.com
September 27, 2015 @ 3:09 am
Ugh. What a load of crap. You may very well lie to yourself that you “cured yourself of MS” but I simply won’t have it stand that you lie to others! You are a quack and should be ashamed of yourself.
September 27, 2015 @ 7:31 am
Hello Brad, I am so sorry to hear such anger in your post. Apparently the only person who is lying to themselves is you, and sadly something must have happened to you for you to feel such negative energy.
There is so much research confirming the health benefits of holistic treatments, whereas drugs are not curing anything in the conventional medical world – however hey do create horrific side-effects!
I did indeed cured myself from MS and anxiety…and it was a long, difficult, and very scary road. And I am not alone! So many other have done the same including curing themselves from cancer (even stage 4), heart disease, diabetes type 2, and autoimmune.
This website encourages debate from all sides, however your language is disrespectful and in no way provokes a real conversation regarding the different health-care options that do exist. If you’d like to have a debate, I would enjoy that…but not your angry words.
I wish you all the best in life, optimum health and hopefully a better sense of well-being!
October 5, 2015 @ 12:40 am
I had this whole paragraph typed out, but I have the feeling you wouldn’t read it, so let me hit my high points:
I looked at your book on Amazon and found that all of your 5 star reviews with the exception of three were simultaneously NOT verified purchases and also contained some variety of phrases such as “natural healing”, “well researched”, and “easy to understand”. Also, all of the accounts only had one review on them. 11 out of 14 reviews I believe may have been made by dummy accounts, possibly people you’ve paid to leave shining reviews, as you take a couple of them from Amazon and put them into your book. Which is hilarious.
Upon looking inside, I noticed several, several, several typos, unimaginative points (such as insisting doctors just want money when holistic medicine is not exactly cheap… it’s like you’ve never been in those by the way, why are you selling your book when you could just give it away, huh?) and outdated citations, even one from 1937!(!!(!!!(!!!!))). After reading that I am almost certain I’m dead and sitting in purgatory.
In short, that TSP thing you found is referring to TSP in raw doses. Don’t tell me you’ve ever been burned by cereal.
November 9, 2015 @ 6:56 am
It’s not trisodium phosphate (tsp), symbol Na3PO4 . Read the ingredients! Tripotassium phosphate, symbol K3PO4
November 10, 2015 @ 1:35 pm
Sorry, but it is trisodium-phosphate 🙂
December 17, 2015 @ 2:21 pm
Tripotassium phosphate is what’s in gluten free Cherios, you should read the ingredients.
December 21, 2015 @ 5:20 pm
It all comes down to moderation.
January 17, 2016 @ 1:13 am
Population control. Too many people on planet earth and not enough folks dying so the food and drug administration got a long term plan. We are doomed as simple as that
January 21, 2016 @ 2:02 pm
This is such a stupid article in that MY question when I googled it, AND the title of this article is… “WHY is TSP in our food?” The question is not answered here at all. You simply say it’s approved by the FDA, that it’s known to be a carcinogen, but nowhere here does it answer the damn question, so my question is “WHY” is it in food? Is it a preservative, or is it the government’s way of making sure we continue to have cancers and the medical industry stays in business? WHY is it in food? Simple freaking question people!!!
January 23, 2016 @ 9:53 am
Hello Gordon, It is meant to be a rhetorical question since there is absolutely no real purpose for this chemical to be in food. Thanks for your comment!
January 24, 2016 @ 6:39 pm
“The daily limit of trisodium phosphate is recommended to be 70mg.”
This line in that site you quoted is blatantly false, it’s 70 mg per kg of bodyweight. In other words, a 70 kg person can safely eat almost 5 grams of TSP.
If you’re going to comment on what the FDA says, it’s always best to take your information straight from the FDA website.
January 25, 2016 @ 7:08 pm
The quote was a directly from the source, but thanks for your comment…it will be double checked. With that said, there is no amount that is safe for human consumption, especially when consumed daily.
February 11, 2016 @ 1:13 pm
I bought a box of Mom’s Best cereals “Safari cocoa Crunch”, in the natural health section of Fred Meyers products, because it stated in the box: “No artificial flavors or preservatives; No high fructose corn syrup; No partially hydrogenated oil.” the next day I woke up with a severe migraine headache. I was trying to figure out what did eat the day before that could have trigger this migraine since I am sensitive to preservatives, and voila: among the ingredients in this supposely preservative free there was Trisodium Phosphate. I had only had one serving in the evening. Now I have to deal with three miserable days of Migraine headache. I wonder how many people out there are walking with migraines and donot know where it is come from. I blame myself for trusting the cover and not reading the ingredients carefully. Is there a place where I can make an official complaint?
February 17, 2016 @ 6:23 am
I know a lot of foods have trisodium phosphate. I also know they say there is such a small amount that there would be no worries. But my question is why? What purpose does it hold? Is this connected to politics and the pharmaceutical industry?This ingredient can cause gastrointestinal problems in a humans future. This truely upsets me. I’m sure this is not the only ingredient in foods that is harmful to our bodies over time.
March 3, 2016 @ 6:41 pm
TSP is a “dangerous” chemical because it is highly basic. It is an alkaline, like lye or borax, and will burn you if you touch the stuff directly. It is not dangerous as part of a PH balanced solution. And that’s exactly why it’s used in foods. Cereal doughs are actually acidic, and getting them to be neutral without changing their texture requires a strong alkaline base like TSP or lye. Without it, your Cheerios would need more sugar to balance out the naturally sour taste.
April 2, 2016 @ 1:47 am
Like others, I simply searched, “why trisodium phosphate is used in foods” and found this page. I also noticed some ‘health nuts’ used this page as a citation in their own articles. I proceeded to teach myself through research. Every word I came across that I was not familiar with, I hopped into a rabbit hole to learn more about it. I read every comment above. The silly back and forth comments were entertaining in a reality tv show kind of way. As a few stated and as I kept asking as I read, “why does this not answer the question as to WHY?”
I finally found an article from Livestrong that satisfied this question, at least for me, that is recent and gives factual information for the uses and not opinion based or bold statements based on a firm belief.
Updated Nov 11, 2015 | By Allison Adams
http://www.livestrong.com/article/441033-what-is-tri-sodium-phosphate-used-for/
“Use as a Food Additive
TSP is also commonly used as an acidity regulator and emulsifier, and as a thickening and nutrition enlargement agent in manufactured foods. When used as a food additive, TSP is also known as E339. You can also use TSP in administering an enema due to its laxative effect. In the United States, you can purchase sodium phosphate enemas over the counter. However, you should consult with a medical professional prior to using a TSP enema.”
If it helps anyone, if you research how foods are manufactured, there are ingredients that are added that are safe in various amounts to help with the manufacturing process. Some ingredients are used to help prevent the food item from sticking to machinery. Some are used to prevent splashing. Some are used to thicken for various reasons depending upon the food.
Do I think we should use all these ingredients? No, I really don’t. Will any of it kill me in the next 5 years? No. I have a better chance of passing due to a distracted driver.
April 2, 2016 @ 3:17 pm
Hello Catie! Thank you for your passionate response. However respectfully, there is zero reason why this chemical should be in our food. In response to “Will any of it kill me in the next 5 years? No. I have a better chance of passing due to a distracted driver.” Small amounts of arsenic will not kill you either, but why subject yourself to such a thing especially when it is unnecessary. The same is true for many of this ridiculous chemicals that are needlessly in our food…other then to make them cheaper I suppose. After once barely able to walk due to symptoms of MS and then regaining my health back 100% naturally despite medical doctors offered me little hope, I am proud to be considered a “health nut”! Thanks 😉 I am glad you found the comments entertaining! I feel that way regarding those who defend these unnecessary chemicals in our food! I suppose we all have our justifications for just about anything and isn’t it great that we are all entitled to our opinions! I sincerely wish the best of health!
April 14, 2016 @ 6:10 pm
Hello Doctor,
Hope I’m not too late to the party. After having two kids I started getting terrible stomach pains in the center of my belly, felt like hot fire and worse then my birthing experience, menstrual pain…everything. It was so bad I could not even stand up straight. I couldn’t drink plain water let alone eat a meal without my stomach bloating dramatically, and pain pain pain. I was tested for gallstones but nothing..they say they didn’t see stones and diagnosed me with gastritis. I doubt it is that, in fact I believe the start of my pain started from taking too many TUMS over the course of my first pregnancy because of heartburn. Fast forward to today and I have healed myself a lot by going vegan. No meat fish dairy etc and if I tried eggs (which I did and it was half of a deviled egg) severe pains again…anyway to continue healing my stomach?? Besides going vegan (which I will continue).
May 3, 2016 @ 6:35 am
Well, you have b.sc, you’re not really a doctor. You’re a d.c. You’re not qualified to have a meaningful opinion on this.
DCs are quacks the best of times.
May 3, 2016 @ 9:37 am
I’m shocked that you have a degree from anywhere. You wrote this line in bold, “unless part of a buffered solution.”, but didn’t pay any attention to it’s meaning. TSP is used to balance acidity, AKA TSP is in a buffered solution.
May 3, 2016 @ 1:44 pm
Hi John, I have a BS in Human Biology and a minor in medical research. Yep, I also have a D.C. which means doctor of chiropractic. Please update your knowledge of the board exams chiropractors must pass (especially since 2000). Furthermore, every person alive has meaningful opinions 🙂 I find it interesting how some defend unnecessary chemicals in foods that ultimately cause health issues! I spent nearly 10 years extremely sick and I regained my health on my own 100% naturally! You see, those who are so-called “qualified real doctors” as you put it, offered me zero hope. So, I took matters in to my own hands. And I did what they couldn’t. Thanks so much for your comment!
May 3, 2016 @ 1:51 pm
Hi BMC, No need for the character attack 🙂 That said, I believe you missed the point entirely! First, I don’t think the “meaning” needed to be addressed since it was said in the original sentence – “unless part of a buffered solution”. The point however is this… why is this chemical necessary in the first place? What is so acidic that is needs to be balanced? After all so many cereals manage without it; certainly organic cereals. So much of our food is loaded with artificial chemicals that do effect health, especially over time. And this chemical is simply another example. Thanks for your comment!
May 15, 2016 @ 2:51 pm
Doc – You already know that the medical profession is behind on this subject. The following article addresses it well. Maybe this was already referenced. Inorganic phosphates in food are a problem for many. Phosphate Additives in Food Link http://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article?id=119592
May 18, 2016 @ 2:05 pm
The reason TSP is “bad for the environment” and banned from detergents and other cleaners is because of the phosphorus, which is typically a limiting nutrient in aquatic systems. All plants require nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in relatively large amounts to other nutrients. Those elements are the numbers for the ratio on the side of a fertilizer box (e.g. bat guano is 10-3-1, 3 representing the relative amount of phosphorus in the fertilizer). The TSP is “bad for the environment” because it provides phosphorus that allow the algae to grow rapidly (known as an algal bloom). This typically results in a later algal population crash after they turn the water body into thick, green slime known as eutrophication. The dead algae are, in turn, decomposed by bacteria which then experience their own population explosion. This, in turn, uses up oxygen faster than it can dissolve in the water, leading to fish suffocating and an ugly mess.
So, TSP is not banned directly because of it’s toxicity (which is actually less than ordinary table salt), but because it is a great fertilizer for algae.
You have far, far more to worry about from the insane amounts of sugar in that cereal than you do from the small amount of TSP.
June 2, 2016 @ 7:34 pm
Goodness-
Sorry I feel the need to weigh in. I stumbled across this website and the lack of quite basic science understanding in this article was stunning. I’m not going to look at any more articles I promise.
TSP is an ionic salt where each molecule forms 3 sodium ions and 1 phosphate ion when it dissolves. The phosphate ion is chemically identical to phosphate in every cell of every aerobic organism that uses the Krebs cycle (as well as other places). As you are a biologist by training, Doctor, I don’t have to educate you of Adenesine Tri phosphate and adenesine di phosphate. (ATP and ADP) which are our cells energy management tools. But for others- This phosphate is the exact same compound as in TSP. You would never be able to tell using any chemical analysis any differences between them because it’s just a simple assembly of atoms. The other component of the TSP is the sodium ions, which while most of us get too much of, it is common in everything we eat.
Why is it environmentally dangerous?
Phosphorous is essential for life, and TSP is a good source of phosphorus, and plant life and algae need a lot of it. Too much phosphorus in the water causes algal blooms and bad consequences for the environment. It’s not that it is toxic- it’s that it is too much of a nutrient!!
TSP is basic, and in concentrated form it is a strong base. Just like vinegar is acidic and not great for you if you drink it or put it in your eye. TSP in dilute form or in small amounts is used for pH control. It helps reduce the amount of sugar needed in the cereal.
It’s not harmful in these quantities.
In conclusion, TSP is not a problem. It may actually be good to get some more phosphorous in your diet, every cell needs it.
June 3, 2016 @ 7:37 am
Hello Dave, and thank you for your well thought out comment and for the chemistry lesson 🙂 ! That said, I am afraid that you missed the point entirely which is, chemically manufactured TSP is not needed in food. For that matter, it only compounds the issues surrounding processed food that so obviously is affecting the state of health of our society today. Though your argument is sound on some level, it doesn’t address the unknown dangers of selectively putting individual compounds into food. Our physiology is designed to consume whole foods, not food that has been pieced together in a laboratory. When I cured myself of MS (which conventional medicine could not do), a major part of my healing program was to totally eliminate all of these processed non-foods from my diet. As for phosphorous which indeed is essential for life…I get plenty from nature itself! And I will always trust that over artificially created any day!
Wishing you the best of health!
July 28, 2016 @ 7:11 pm
Michelle,
I read a few of your comments and a few of your guests.
Two in particular Anon and Dave have some useful intelligence.
But you are pathetic.
You are not qualified to comment on anything.
Reading your posts are painful the to the brain.
I would not let you be a doctor to a wheel barrow nor a rat at the dump.
You don’t know the difference between a belief and a fact.
Not knowing the difference between a belief and a fact is the basis of much insanity and incompetence and much of the worlds problems.
Please make yourself useful and get off line and get a job as a truck driver.
David
July 29, 2016 @ 8:25 am
Hello David! Thank you for your passionate comment, though respectfully I disagree with your entire statement. My blog is about how I CURED myself from MS 100% naturally as medical doctors only offered my drugs and an ultimate wheelchair. So, I took matters into my own hands.
Please, feel free to eat whatever you choose! And I encourage you to do the same…think about your own comment as I believe it will help with the anger you seem to have.
“Not knowing the difference between a belief and a fact is the basis of much insanity and incompetence and much of the world’s problems.”
I find it interesting how people such as yourself attack character rather than engaging intelligently an actual debate. If you could do so, then I would happily debate you! 🙂
Also thanks for reading my blog…and guess what? As you grow with actual knowledge then the pain in your brain will slowly disappear…I promise! Wishing you optimal health!
August 15, 2016 @ 11:59 pm
Today I sat down with my son to eat some cereal .. As I read the ingredients I read trisodium phosphate so I googled it and it blew my mind this stuff is heavy duty cleaner !!!! Wtf !!!!!!!!!
Thank you dr
August 19, 2016 @ 8:03 am
Doctor it appears anon is just baiting you. I wouldn’t even bother to respond to his nonsense. Thank you for all your words of wisdom and very useful information! Congratulations on curing your MS and anxiety! I currently take two different medicines for depression and anxiety. I try to eat good foods and am interesred in the holistic approach. I would very much like to stop taking any drugs. Thanks, again!
August 19, 2016 @ 8:10 am
Really? Awaiting moderation?
August 19, 2016 @ 9:01 am
Hello Patricia! Thank you for your kind words! Here is an article that you may find interesting. https://www.onlineholistichealth.com/inositol-deficiency-linked-to-depression/
Also, I have a 5 month Holistic Lifestyle Program that will be released to the public in a matter of days. It explains everything I did to recover my health and I believe this may be something of interest to you. The best part of the program is that I am there live to answer questions multiple times monthly. I hope to see you there once it is open!
Wishing you the best of health!
August 29, 2016 @ 10:11 am
Hello and thanks for your comment. Please be patient with typos. Dyslexia has been my companion all my life, and although I have come a long way, unseen mistakes still occur 🙂 Thanks again!
September 13, 2016 @ 2:44 pm
Dr. Kmiec. I read all the posts and I have to commend you for your tolerance and how you answered some of the “not so nice” posts. It’s difficult to research everything in depth. Our family has come to the conclusion through our beliefs and actual facts Americans are not eating healthy. I believe the food in America is not really good for you and it is a fact there are more and more sickness and obesity in the US and on the rise. TSP in food only time will tell, Americans are the guinea pigs or test mice because Big Pharma ? Government allows so much into our food. I understand why because of the population and the need to feed people and to transport perishable products. We cannot look into the future and see the long term health affects. Don’t give up keep the movement going I believe in the American people will fight for a healthy food source. My belief, natural is the best way to go and messing with things such as DNA (GMO) is not natural. Playing with with such things always ends up bad. We try to do what it may take thousands of years to do. The China Study is a good book to start with.
September 15, 2016 @ 12:53 pm
Who appointed the person(s) on the FDA board to approve putting poison in food… ESPECIALLY the kids cereals… I have contacted CTV News in hopes that some kind CHANGE will occur!
September 15, 2016 @ 3:00 pm
Ms Kmiec,
First let me say that when it comes to “holistic”, or people who strongly promote anything all natural or organic, I do tend to roll my eyes and feel such people are unbalanced quacks. That being said, for some reason I was captivated by these posts on this subject.
I personally believe you need moderation in everything. Wine, for example, can have some health benefits, if taken in moderation. Over drink and it causes damage to the brain and various organs of ones body. And when it comes to tsp, while maybe a little in some food products is not viewed as harmful by some, I don’t think anyone in their right mind, even those who attacked you, would go out to a hardware store buy a box of tsp and munch down on a couple of spoon fulls.
However, I can also appreciate, and even agree with, your reasoning about why its in our cereal and other food to begin with. Not as a naturally occurring ingredient, but as an additive. Do those above really believe that the food companies have added it to food to help our digestion and reduce acid reflux … come on, who is kidding who. The bottom line is the ‘almighty dollar’.
Now what is the alternative to tsp so that kids can still eat their “heathy” Lucky Charms. I do not know. But if someone is concerned about it affecting their kids health then they should be concern about the rest of what is in our cereals as well, not just tsp.
And while I am not saying I agree entirely with your philosophy on life, I do want to say that after reading your posts, maybe I can apologize for my initial roll of the eyes and say you make some interesting points.
September 15, 2016 @ 10:07 pm
Dr. Michelle Kmiec Thank you for all this information.. One thing I have learned is the FDA think they know everything about something, but don’t know shyt about nothing, I don’t even know why these people have jobs…. Everything is coming out in the open let it be GOOD or EVIL In these times we are living in… And if some of these people on your page that are trying to put you down for telling the truth, and saying its okay to eat this stuff by all means let them eat it, that’s what I say, and people wonder why they are sick for years..
Bella
September 16, 2016 @ 12:52 am
I am still as confused as alot of people are, everyone seems to be steering away from the answer to this article, as I have read several articles, and have yet to get an answer accept the FDA approved it blah blah blah. Why is it in the cereal to begin with or in any other processed foods or so called approved foods by the FDA. I want a straight answer.
September 16, 2016 @ 10:09 am
Why would anyone in their right mind defend the use of a chemical used for paint prep being put in their food? Science aside, it’s just common sense that if a chemical like TSP is used to aggressively strip a surface for paint, that it can’t possibly be good for the body. But to all those who insist on defending the use of this chemical in their food–eat up! …hmm, enjoy that TSP cereal! (But be warned, the box of TSP clearly states to contact poison control if ingested, so have that number handy just in case.) Myself, I’d rather just eat something I know is ok for my body.
September 16, 2016 @ 6:46 pm
This article never answered the question of its title.
Why is it in our food???? What purpose
September 17, 2016 @ 3:04 pm
Exactly! WHY is it in our food? There is no real purpose for it other than to “maintain freshness”.
September 17, 2016 @ 3:04 pm
I couldn’t agree more!
September 17, 2016 @ 3:06 pm
There is no need for it other than a cheap means of maintaining freshness – so “they” say. The point being, it is not something that needs to be in our food.
September 17, 2016 @ 3:07 pm
Thanks Tammy! 🙂
September 17, 2016 @ 3:08 pm
Thanks for your comment! Always nice to meet somewhere in the middle.
Dr. Kmiec 😉
September 19, 2016 @ 3:11 am
Hi! My forum-fellas! What’s up? This is my first time here but I decided to register immediately.
Hope we can enjoy this time with each other!
September 30, 2016 @ 5:45 am
I noticed a article of this ingredient Trisodium Phosphate in only GMills products I stopped eating there products way before this ingredient it’s all new for me I prefer Kelloggs products. So I had bought several bags of chex mix popped and I didn’t realized it came from GMills product too I noticed that ingredient should I stop eating this product due to what it contains?
October 13, 2016 @ 12:55 pm
Trisodium phosphate = 3 sodium molecules, 4 oxygen molecules, and phosphorus.
So basically salt, oxygen and phosphorus
-Sodium is an essential element for all animals and some plants.
-Oxygen is necessary to sustain most terrestrial life.
-Phosphorus is essential for life. Phosphates (compounds containing the phosphate ion, PO43−) are a component of DNA, RNA, ATP.
Food additive:
Sodium phosphates including monosodium phosphate, disodium phosphate, and trisodium phosphate are approved as food additives in the EU. They are commonly used as antioxidant agents and have the collective E number E339.[11] The United States Food and Drug Administration lists sodium phosphates as “generally recognized as safe.”[12][13]
Exercise performance enhancement:
Trisodium phosphate has gained a following as a nutritional supplement that can improve certain parameters of exercise performance.[14] The basis of this belief is the fact that phosphate is required for the energy-producing Krebs cycle central to aerobic metabolism. Phosphates are available from a number of other sources that are much milder than TSP. While TSP is not toxic per se, it is severely irritating to gastric mucosa unless used as part of a buffered solution. (buffer is most likely some form of calcium, in Lucky Charms is Calcium Carbonate.)
October 14, 2016 @ 11:47 am
Hi Micah!
Thanks for your comment, however respectfully…no thanks! Still not convinced that this synthetic chemical should be in food.
“Trisodium phosphate has gained a following as a nutritional supplement…” Sorry, I think you need to revisit that statement. Unless supplements are now sold in hardware stores. Please let me know in which health food stores you can purchase this for exercise performance enhancement.
October 24, 2016 @ 11:37 am
Shannon/Dr Kmiec
How did you reduce the medication dosage for Hypothyroidism ?
Details will be appreciated
October 24, 2016 @ 10:31 pm
Dr. Kmiec, I am in a debate club, and this year’s resolution has to do with the US food safety policies. My parter and I are running a case on TSP, and so we had cut a piece of evidence from your article; but there’s this one part that, with all respect, sounds contradictory to the aim of the article.
You said, “TSP has NOT been proven to be toxic to humans”; so is it acttually harmful? And then you said that it “has shown to be severely irritating to the gastric mucosa UNLESS part of a buffered solution.” So what is this buffered solution? You said that the daily intake of TSP sometimes reaches above the suggested 70mg; but if it is in this buffered solution, I.e. the food itself, then is it actually harmful to us?
My debate partner and I are trying to find solid evidence supporting the elimination of TSP in food products, so if you could please explain how TSP works in regards to the “buffered solution”, and how it’s “not been proven toxic” yet somehow harmful, that would be a lot of help.
Thank you!
October 26, 2016 @ 12:31 pm
Well. This is fascinating. Why do the companies add all the additives? Simple. To extend shelf life, improve appearance, and appeal to our taste buds. None of this has anything to do with nourishing us. It only has to do with selling product and making a profit.
And why all the sugar? Humans like sugar! In nature, sugar generally comes with lots of vitamins and minerals. Fruits and honey are good examples of this. Yum! Our bodies know we need these things, and so are tricked into drinking things like soda pop (sugar plus bubbles. Mmmm.) and eating delicious and addicting pre sweetened breakfast cereals, among countless other empty calories.
As a child, I would sit and eat an entire box of what was then called “Sugar Pops” and is now called “Corn Pops.” My gums and tongue would get sore, but still, if I got a chance, I would eat them until they were gone. No wonder Mom (thank goodness) stopped buying them! But at the time, I remember feeling unloved due to the fact that all of my friends got to eat these delicious presweetened cereals.
Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated (just as bad) fats are another great example of horrible chemical alterations of our food that were sold to us as “healthy” when first introduced. Hydrogenation changes the fat by zapping it with extra hydrogen ions, making it more “stable”. Also, bacteria won’t eat it. Doesn’t sound that harmful. But in our cell walls, where fats play a huge roll in permeability as well as the the intact sheathing of our nerves, which are in fact our bodies electrical system, these altered molecules wreak havoc. They are like pieces of a puzzle that “almost” fit, and since they are what is available, they get hammered in there. How does the jigsaw puzzle that is you or me look with these almost-but-not-quite-right puzzle pieces hammered into place? It looks like someone with an mysterious disease, such as MS or cancer. As an added bonus, the hydrogenated fats also cling to the inner lining of blood vessels like no other fat sources in the history of human kind. Ah yes. Our friend heart disease.
I remember the late ’50s and early ’60’s, when cheap, delicious margarine started butting butter out of the market. They should have called it hydrogenated fat spread, but this might not have caught on. This “all new scientific miracle” helped wipe out the myriad of small dairy farms in my area, with huge profits rolling in to the new, scientific food industry and blessing us with a catastrophic rise in heart disease, all with the blessing of the medical community to ditch our natural food and take up the wonderful new, scientifically improved fat. Finally, 50 plus years later, we know how wrong they were, and hydrogenated fats are being “phased out” over a 3 year period, so as not to stress the industries that market and use them. A few huge industries with good lawyers have a lot more clout than a million small farmers with nothing going for them but old fashioned healthy food. No doubt the restaurant industry will be exempt from these laws, as they do not have to tell us what is in their food, including the Na content or the type of fat used to fry it.
Even hog lard is currently hydrogenated. Yes. Check the labels. Good old hog lard, which makes the best pie crust ever, is unusable for conscientious consumers because it has been altered by hydrogenation in order to extend shelf life.
It’s tough finding decent food on a low budget. I did it back in ’06 when I lived for 6 months on a dollar a day for my personal food. I bought unbleached flour (Should I start in on how “dough enhancers such as bromine, that make our white bread so soft and delectable, preempt our uptake of iodine molecules, and thus destroy our thyroids?) I found a wonderful, simple recipe for bread which uses only 1/4 tsp of yeast (one of the most expensive parts of bread) per loaf **** (OK. RECIPE: MAKES 2 LOAVES: 3 cups water, 2 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp yeast – (buy in bulk from the co-op) – 6 cups flour. (I also ground flax seed, sunflower seed, pumpkin seed and sesame seed in my mini blender and add 1/2 cup to each batch, but this is optional.) Mix the salt and yeast with the water, stir in the flour, cover with a moist dish towel and a plastic bag. Leave alone for about 12 hours (varies with the temp of the house “overnight” is about right.) Now, grease and flour 2 bread pans. Flour your counter top VERY WELL and dump the dough onto it. It’s quite moist dough. Slide a metal spatula under it and turn the edges over into the center so that the flour side faces up also, You are now able to pat it down a bit and break the biggest bubbles. NO KNEADING!. Coat your metal spatula with flour and use it to cut the blob of dough into two loaves. Flop each one into its bread pan which should be 1/3 to 1/2 full. Cover again with the damp towel and let it rise until double. An hour or two, depending on the temperature of the room. When the dough comes up to about the top of the pan, turn the oven on to 450. When it has preheated, pop in your loaves. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 then turn down to 350 and bake 35 or 40 minutes more. Remove from oven and tip loaves out of pan onto a wire cooling rack. Cool at least 20 minutes before slicing. Serve with butter if you’ve got it (I used one stick per 2 weeks) (not margarine!) SOooooo good. :-)**** Even now, this is so easy and delicious, it’s all I eat bread-wise. But I digress.****
Dollar a day. Oh yes. So, I ate lots of dry beans (soak over night. drain, rinse, cook) and rice. Almost no meat. A pound of ground beef had to last for the entire month, fried and sprinkled it on like a seasoning. HUGE EXPENSE. Most weeks I went with chicken (probably full of antibiotics, but one must eat. Legs/thighs quarters could be had on sale in a frozen wad for 29 cents a pound at my local meat processor shop at that time. They are 59 cents a pound now) which I simmered in a little water, covered, on the stove top. I cooled it, picked off the meat and skin and grizzle, bagged and froze it, and added a little to the rice and beans. Almost no milk. One gallon was divided up into pints and frozen to last several months. I had 2 tablespoons on my steel cut oats in the morning. (soak oats overnight in water. 1 part oats, 4 parts water. Simmer in the morning for 15 or 20 minutes. More oatmeal for your money and less processing.) I bought the cheapest milk, not the “hormone free” which I would have preferred. Also had a few eggs every week. The hardest thing was no fruits or vegetables. They are SO expensive. I sprouted various seeds – lentils turned out to be the easiest and best. Also cheap. I also treated myself to one cabbage a month. This I cut up for slaw and mixed with nothing but salt, vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, (the EVOO I already had on hand. I felt like that was cheating, as I didn’t count the cost of the oil, but I did it anyway…. Used about 16 oz – half a bottle – in the 6 months.) With the proper amount of salt and vinegar (go for a pleasantly piquant sort of taste) this mixture keeps in the refrigerator very nicely for a month. (Confession: I also used spices that were available in my cupboard already, such as pepper, cinnamon – good on rice with a little milk added – chili powder and celery seed, and did not count them in on the daily dollar.) Peanut butter, the kind that lists only salt and peanuts as ingredients, was another staple. Smuckers was the cheapest brand I could find easily available at that time, and when sardines were on sale at Walmart for 39 cents a can, I bought enough for a can per week.
This was a very boring diet, but nutritious enough. It was extremely difficult to walk into the produce section of any store and know I could not afford a single thing there, except for my monthly cabbage. But on the plus side, grocery shopping was fast and simple! My peanut butter on home made bread sandwiches for lunch at work were fast and easy to prepare! One can cook enough beans, rice and oatmeal to last 4 or 5 days if one has a refrigerator, so cooking is a breeze! I was very happy when the self imposed 6 months were over. And I was very glad I had done it, just to see if I could, and sincerely hope I never have to resort to this in order to survive.
What a joy apples and peaches are! I buy the non organic ones, but wash them with a dab of dish soap and rinse well. And greens! Oh heavenly greens! I double rinse every batch before eating, the 2nd rinse always contains 10 or so drops of GSE (grapefruit seed extract. A natural bactericide.)
I wish all of you good health and happy, healthful eating!
November 4, 2016 @ 10:40 am
I have a BS in Culinary Nutrition with a concentration in Food Science. The common use of trisodium phosphate (TSP) is a decontamination agent effective in inactivating Salmonella Typhimurium in acidic food. From fresh produce to meats, TSP is proven effective, for now, against microbial resistance. Why it is in our cereal… perhaps, it may be used as a disinfecting agent for extruding or any other equipment used to produce cereals. Or perhaps, for control of mass population growth in a discreet & highly organized way that plays on our taste buds to allude our society into consuming tasty, fun, and “healthy” foods. Simply put, the FDA and USDA cannot be trusted to evaluate food as safe to eat. The consumer has to be aware of what is on the label and speak out. Write letters of concern to corporations, despite not getting responses. Let them know that you will not buy their product until you see change, and stick to it. They follow our consumer trends and health awareness has the potential to change the public diet.
January 30, 2017 @ 10:42 pm
I’m sure if you empty barrels of the stuff into a lake it will damage the environment but less than 1/100th of a gram in a bowl of cereal will do no harm to anyone. TSP is an anti oxidant and is also alkali it’s in food for numerous reasons all of them helpful. Just because some manufactures put it in and others do not is a ridiculous excuse to be wary of it. As is the excuse that it’s made in a lab. I’ll just leave you with this thought…. The author lacks so much intelligence and reason they think that water is basically harmless. She even says, and I quote, ” H2O as you know is basically harmless. However when taken apart…hydrogen and oxygen, then become two very different elements; potentially extremely dangerous.”
I think you’ll find water is far more dangerous than those 2 elements. I hear of people drowning in water all the time but I’ve never heard of anyone chocking on oxygen.
If oxygen was so harmful why do firefighters use it? doctors and nurses use it? divers use it?
What we have here is more like sodium chloride, those 2 elements are very harmful on their own but put together they are extremely tasty and relatively harmless (compared to the harmfulness of the individual elements)…
January 31, 2017 @ 2:25 pm
Hello Yotsuba! Respectfully, I believe you missed the point of the post entirely, and I am also a bit disappointed that you felt an attack on my character was necessary. I accept all debates on this blog, but only when they are respectful. That said, I will go ahead and comment further anyway. Referring to your comment about water… again I believe you missed the point there as well. Of course water can be dangerous and one can drown, or even drink too much, etc…however basically given normal circumstance, water is harmless whereas oxygen and hydrogen are each highly explosive. Meaning water usually does not explode 🙂 . You say, “If oxygen was so harmful why do firefighters use it? doctors and nurses use it? divers use it?”…obviously if used properly it is not harmful…but honestly that comment as well just proves that you missed the point.
However..your reference to salt is exactly the same point I was making with water! 🙂
So because you missed it, the point of the post was this…and it was very simple…artificial chemicals are simply not necessary in food.
Thanks for your comment though!
January 31, 2017 @ 10:17 pm
The Cheerios website shows Tripotassium Phosphate on the Original and Multigrain “labels”. It also has on the Original box that they don’t use GMO products. The Multigrain doesn’t give that assurance..
March 18, 2017 @ 9:05 pm
I just want to provide an example for how incomplete toxicological information is for additives labelled GRAS (generally recognized as safe), using chlorinated trisodium phosphate as an example. It was concluded that “there is inadequate evidence of carcinogeneity…” in reference to a 2 year (chronic) rat oral gavage study because of the low animal survival rate and early termination of the experiment (see page 7 of the report). Furthermore, several reviewers pointed out the inadequacies of this study, but this is very confusing to the general public who only hear “not a carcinogen” instead of “most of the rats died, male mice had relatively low survival numbers, female mice demonstrated 5 different types of ovarian tumors, liver necrosis, kidney damage ect…
“Dr. Davis, a principal reviewer, did not attend the meeting but submitted written comments, which were read by Dr. Hook, Panel Chair. Dr. Davis stated that the study results did not fully justify the conclusions. In her opinion, survival was not sufficient to reach conclusions for either the rat or mouse studies. She recommended doing the experiments again and using the results of the current studies to estimate more appropriate dosage regimens. ”
https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/lt_rpts/tr294.pdf
Not to mention the reports and reviews funded and/or conducted by the “Phosphate Forum” to update their stockholders.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027869150100028X
March 18, 2017 @ 10:00 pm
I also wanted to add that the chronic oral doses are ridiculously high, 500 and 1000 mg from the study posted. This is not the correct study design for a low dose chronic toxicity endpoint and in no way would simulate the same biological pathways as low dose chronic ingestion. My point is that most additives are inadequately studied (especially chronic/long term toxicity) so we really don’t know what the possible low dose chronic effects may be and I’d rather not be the test rat.
March 19, 2017 @ 12:34 pm
Dr. Kmiec so you disregard the first Anons’ comments on the benefits of TSP? You obviously are not as educated in the field as you impose if you seriously cannot adhere to the facts and that you were indeed wrong about something. TSP has many benefits in small doses and you really should take note to what all these commenters are saying because it seems even with your credentials we have surpassed the amounts of research that you have on the topic. A lot of what peiple are saying here are true. It is also used by people in a similar fashion as whey protein to help reduce build up of lactic acid when playing sports or working out. To not admit to being wrong to that among other thins brought up here is quite unprofessional.
March 19, 2017 @ 12:38 pm
Note: Whey protein and TSP have different roles, I mean to say that people ingest and use it in a similar fashion*
March 19, 2017 @ 2:47 pm
Hello “HiThere”
Sorry this is your perspective…as there are also many here who respectively (I included) disagree with you.
Regarding your comment: On the contrary… I believe all things have purpose and in that – you must weigh the pros and cons when regarding health AND the long term effects on health. For me, I believe that this chemical is an unnecessary additive to food. As far as your comment, “To not admit to being wrong to that among other thins brought up here is quite unprofessional”…well, I believe just answered that.
Luckily, you have every right to eat food with any synthetic chemical (and there is no shortage) as you deem healthy for you. Side note: Why not simply use L- glutamine to reduce lactic acid and muscle fatigue?
Thanks for offering your opinion and I wish you the best of health!
March 19, 2017 @ 2:53 pm
Hello again “HiThere”, Perhaps you should use a different analogy because.. I get that you are referring to the L-glutamine component that is in whey protein…but comparing that to the amount of TSP that is used as a food additive for a similar result is an extremely big stretch.
But…thanks again for your comment!!
March 20, 2017 @ 4:43 pm
Wow, so many people commenting with no knowledge of chemistry. Yeah, sodium and phosphorous are beneficial to the body. However, Na3 (PO4) are neither sodium or phosphorous. When atoms (in this case ions) bind, their chemical properties change. Even one difference in atoms can make something go from essential to life to life threatening. The most common example being water (H2O) and hydrogen peroxide (H202). You have to look at the molecule as a whole, not its constituents. My biggest peeve is they incorrectly name it, ionic compounds don’t have the numerical identifier before its anions name. It would simply be sodium phosphate. There’s three sodium atoms because they have a positive charge, and a phosphate is a polyatomic ion with a 3- charge. This balances the chemical equation. Please, educate yourselves before attacking someone. You sound like charlatans.
March 20, 2017 @ 4:59 pm
Also, Micah, sodium is a metal that reacts violently with water…
March 21, 2017 @ 11:19 am
This whole article is BS, it’s impossible to cure MS, trisodium phosphate doesn’t kill you in such small doses, and saying that we are currently the sickest we’ve ever been is ridiculous when you remember that the Black Death was totally a thing. Please stop spreading your new age bullshit. Medicine is not perfect by any means, but spreading a message that “Big Pharma” is out to get people is the reason why a child died because parents believed they could cure it with their natural remedies.
March 21, 2017 @ 1:41 pm
Hello Sara! Wow I am sorry to hear how angry you are. I am sure you must have good reason for it and I hope that over time you can find peace.
Let me set a few things straight. It is VERY possible to cure MS! How do I know, because I did it! By the way, I am not the only one who has done so…there are many others including those who also cured themselves of other so-called “incurable diseases” and even stage 4 cancers.
Yep you are correct that the “Black Death” was awful…but were you aware that it was actually caused by a lack of sanitation? Today is a different story… millions of people are diagnosed with heart disease, cancers, diabetes, autoimmune, etc exponentially greater than ever before in our history. Obesity is epidemic even among children. Why? Well, I state my reasoning clearly in the About section of this website. Though, this may not resonate with you. If so perhaps websites such as WebMD would be better suited for you.
Not sure where exactly you get the understanding that I am against medicine when needed….what I am against however, is the monopoly of Big Pharma. Natural remedies fail just as pharmaceuticals do and sadly many times it is because of the lack of understanding of how to use the natural remedy therapeutically. Or in other cases, using the wrong natural remedy.
You say, “Please stop spreading your new age bullshit.” Sorry again Sara but this isn’t “my” new age anything. I simply share holistic options and question why unnecessary chemicals (such as in the case of this article) are in our food. Whether you choose to do your own explorations about health or research any topics I post on this site is great! You also have the choice to be negative about it (even me) if you so choose, buy honestly…not knowing my story and suffering when I was sick is a bit unfair. Maybe, just maybe you may find something of interest that could help you one day! If not, that’s okay too 🙂
Either way, I wish you the best of health and I do hope that you find happiness!
March 21, 2017 @ 5:31 pm
Its amazing how ignorant some people are, john saying that propylene glycol is anti-freeze! Its not anti freeze, it is in some anti-freeze, but it is a natural compound. Its actually used in asthma inhalers as well John. Also one of the main ingredients in eliquid as well.
March 21, 2017 @ 9:16 pm
It doesn’t matter what we think, Big companies and the Government have already poisoned us many times over. It’s been in the Air, Food and Water for decades and now pretty much for the past two decades we have been seeing unimaginable rises in all kinds of illnesses. Just think about it, 40 years ago it wasn’t like this….. Our foods , Jeez where do I begin?? Ingredients?= chemicals. Water? None is clean enough when it comes to amounts of chemicals. The air= POISON. Has anybody been keeping daily tabs on Fukushima? Well it’s now here at home…. And remember, just because it says “Organic ” read the labels. Educating yourself on how some items rate to become ” Organic” and how they get away with doing so, probably would surprise you….. Later All.
March 21, 2017 @ 9:23 pm
And about the “Black Death” , that is completely different than what’s happening today.. Maybe if a Pandemic hit us such as a Super Virus that eliminates 1/5 of the Worlds population within the same time frame then we’ll have something to argue about.. Get with the program peeps.
March 21, 2017 @ 10:02 pm
It seems to me that the people that is disagreeing with Dr. Michelle Kmiec is just upholding for the big food companies that use small amounts of poison in our food there for makes me question are you workers of the FDA or some of these food companies because some of you people’s reasoning is so stupid really I read one that said made in a lab is the same as nature lol and another saying it’s only small amounts at a time so where fine but what about if it builds in our bodies till we do become ill there is so many people getting sick and we all wonder bottom line and what should be common sense no amount of any kind of poison is best and nature made is best but I guess common sense is really that common
March 22, 2017 @ 7:09 am
Main problem with trying to eat right, eat healthy by consuming Whole Foods is the fact that not everyone can afford to eat that way. I would love to be able to eat all organic Whole Foods but considering they are about done now the price and sometimes even 800% higher than that leaves tons of American homes having to eat the processsed crap that is killing us.
March 22, 2017 @ 9:49 pm
MS can definitely be cured – I know a lady personally who after some research rejected medicine and turned her symptoms around in two weeks!! 100% naturally. I am still in touch with her and 8 years have gone by and she is 100% in remission (since modern medicine will not call a cure by it’s proper name if medicine didn’t do it!)
March 23, 2017 @ 6:14 am
No disrespect intended here but you are a doctor of chiropractic medicine. This entire article and your responses are nothing more than a collection of your personal opinions. They are not based on research or scientific fact. Stating that you are a doctor is only misleading the reader into believing you have greater knowledge than the general public. TSP in a buffered solution will act as an antioxidant (you know.. That stuff in certain foods that is supposed to be good for us).
I’m a paramedic and I know antioxidants are good for you. Does me being a paramedic make my personal opinion fact? No it does not. You being a chiropractor does not make your opinion fact. I’m all for you having your opinions and the right to speak them. Just don’t hide behind a smoke screen to make yourself and your opinions appear to be more than your personal opinions
March 23, 2017 @ 8:41 am
Hello Scott and thanks for your comment!
Respectfully, I am not sure what you mean by “smoke screen” as my credentials are extremely visible in my bio directly under the article. Perhaps you missed it 🙂 It seems to me that you may not have a true understanding of what education I may or not may have as it relates to the type of classes (pre, during, and post chiropractic), national boards, etc. But nonetheless, if this is your standard then please hold “MD’s” to this same standard, because undeniably they have little knowledge of nutrition. With that said, interestingly a person truly doesn’t need any type of education to do their own research and have a bit common sense. So I always encourage everyone to have an open mind and think for themselves.
We are organic beings who require organic foods…yes this is my “opinion”. After being sick for many years, and had recovered my health, it is difficult for me to believe that synthetic man-made substances can somehow better our health than that which comes from nature.
I am so glad that we agree that antioxidants are healthy for you! However, TSP is an artificial chemical that is 100% unnecessary furthermore there is zero research (Though admittedly, there is much research that TSP is an excellent industrial cleaning product) that would suggest that it adds any value to health. Much like article food dyes for example.
The good news is…you have the right to consume foods with synthetic chemicals, GMO’s, full of pesticides, etc and enjoy them! I have to admit, before I was sick I certainly did! Today I enjoy sharing my 20 years of research, and my opinion based on that research, along with my journey of recovering my health 100% naturally on this website/blog. Because this is a Holistic minded website/bog then I am sure the information found here is not unexpected, and most importantly…the hope is to offer health options as many peoples lives have been devastated by pharmaceuticals and conventional medicine ideologies.
Side Note: I think that is awesome that you are a paramedic!! And I bet, you have come to certain conclusions about health and other areas of life yourself, that would be of interest to others as they research and search for answers that make sense to them regarding health. 😉
There is one thing that is indeed a fact and not an opinion…changing my lifestyle regained my health. And for many, this is their fact as well.
Again, thanks for your comment and I wish you the best of health!
March 23, 2017 @ 8:47 am
Hi Anthony! Absolutely MS can be cured as well as other diseases and illnesses! It is sad that the word remission is always used. To me it only means that if the illness comes back, then no one can’t be blamed. Furthermore, “cured” offers hope, whereas “remission” offers fear – the fear that is may return.
Thank you for sharing!
March 23, 2017 @ 11:24 pm
Hi, Dr. Kmiec , thank you for your time and trouble trying to help people on your time off.
I was like the rest of the people here a year ago and would have a year ago told you that
you need to take seat. Then I cam down with type 2 Diabetes. I was extremely healthy
and still am, I can run for miles and I worked out daily. My job is very physical and there
is no reason for me to have gotten sick other than the Labels on so called healthy things Lying.
I found out how Bad sugar is for you and how they have diffent names for sugar and how
diet is worse for you then regular.. How certain foods turn to sugar etc..
Until you are sick and can feel how those foods affect you, its almost impossible to understand.
I had gotten to the point where eating what I thought was Diabetic frienly (no sugar) was actually
just as bad because of the chemicals in them..
Aspertame made the nerves in my healthy feet start going Berzerk because I has switched to
coke zero when I found out I had diabetes it said “No Sugar” .. I stopped the Diet and all sodas
period and my feet are back to Normal … If I Eat or Drink anything with Aspertame my Feet
start tingling again as a sign to me that they are being attacked.. And if I didnt stop my feet
would then go numb from dead nerves and the rot off..
PEOPLE do Not eat anything that is Remotely close to coming from a Lab.. If you
cant pronounce it or spell it , if you never heard of it DO NOT EAT IT..
God Bless you Dr.. Your doing a good thing and some of us are greatful..
I have now reversed my Type 2 diabetes and if its a food thats been put together
in a lab I dont eat it , I found that you CAN get away from the Foods that we grew up on..
Dont be Fooled by people selling things with Weird ingredients ITS BAD FOR YOU..
And all of you that dont belive that one day you WILL if you keep ingesting it..
March 23, 2017 @ 11:40 pm
What ever you do People. Do not listen to Anon or people that cannot prove that a food is better
off with something added to it. It is all mostly gabage that they sell us anyway, why on Earth
would you choose to over look it when the population is more sick than ever with things that
didnt exist a couple of centuries ago…
Otzi the Iceman was discovered several years ago and he is found to have lived
5000 years ago. He died from being shot in the back with an arrow at age 45 .. He was still
climbing the Swiss Alps in Winter.. If you think about it , if he can live to be 45 and longer
if he hadnt been shot by the arrow, then how long can we live eating primitive foods??
Dont be greedy or you will get diseases and the hospital and doctors will ONLY put you
on medicine that will cripple you and take away your life as you know it..
DO NOT EAT ANYTHING WITH THIS CHEMICAL IN IT!
March 24, 2017 @ 5:13 am
Dr. Kmiec,
Thank you for taking the time and having compassion for other people’s healthy well-being to share your personal experience, research and successful outcomes! I also applaud your brilliance and couth in replying to the overwhelming feed of negativity. It’s sad that in this world so many people easily go into attack-mode before applying logic to their actions and words that could actually show them to be something less than what they have potential to exude in character. Nevertheless, the well-known saying, “when you know better, you do better” (author unknown), still applies to the numerous opinionated minds of our society. On a personal note, I recently decided to “open” my mind to find better choices in a healthy lifestyle. For me, it took coming to a realization that what I thought I was doing previously wasn’t adequate for what I wasn’t fully aware of. In others words, I wasn’t “awoke” to the ESSENTIAL knowledge of what my body needs to obtain/maintain a great quality of health. Thank goodness for a dear friend sharing information on an alkaline vegan diet! My life, way of thinking, and health has made a phenomenal transition in a short period of time. When I got sick and tired of what wasn’t working, I took a chance to try something different. And I can truly say from my own personal experience, changing my diet to only natural food sources such as non-GMO products has made a miraculous difference in my healthy well-being. One of the main testimonial highlights was when I recently had an eye exam and my optometrist was amazed at the major improvement in my vision and the overall healthiness of my eyes compared to the previous year when he was relaying bad news of how the blood vessels in my eyes were enlarged which was an alert of health condition(s) in my body. The bottom line, my prescription was lowered which had not happened in most of my adult years. I had an astigmatism of -1.25, it is now -0.75! This even shocked the front office staff as well. Lol. At this point, there’s no turning back. I look and feel great for what seems to have been missing for far too long in my quality of life. I have a long ways to go but I’m enjoying every bit of this amazing experience. I hope and pray we all reach our potential for the best quality of living and share with others to be of example and encouragement. I must also say this has not been the easiest transition by far. It is extremely expensive and I’m considered low-income household status. A bag of date sugar is 12.99. Brands of Agave can usually be found at decent sale prices. Elderberry, burdock root, yellow dock root, etc. are also costly BUT it’s worth learning how to budget to eat and live in a better quality of health for me and my family. I pray for continuous blessings and prosperity in all you do!
March 24, 2017 @ 7:34 am
Hi Greg! Thanks for your comment and I couldn’t agree more!!
March 24, 2017 @ 7:40 am
Thanks for sharing your story Greg!! I am not surprised that you turned your health around by simply eating clean whole foods without all the ridiculous added synthetic chemicals. Wonderful!!!
March 24, 2017 @ 7:54 am
Hello Genevie! Thanks so much for your kind words 🙂 Perhaps one day, those who defend synthetic chemicals, GMOs, etc will be open-minded to at least giving organic whole foods a try so they may also feel the difference in their health.
Your story is amazing and thank you for sharing it! You are so right…It is such a wonderful feeling (and realization) when you go from illness/disease or sub-health to a state of REAL health!!!
March 24, 2017 @ 12:13 pm
Interesting notes good and bad I suppose. Thank the good Lord I make every effort to eat natural, do I always nah! But I’ll bet I do it better than most. TSP. . .IS it really necessary to add to the cereals? Just askin because if it’s not then WHY? All of my life I try to look at food containers and if they have a shelf life longer than I can hold my breath I put it back. Fortunately I do grow my own veggies, from seed to finish and I can/preserve a very good deal of them. Since 1968, the year I got out of the Navy I have only purchased 4 cans of commercially processed tomatoes, like I stated I can my own.
In my estimation these big companies have been dumping on us for years. Unfortunately not everyone has the knowledge nor the ability to can as I do. I’m still going to die one day it happens to us all. Today is the first time I became aware of TSP and now I’m even more aware and will scrutinize just that much more.
As I end this reply I must say thanks to you all for your input as I stated some good some well you be the judge. I love life and make every effort to eat healthy. Boxed cereals will more than likely have no place in my home. I love to cook so excluding the winter months fresh works for me.
March 25, 2017 @ 10:36 pm
The only difference between a poison and cure is dosage. Too much salt and we are dead, yet without it our bodies couldn’t function. Food grade Trisodium phosphate is a an antioxidant in foods, and is found in minuscule amounts compared to its industrial uses. Sodium bicarbonate is used in tanning leather and yet without it we couldn’t have fluffy cakes and muffins. Don’t immediately panic just because you see a chemical name. Get more information. The biggest danger from boxed cereals is the sugar content.
April 19, 2017 @ 11:18 am
TSP is not harmful in food. in cereal it is used to keep the cereal fresh for the next day. Maybe you guys should do research on it. Doesn’t mean it’s harmful to kids. Have any of your kids died from eating cereal.
April 19, 2017 @ 1:14 pm
Hi Isis, I think you missed the point of the article. The issue is that collectively, all of these synthetic chemicals in food ARE affecting the health of not only children, but adults as well. Furthermore, these chemicals are 100% unnecessary. Agreed, in small amounts and once in a while, they will likely not harm your health…but that just isn’t the case. These chemicals are in 1000’s of foods, most of which are processed and have become the standard diet of so many people.
Today we have an increase (not a decrease) of health conditions that is unprecedented: childhood type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular issues beginning at much younger ages, pain syndromes, ADHD, autoimmune, and many cancers, etc. And many health professionals (both holistic and conventional) do agree that diet is a major problem.
However the good news is, if you believe these artificial chemicals are of no health concern, then there is nothing stopping from you consuming them!
May 2, 2017 @ 1:10 am
http://www.livestrong.com/article/518834-is-trisodium-phosphate-bad-for-you/
Give this a read and tell us what you think.
May 2, 2017 @ 7:36 am
Hi Shawn! Thanks for the link!
As for my opinion…so many artificial (or laboratory made) food additives, pharmaceuticals, and even “supplements” that have been approved to be “safe” later turn out to be recalled, banned and replaced by what was natural in the first place. You are now seeing this more than ever (thank goodness)!
Products are coming out with food dyes and artificial sugars removed along with MSG, GMOs, and other synthetic chemicals that are simply unnecessary to be in our food or to give the illusion of a “healthy” food without knowing or understanding the long term affects as with GMOs. Further, just because something is labeled as a “supplement” doesn’t make it “healthy”. I believe I clearly make that case in this article: Beware of “Power” Products Sold in Health Food Stores
So bottom line: Buyer beware!
But like I always make a point in saying…at the end of the day…it is your choice as to what you put into your body. For me and my regained health? I will stick with organic and natural products. “Man” has a way to go to prove to me that “his” wisdom and insight of nature surpasses Mother Nature herself.
Thanks again for your comment and asking for my opinion on the matter!
May 12, 2017 @ 6:52 am
I understand the general publics concern but I want to bring to ur attention that it is listed on yhe ingredients because it is used in the packaging to transfer the ingredients as well as the cleaning products for said machines. It can be used as a pesticide but warns of anythe contact because of the concentrated powdered form it comes in for pesticides. the actual amount u get in food is harmless and and long as u following the suggested serving sizes u will be fine with a healthy active lifestyle. The real issue is over indulgence and over eating. Take responsibility for ur actions. Also yhe amount of sugars in ur ceral is not unhealthy unless u over indulge. Stop being social justice advocates. Start trying to educate ppl to be responsible for their choses. If u dont grow or raise any of ur own food dont complain ejat a multibillion dollar company uses in its foods. They were approved to sellbe the product. Humans are not meant to eat only store bought food. Plus ur buying the food willingly. If a company is selling hoy lava in a bowl and they warn u its hot and will melt ur body if u contact it and u buy it and pour it on then blame the company you are being irresponsible. Freedom is a gift but its not the worlds fault if u knowingly make a poor choice.
Just a thought
May 14, 2017 @ 7:27 pm
Why does a box of tsp say if injested call poison control. But they put it in cereal.
May 18, 2017 @ 2:27 am
I will not claim anything about trisodium phosphate in the human body. I’m not going to say if it’s harmful or harmless, because the truth is that I do not know.
However many people have commented that it is a pollutant in waterways. It is true that phosphates are aquatic pollutants if the levels are too high. This is for the same reason that high levels of nitrates are pollutants in aquatic environments. They are nutrients, and too much of them can cause a large increase of algae and other microorganisms. Decomposing algae can cause the oxygen levels in the water to drop at night when photosynthesis is not occurring. Furthermore, if the surface of the water is largely covered in small plants, this reduces the amount of oxygen that can dissolve in to the water from the air. Some of the algae and bacteria that feed on them can produce toxic substances that if there are too many of the organisms, can be fatal to other life.
Essentially, just because something is a pollutant in some cases, does not mean that it is always toxic. Also, most substances are toxic in high doses, but many of them are completely harmless in small quantities. Thus a warning about toxicity on the label of a pure chemical is not evidence that a small amount is harmful. However I’m not saying that this means it is safe either, it just does not mean that much.
May 18, 2017 @ 4:47 pm
The issue here is concentration. Solid trisodium phosphate is very caustic (pH much higher than your body’s pH) while dilute trisodium phosphate is not. The form that you would eat would actually be a mixture of mono- and di- sodium phosphate. These materials are more in line with the pH of your body. In your body the sodium and phosphate are free to float away from each other. Sodium is vital to our survival, however we generally exceed the amount needed in our diet. Phosphate is also essential to your survival.
I know it is scary to think that the safety has to do with concentration, but that is the case with many food ingredients. I think it may be more helpful to think of capsaicin the compound that makes spicy food spicy. If you look up the safety data sheet for it there are plenty of alarming messages, but even a mild hot sauce will still have some capsaicin.
May 22, 2017 @ 5:50 pm
What do I think? I first thought you should turn in your “DR” card. Then a saw you were a chiropractor. Lol.
Snopes it.
May 22, 2017 @ 5:51 pm
I think if your assertions were even remotely close to the truth, you could start a class action lawsuit that would make the tobacco lawsuits look like loose change. The fact is no one has successfully filed a class action suit against any food manufacturer for putting any of these ingredients into food. It scares me that there are that many gullible people buying the snake oil you are selling.
Everyone repeat after me: correlation is not causation, anecdotal evidence is not absolute truth, just because it sounds scary doesn’t mean it is.
May 22, 2017 @ 8:08 pm
Repeat after me:
Dose makes the poison, not substance. Dose makes the poison, not substance. Dose makes the poison, not substance.
May 23, 2017 @ 9:21 am
Hello Bishop Bullwinkle, thanks for your comment! Respectfully however, your logic does hold water. There are so many chemicals in our food that frankly are not necessary or needed… and that my friend is the entire point. The FDA is a powerful force and one that makes any “class action lawsuit” difficult. Not to mention pharmaceutical companies who benefit the most from “treating” an obviously sick society likely from all the synthetic chemicals…and that is not just correlation.
Questioning artificial chemicals in our food is not the definition of “snake oil”…”scientific studies” are not absolute truth as everything always changes (good ‘ol common sense is sometimes the best answer)…and sometimes scary is exactly what it is 🙂
All said, we all live with our truth and perspective. For me, I prefer a clean organic life because that is what cured me from MS…not science and not drugs. Your truth may be very different and that is just as awesome!
Wishing you the best and as always…optimal health!
May 23, 2017 @ 9:24 am
Hello Jessica! Haha…no need to “snopes it”. It is clearly stated in my bio…but good find none-the-less! Interesting though..whether DC, MD, Phd, or none at all…all individuals are capable of common sense.
Thanks for your comment! And wishing you all the best!
May 24, 2017 @ 10:32 am
Doc.. I am trying to eat healthier and I am an over the road truck driver. Having a sedentary job makes it hard not to snack on junk food. I try to avoid HFCS. And other bad things. I have soda but the real sugar kind. (Only 5 ingredients). And try to moderate that.. My breakfast is common toast crunch, yogurt and orange juice.. Try to find natural stuff and also eat in moderation and this TSP thing is making me mad. In 2012 I had an autoimmune disease Gianne Barre ..miller Fischer version. Was in ICCU for 10 days. Stopped with immuno globulin. Took a year to heal.. I applaud you be able to heal yourself.. there is no money for pharma to make in whole or natural remedies for keeping yourself healthy. Keep up the good work.
Eric
May 24, 2017 @ 3:59 pm
Agenda 21
May 24, 2017 @ 4:54 pm
It is used in cereal to lower the acidity and reduce the amount of sugar needed for it to taste sweet. So if they take it out they would have to add more sugar for the cereal to taste the same way. Which is worse a chemical that is harmless in small quantities or massive amounts a sugat.
May 30, 2017 @ 7:47 am
Everyone needs to inform everyone they know and we need to stop buying the products that contain harmful chemicals! This is the only way to get them to stop!
May 30, 2017 @ 6:32 pm
I’m just learning about trisodium phosphate and I am shocked to learn this toxic substance is put into the stuff that they sell as food these days. When I used to accept common cereals as a food (once upon a time), I tried some Lucky Charms. I think I remember throwing it out because it was so awful. Now I am glad I did because Lucky Charms has trisodium phosphate (and so many other horrible ingredients) in it. I don’t know how anyone eats that junk. Parents (and other consumers) need to stop buying these frankenfoods. Those “foods” should be removed from the grocery store shelves. Our children deserve to eat real food instead. If a parent gave a spoonful of trisodium phosphate to their child and had them eat it, the authorities would take their child away and they would put the parent in jail. Yet these food companies are getting away with this every single day and nobody seems to notice or care. Shocking and disgusting (to say the least). Thank you and keep educating us! I hope you keep writing the truth because people definitely need a wake up call!
May 30, 2017 @ 11:54 pm
At what point does this become dangerous? How much is ok to ingest?
May 31, 2017 @ 12:21 pm
It’s a leavening agent. It’s used in such small amounts that it has zero adverse effects on consumers whatsoever.
http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/tsp.asp
You need to do your homework.
May 31, 2017 @ 2:25 pm
Hi Bethany! Yep I know that is why it is used…though the point remains that it is not needed. A poison is still a poison not to mention the accumulative affect of not only this chemical but with all the other artificial chemicals that are found in food today. This does have an effect on health.
FYI: snopes.com is notoriously “anti” anything holistic, so not exactly the best place to do real unbiased research…aka “homework” 😉
Wish you the best!
May 31, 2017 @ 2:33 pm
Hi Danny! Great question! And the answer to your question depends on who is answering it. Some say…Just about anything is “okay” to ingest in extremely small amounts, but that doesn’t answer the question regarding the affect on health long term; when consuming foods containing chemicals daily for months even years. Especially with all the other unnecessary artificial chemicals in so much of our food today. I would advise looking for food without it…anything organic. And isn’t interesting that these chemicals are not found in organic foods?
May 31, 2017 @ 2:40 pm
Hi Donna! You are so welcome and you are so right about food companies getting away with basically creating preventable health problems. Where is the FDA…or should I say in what pocket ($) is the hand of the FDA? And it is not just TSP, many of those cereals for children also contain artificial food dyes (many of them are banned in other countries due to ill health effects)! Almost takes the focus off all the sugar that is also in those foods…almost 😉
Thanks for your comment and wish you all the best!
May 31, 2017 @ 10:50 pm
To: Dr Michelle Kmeic:
How in the WORLD can you cure MS? We are talking about multiple sclerosis, right? How the hell can that be possible?
June 1, 2017 @ 3:44 pm
Hello Steven “McFly”,
Curing MS IS possible and I am not the only one who has accomplished it. And yes, I am talking about Multiple Sclerosis. It is also possible to cure heart disease, diabetes type 2, other autoimmune illness and yes…even cancer despite the conventional medicine mantra. Where do you begin? To start with, eating 100% organic foods and getting rid of ALL artificial chemicals…and above all…believing that IS possible 😉
Wishing you all the best!
June 1, 2017 @ 6:39 pm
Since I have been eating organic, I feel and look better. I take that as my truth that organic is better for you.
June 1, 2017 @ 7:08 pm
Yeah it worked for Steve Jobs! Oh wait, no he died, never mind, bad example.
June 2, 2017 @ 1:29 pm
Hi Jen, actually you are correct – it is a bad example. No different than with pharmaceuticals, natural means of curing yourself is not as simple as eating this or that or taking this or that vitamin. As each person is an individual, no treatment is identical. Though the basics should be consistent. EI…eating a clean organic diet.
To make a major change in health requires a total change in lifestyle/mindset: nutritional, physical AND emotional (belief of what IS possible – BTW this “belief” has cured people even taking pharmaceuticals and usually leave doctors puzzled without a scientific reason).
As for me, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was going to turn my health around…despite friends and family members who did not share my belief.
This is not something that I (or anyone) can convince of…as it is personal choice and belief.
Thanks for your comment and I wish you well.
June 2, 2017 @ 5:16 pm
Hi Doc
Why do shills and dullards always TELL you the problem but never supply you with “How to fix answers”?
For those who are really stupid, try this to see IF synthetic medications are equal to organic meds.
Get a pot plant, wash the roots of all dirt, and transfer this into a pot filled with plastic.
See how long it lives.
Synthetic VITAMINS (usually made from petroleum) causes neurological damage to unborn and newborn babies yet the medical profession is silent about this.
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/what-petrochemical-vitamin-doing-infant-brains
2 other things shills are silent about.
GLYPHOSATE (a patented CHELATOR) removes minerals from plants and humans and animals, and is linked to renal (kidney) failures in the millions around the world, yet the medical profession is silent about this.
https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=GLYPHOSATE+PATENTED+CHELATOR+-wiki
https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=GLYPHOSATE+RENAL+FAILURE+-wiki
BTW: GLYPHOSATE is also associated with animal and human sterility rates of around 30% (source http://www.cdc.gov)
https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=GLYPHOSATE+STERILITY+-wiki
Or FLUORIDE
This is linked to brain and memory impairment since before WW2, yet is still pumped into our water.
https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=FLUORIDE+RENAL+FAILURE+-wiki
https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=FLUORIDE+CANCER+LINK+-wiki+-cancer.org
Regarding MS
Over 30 years ago my brother was diagnosed with MS so severe that he was hospitalized and told he had months to live.
11 months later and after reading anything he could about being healthier, he got out of his hospital bed and walked out of hospital.
Changed his diet to organic.
He avoids ALL sugar, carbs and HFCS, does exercise and meditation and also a Uni Degree.
He is still alive today and will probably outlive me.
So when people tell me that MS is incurable, I just ignore them as losers too lazy to GET informed.
June 3, 2017 @ 10:54 am
Hi Pat! Thanks for your comment! I couldn’t agree more!
So awesome about your brother! Love hearing other stories of people curing themselves naturally! It is DEFINITELY POSSIBLE! Love it!
Wishing you and your brother the best!
June 4, 2017 @ 3:30 pm
I am in shock at the number of people who will justify cosuming poison! I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. But hit dogs holler, so let them howl.
Thank you for your informative article and being so gracious to the agents *cough* I mean trolls. I found your site through a Google search, but will now be a regular visitor!
June 5, 2017 @ 3:42 pm
Hi T Davis! Thanks so much!!!! 🙂
June 6, 2017 @ 6:13 pm
I’d have to disagree with organic as a clean way to eat. I’m a small farmer, farming less than 10 acres. 3 years ago I decided to check into getting organic certification for my farm. Both the state and county paper work was a real shocker and eye opener. Organic in NO WAY means chemical free. Small farms under 20 acres, the ones that typically sell produce at a local farmers market, are closely regulated. BUT, there are still quite a few weed killers and bug killers that are allowed to be used. The regulation is more in the amount that can be used and locations. Large commercial organic farms, the ones that supply grocery stores, are still allowed to use many of the chemicals that are allowed on non certified farms. Round up products, Remedy products, broadleaf killers, weed killers, insecticides are all allowed to be used. Again, regulation is more in the areas of where they can be applied (not within 50 feet of a water source). What I usually tell people is forget about the organic name. Either grow your own food so you know what’s in it or find a farmer that uses old school practices with natural fertilizers, natural weed eradication, natural pest control (my irrigation pond is close to my fields, filled with frogs. The frogs spend the nights in the fields eating bugs, you would have a difficult time even finding a house fly on my property). Food for thought.
June 8, 2017 @ 12:53 pm
Hi Mike and thanks for your comment and insight!
I would have to agree that smaller, local, organic farms are the way to go. I’d like to share this from another organic farmer:
“Organic Farming vs. Conventional Farming
The differences between organic and conventional foods stem directly from the farming methods that were used during food production. Many people are unaware of some of the differences between the two practices. Agriculture has a direct effect on our environment, so understanding what goes into our agriculture is important. Below is a list of some of the key differences between organic and conventional farming. One of the biggest differences that are seen time and time again across all research between the two farming practices is the effect on the land. Organic farming works to increase sustainability, biodiversity, and to encourage good soil and air quality. This is maintained by the use of natural growing practices, the avoidance of harmful chemicals, and the continued practice of crop rotation and other natural farming methods.
Organic Farming vs. Conventional Farming
Organic Farming
-Organic farming minimizes chemical usage
-Organic farming promotes biodiversity
-Soil health is improved with organic farming practices
-Only natural methods are used in organic farming
Conventional Farming
-Conventional farming makes use of chemicals, synthetics, and other materials to manage weeds and pests
-Conventional farming uses unnatural farming methods
-Conventional farming use of pesticides has garnered attention towards acceptable levels of toxicity, and whether there should actually be an acceptable level
-Pesticides used in conventional farming can be damaging to your health.
There are many other differences between organic and conventional farming, but these seem to be the most spoken of in regards to consumer health. There have been arguments around whether or not conventional farming methods are safe for one’s health. This is because of the pesticides and GMO’s used in conventional farming practices. Many people are concerned that those growing practices promote unsafe chemical use, especially because the level of toxicity is said to be under a “safe” level, but what is really safe?
Luckily, many places make it easy to get ahold of seasonal, local and organic products. There are many CSA’s, grocery delivery services and organic markets that promote a more healthy way of eating.”
I’d also like to add the conventional farming often requires the use of GMO seeds (or roundup ready corn seed for example)
June 22, 2017 @ 7:29 am
It’s bad for the environment because of eutrophication. It literally enriches the water, allowing way too much algae to grow. The excessive algae is what in turn kills the other aquatic life. There is nothing wrong with inorganic phosphate sources. It could even come from life (which I do understand that it doesn’t) and still be inorganic. Water is inorganic. Inorganic in this sense means not contaning Carbon. You took organic chem, right? as a doctor? Pure or highly concentrated TSP is irritating as a base, the way baking soda could rupture your stomach if you ate a lot of it pure. How about lye, or sodium hydroxide? That stuff will blind you if you get it in your eyes and it will dissolve / denature proteins from your skin. However, it has been used to make lutefisk for who knows how long. Soap has always been made with lye too, in the sense that even if you use wood ash, that contains lye. I do understand that the lye reacts with the fats and that there’s no lye in the final product. The main thing is TSP is irritating because of it’s high pH, and that pH would drop with concentration. It’s the eleventh ingredient in those Cheerios I believe, 5 ingredients below salt, which is at a concentration of 160 mg per 28 gram serving. So there’s a lot of detail I don’t know here, and clearly I can’t disprove that it’s harmful in the cereal concentration, but doesn’t it seem like there’s a lot of evidence against your side here? The only thing I could really get behind is that TSP would throw off your calcium:phosphate ratio, and that phosphate being too high would cause bone reabsorbsion. And since milk is probably already balanced between calcium and phosphate, I guess you would need a non-phosphate calcium source in addition to balance it out. Seriously, I may sound attacking here, but I actually want us to have a conversation about this.
June 27, 2017 @ 2:43 am
This is how you get big corporation to stop putting potentially hazardous additives in our foods. “Stop buying their product” Nothing sends a message faster to any company than to not buy their product, because you don’t like what they are putting in it. Case in point Coke when they came out with new Coke. People refused to buy the new Coke and it was off the market and the old recipe back on the market within several months. We as consumers have more say than any Federal agency by simply choosing how we spend our money. Big corporation’s greed monitors go off big time when they see their stocks drop. Send a message they will hear, their bank account.
July 8, 2017 @ 11:59 am
I also see tricalcium phosphate in cereals and foods. Is there a relationship and does this have any negative health effects? I can’t find anything online
August 8, 2017 @ 6:11 am
Trisodium phosphate is banned as a cleaner because when it washes into streams and rivers it makes things grow. Algae blooms can be a problem.
September 6, 2017 @ 10:34 pm
I have a brother who has ALS and has had it for 4 years. Do you have any specific advice or information that I could share with His wife that might help him? If so please share. Thank you
September 19, 2017 @ 5:46 pm
I had chronic diarrhea over a period of several months, earlier this year. It was bad enough that I thought I might need medical help. Eating anything would trigger noisy bowels lasting all day, along with a feeling of digestive upset, and frequent urgent elimination, for no apparent reason. I began to suspect the cause was something in my diet. My symptoms went away after I stopped eating Great Value “Oat Crunch.” Lo and behold, in the ingredients is listed “trisodium phosphate.” The link was confirmed in my mind when I recently ate one bowl of this Wal-Mart breakfast cereal and immediately suffered a return of the same digestive upset. As noted above, the TSP is described as being “severely irritating to the gastric mucosa.”
I am angry at the FDA for allowing companies to put this in food. I am angry at Wal-Mart for selling us this crap. I fully concur with Dr. Kmiec that TSP has no business being in the food we eat!
October 16, 2017 @ 10:23 am
why anyone would dispute paying close attention to what one puts in their gut is beyond me when around 70% of our immune system is in the gut?
October 17, 2017 @ 8:34 am
Hi Michelle!
I couldn’t agree more!!
October 27, 2017 @ 12:53 pm
TSP has been in cereal since the 1950s, perhaps longer. Why is it a big issue now? It hasn’t killed anyone in over 60 years.
October 27, 2017 @ 1:29 pm
Hello! Great question!
Again, the issue is about – why so many unnecessary synthetically made substances need to be in so many food products? And actually, TSP has been around longer than the 1950’s but wasn’t introduced as a food additive until later. In the 1940’s (after the war) is when the process and fast food movement really began to take off. And then as even more artificial food additives and substances were introduced such as artificial sugars, etc… is when a dramatic change in health as a society can be traced.
Today, nearly every health condition is on an increase despite so-called “life-saving” pharmaceuticals. So what gives? Could all the chemicals we are exposed to be a major source of the problem? And furthermore, the biggest question (and concern) should really be…what is the cumulative effect of all these chemicals – Year after year?
Is it a coincidence that when you clean up your diet that health changes for the better consistently occur? Well. that is up to you determine 🙂 I think you know where I stand on that premise.
Best of health!
November 6, 2017 @ 1:36 pm
I have been reading all your comments. You might want to check out Dr. Sebi .
Did all of you know that most of our vegetables and fruits are made in a lab ? They are called hybrids, carrots was made in a lab in Europe. These foods that have been made or altered are Acidic , natural food is alkaline. Our body is organic , we are carbon based. Go look at the iron they put in cereal, it’s the wrong kind. We need iron from plants , not from rock.
But as I say this, we humans are also a hybrid, so what kind of food do hybrids eat ??
November 6, 2017 @ 3:12 pm
Hello James! I couldn’t agree more. Thank for your comment!!
November 19, 2017 @ 2:26 pm
So they are a bunch of CEREAL KILLERS!!!!
November 26, 2017 @ 3:01 pm
The ingredients in my box of Cheerios shows tripotassium phosphate and not trisodium phosphate. Are they the same or did General Mills change up something?
November 27, 2017 @ 7:21 am
Hi Connie, Great question! There are now some that apparently have the different ingredient, but others still have TSP. In the comments, I showed two different pics of the cereal based on this question!
All the best
December 20, 2017 @ 10:54 pm
Think about that. “ Cured my self of MS” Must have been self diagnosed also bc there is no known cure for MS. Unless you used the wrong word and meant to say managed MS. Now I am a firm believer of a healthy diet and exercise. I also believe it can cure or help manage most anything that is thrown someone’s way. But cure MS, that’s simply not true. Your sitting on a gold mine if that’s he case. Also if your response would be that the industry is hiding the truth for profits. Why are there no other stories out there like yours. Surely people would have heard and givin this a try given how debilitating the disease can be.
December 23, 2017 @ 11:07 am
Hello Ryan! Thank you for your passionate comment. Though respectively I 100% disagree. ALL health conditions are curable from my perspective.
“The gold mine”? Believing without a doubt that it is possible. I would love to take credit for that, but it is something that we all possess. People cure themselves of autoimmune, cancers (even stage 4), diabetes, heart disease, and on and on…all the time. For example…Terry Walhs, MD cured herself of progressive MS (easily found on Google) naturally.
You mention profits and yep I’d have to agree. The pharmaceutical companies are multi-billion profit machines and despite the countless drugs, and new drugs released each year…people are sicker than ever. But at the end of the day, and this is awesome, we each are entitled to our own beliefs and can choose what path we take regarding health…and our life. I would never question your belief and path because I do not know your life experience. Please consider offering me the same respect 🙂
Wishing you the best of health!
December 24, 2017 @ 4:09 pm
Hello Dr. Kmiec. Thanks for this article. I want to share with you that Trisodium Phosphate causes me severe migraine headache, as well as Maltoxtrin, Sucrose, Dextrose, MSG, artificial and “natural” flavors, and all the other artificial junk that the FDA allows into our food.
Unfortunately they are everywhere. Some people have migraines everyday and don’t realize that they are being triggered by those ingredients and are being consumed on a daily basis.
Worse yet, it is not even mentioned in the medical literature. The reason I know is from my own personal experience of dealing with daily migraines to finally making journal on food intake and their ingredients, introducing only one at a time, and noticing how my body responded. Usually a trigger consumed in one day, will cause a migraine the next day, and sometimes within 4 hours. Once trigger, the migraine will last anywhere from 3 to 4 days.
Please keep up with your excellent work of educating the public.
January 25, 2018 @ 6:00 am
I did find it really disturbing that most of these accounts were created just to bash on you. They draw attention to themselves usually by name calling. It saddens me how far society has fallen.
January 26, 2018 @ 10:52 am
Hi Vance and thanks for that observation; I certainly appreciate it! Yes, it is sad how some people really want to defend toxic chemicals in their food, but in all fairness, it is their right to do so and that is why I will always allow their opinions 😉
Wishing you optimal health, always!
February 8, 2018 @ 10:03 am
After reading the article, I see that Cheerios Multi grain also has tsp, interesting that they dicountinued Banana nut flavour . Was there more tsp in that cereal than Multi Grain Cheerios??
February 24, 2018 @ 6:22 pm
If the EPA says TSP is hazardous to the environment and the CDC tells us to avoid all contact, why does the FDA allow it in our food and personal care products?
Why is TSP used in our food?
TSP is most commonly used to reduce the acidic nature of foods, especially breakfast cereals, as it modifies cereal color and aids in the cereal’s flow through the extruder. Other uses are:
Added to meat to retain moisture during storage and cooking.
Acts as a leavening agent to “fluff up” foods like cakes, breads and baked goods.
Added to cheese to help keep its shape and melting properties.
TSP is also used as an antimicrobial cleaner for washing produce. Poultry is dipped in a TSP solution to potentially kill off bacteria.
Why should you avoid food with TSP?
Studies have shown that ingesting high levels of phosphate (the major mineral in TSP) can cause kidney damage, soft tissue calcification and removal of calcium from bones. Chronic high levels of phosphate intake can result in osteopenia and ultimately osteoporosis. TSP also irritates the stomach and intestinal lining as well as reduces lactic acid in muscles.
What foods commonly contain TSP?
Breakfast cereals seem to be the products that most commonly contain TSP. Note that you may also see Sodium Phosphate, Disodium Phosphate or Tripotassium Phosphate on the label instead of Trisodium Phosphate. These also cause the same health problems as TSP.
Products Commonly Containing TSP
Breakfast Cereals
Other Foods
Personal Care Products
Cheerios* – all types
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Cocoa Puffs
Cookie Crisp
Dora the Explorer Cereal
Golden Grahams
Kix – all types
Lucky Charms
Raisin Nut Bran
Reese’s Puffs
Heart Healthy Cereal
Trader Joe’s O’s – all types*
Mom’s Best Cereals
Honeycomb
Trix
Spongebob Squarepants
Wheaties
Total Raisin Bran
Lunchmeat
Ham
Other processed meats
Processed cheese
Cheese sauces
Rice syrup
Canned soups
Cake mixes
Bread
Pizza dough
Other baked goods
Toothpastes for adults, kids and babies
Mouthwash
Hair coloring and bleaching products
* These cereals have either trisodium or tripotassium phosphate (TPP). TPP is just as harmful as TSP.
February 25, 2018 @ 11:22 am
Hi William! One word – AWESOME!!!
March 5, 2018 @ 5:36 am
TSP is good for your teeth! Only to be ingested in small quantities as per this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J2vEIpqy90&t=62s
March 27, 2018 @ 8:05 am
I’m not going to trust a “Doctor” who doesn’t know what they’re saying. Anything is bad depending on a DOSAGE (a word someone who’s a doctor would know). Dihydrogen Monoxide is extremely fatal in large doses, should we ban that from our food too? I’m pretty sure you should leave this to a different doctor because you’re apparently not qualified for this. Also replying passive-aggressively to anyone who disagrees with your point with emojis doesn’t help your case either. You should probably re-inform yourself before you cause unneeded hysteria, or make yourself look like a dolt, you sound like one of those “Researchers” who “Expose” cereal with iron in them.
March 27, 2018 @ 8:08 am
I also won’t trust a “Doctor” who cured themselves, from an un-curable disease… Instead of complaining to thousands about a fictional problem, how about you go to an actual hospital and save millions from MS, I mean, unless you never actually have MS or you lied about “curing” it.
March 27, 2018 @ 8:37 am
Don’t know why my posts aren’t going through, maybe you’re deleting them. Maybe it’s because you’re a quack and you actually didn’t cure your MS.
March 27, 2018 @ 8:38 am
Disregard last post
March 27, 2018 @ 10:15 am
Hello Anon! Thank you for your four passionate posts! Though I allow all posts, comments, and ALL opinions within reason…respectfully, I couldn’t disagree more. But you are certainly entitled to your belief! Further, yes I actually was diagnosed with MS, and much like the thousands of other people who have been diagnosed with autoimmune (like MS), cancer, heart disease, etc and have cured themselves naturally, sadly the medical profession has no interest. I suppose it would harm pharmaceutical profits, but I would hope that is not the case.
As for me, I am glad I followed my own path, and not the medical model, as scary as it was and changed everything in life instead. My choice. And in the end, I did recover my health 100% naturally 🙂 (and yes I like emojis! They are fun!) So I guess your term “quack” is relative to your belief. What you deem as mainstream, I consider quackery…though I do believe that the intentions of most are good.
The issue with unnecessary artificial chemicals is not a fictional problem, though you are correct that dosage is everything. The sad thing is these artificial chemicals are ingested by many on a daily basis. But nonetheless, it is your right and freedom to believe and eat whatever you choose.
I am sorry that you feel that I answer questions “passive-aggressively”, I assure you that is far from my intention. I simply prefer to be kind when engaging in a dialog with someone, such as yourself, who seems very passionate and angry for whatever reasons as they are personal to you.
I wish you well Aron and thanks again for your comments!
April 28, 2018 @ 1:01 am
First I have to say…. STOP ATTACKING THIS POOR LADY!! If you don’t agree with her, LEAVE! Nobody is making you read this stuff and NOBODY is MAKING you eat or not eat this way or that way.
I DO NOT understand you people. Where are your brains? You keep saying TSP is NOT harmful in “SMALL” amounts. However what you don’t realize is that it is in so many products.
We Americans want our food and want it fast and cheap. So a lot of people turn to processed foods. THINK about it. If you eat TSP in your cereal, eat a processed item for snacks then turn around and eat something for lunch that has TSP in it. Then there is dinner. You go home and fix a prepackaged processed meal that has TSP in it. So “small amounts” go OUT the WINDOW! Sadly so many people eat this way these days. And they eat this way day in and day out.
We are slowly killing ourselves! So the old saying “just a little won’t kill ya” can’t hold up today in 2018! Because there is “just a little” of this and that in most of our foods. SO, if you add this and that up, you get WAY MORE than a “little”.
I no longer purchase processed foods nor do I do “organic”. Because why should I buy “organic” foods and pay more for foods that are not being treated, grown or cleaned with chemicals? I buy fresh (except for those “fake” hydroponic tomato’s) (and wash it well) or frozen products that are not made with “added” ingredients. That way, I am eating “cleaner” than buying processed foods but also not over spending on buying unnecessary “organic”. I also am going to start buying grass fed beef from a local farmer. They do not give their animals ANY chemicals or any type of injections. They truly only eat GRASS just as they should. Grassfed beef tastes MUCH better than meat from the stores. So, IF you eat beef, I HIGHLY suggest “Grassfed Beef”.
While we are on the subject of “processed” foods. Ya wanna know why people are getting fatter? Not only because more kids are eating junk food, staying in and playing video games. They are eating processed foods that are not only loaded with TSP, check out the “corn”. Corn this, corn that, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, etc. Cereals claim they are “whole grain” well that “grain” is, most of the time, CORN! THAT is making us fat. How do I know??? Because not only do farmers inject their beef with poisons, they “fatten” their cattle with none other than CORN! SHOCKING!!
I DO NOT TRUST the government on ANY study they do! THEY LIE! How many years did they say “eggs were bad?”. Now, guess what?? The government is now saying eggs are good for us…Eat up!! Guess what I never believed that eggs were bad for us. If they are it is only because they feed the hens CORN!
“Food for thought” WWJD? GOD BLESS!
April 28, 2018 @ 9:53 am
WOW, I told people to leave you alone and you DELETE my post! That makes me NOT trust you!!
April 28, 2018 @ 12:07 pm
Dr Michelle — thankful that I came upon your website and SO HAPPY to hear your story of regained health through nutrition & holistic lifestyle. I can also personally (and on behalf of my clients) testify to the healing properties in consuming clean, organic, natural, unadulterated, uncontaminated whole foods – I’m a ‘work in progress’ 🙂
In response to those who have commented on this article and erroneously equated SYNTHETIC (man-made) trisodium phosphate with natural occurring TSP – here’s a scientific study for them to read:
synthetic form is dangerous as a food additive:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3278747/
it has an extreme detrimental effect on the mucousal tissues of the GI tract.
over 70% of our immune system is in the gut – [destroy the gut = destroy your health]
April 28, 2018 @ 12:20 pm
ALSO, healing takes TIME. Don’t expect healing to take place quickly regarding conditions that developed and progressively worsened over the span of YEARS. Healing won’t happen overnight. For me, it’s been 9+ years, and I’m still “in the process” of improvement and STILL have extreme limitations, but have greatly improved through building up my immune system to where I’ve been able add back into my diet many, many wonderful & healthy foods so I’m getting many necessary nutrients through my diet.
FYI, I’m disabled with severe latex allergy and severe multiple chemical sensitivities. I was able to successfully eradicate (NO further symptoms since 2012) chronic lyme disease using homeopathic remedies and nutritional therapies. I “rarely” get “sick” (ie viral / bacterial infections) because my immune system is once again functional (and if/when do, successfully fight them off naturally – without “drugs” (neither Rx or OTC). AND, I practice strict avoidance of toxic chemicals (environment, food, drugs, etc) and natural rubber latex (direct, indirect touch, airborne, injection, ingestion – latex-contaminated foods, latex-cross-reactive foods, etc). With avoidance and a controlled-home-environment, I have fewer reactions and through homeopathy & nutrition my recovery time has substantially decreased.
April 30, 2018 @ 1:38 pm
Hello! Thank you for your kind words 🙂 and not sure what post you believe has been deleted? All posts are always welcome on this blog except spam and profanity. Can you tell what date you posted so I research this? Thanks!
April 30, 2018 @ 1:40 pm
Hello! Thank you for your wonderful post and kind words!! I could not agree more!
Wishing you all the best and of course…optimal health!
May 18, 2018 @ 1:41 pm
It is a cyanide/sugar complex in apricot seeds, which as a complex, doesn’t seem to affect normal cells, but because cancer cells see it as a sugar, they metabolize it to their own destruction. There are many more harmful elements in our foods which are ignored when we focus on the relatively benign. Perhaps abandoning all sweetened and grain based over-processed breakfast products would serve health better?
October 28, 2018 @ 2:57 pm
Such a debate? Is it good? Is it bad? There is a golden rule everyone should live by if you want a healthy life: if man made it….don’t eat it! Your body has NO IDEA what the heck this stiff is! So argue away, eat what you want, it’s your funeral