Here are a few interesting junk food-related stories from the past week or so. Enjoy.
The Truth Behind the KFC Painting Twitter Conspiracy (via Munchies)
Is ‘Natural Flavor’ Healthier Than ‘Artificial Flavor’? (via NPR’s The Salt)
15 Delicious Facts for National Nacho Day (via Mental Floss)
Finland Has Taco Bell Now And it Serves… Oats? (via Munchies)
That flavor article is entirely accurate.
Yes. I’m a chemist and don’t worry about artificial flavors. They are usually identical to or close to the flavors in foods and our bodies know what to do with them.
Artificial colors are likely to be considerably different chemically from anything on our food, though, and those can be more of a problem. So if you have a choice, go for products that have colors from food extracts.
Artificial sweeteners are the devil… I hate them because they don’t taste good to me. I hate stevia and monkfruit sweeteners also.
Natural can be much tastier. Simply Popsicles from the Popsicle brand, for example, are made with real cane sugar, natural colors and flavors and they taste really good especially compared to their usual line. There’s no off-taste and they actually taste like the flavor they are supposed to be. (What a concept.)