What's hiding in your Hidden Valley®....

Let me start off by saying, that of all the ingredients I've researched so far, this is by far the most widely used & the most hotly debated…. 

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid or EDTA is a synthetic chemical & is not an “organic” naturally made one.  It’s produced as several forms of salt, most commonly listed in products as Disodium EDTA & Calcium Disodium EDTA.  It can also be called Diammonium EDTA, Dipotassium EDTA, EDTA, HEDTA, TEA-EDTA, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tripotassium EDTA and Trisodium HEDTA.  Disodium EDTA is widely used in cream based foods, processed foods, cosmetics, personal care items & household cleaning supplies to dissolve limescale & help with hard water spots.  It has a wide use in the industrial world & is released into the environment in large quantities because of this use.  Its environmental impact has been shown as being toxic, carcinogenic & mutagenic, or capable of producing mutations in live offspring.  As for some medical uses, EDTA is used for chelation therapy (removing metals from blood like lead poisoning in children) & anticoagulant in donated & transfused blood.

 

The Dept of Health and Human Services (DHH) advises that it is unsafe to consume more than 3 grams of EDTA per day. The FDA measures it’s use in food as ppm’s (parts per million), so it’s hard to actually measure how much EDTA is in any give product, but over consumption can lead to the depletion of vitamins & minerals in the body as well as cause liver & kidney damage.  Doctors suggest that people with liver or kidney problems avoid eating or using products with EDTA as it can make liver & kidney disease worse. There is also some concern that EDTA might increase the risk of seizures in people with epilepsy, might make heart rhythm problems worse & might interfere with blood sugar control because it can interact with insulin in people with diabetes.

In food & beverages it is commonly used as a preservative & stabilizer & it protects food from discoloration & oxidation.  Salad dressing, mayonnaise, spreadable margarines, cream based products & soups, canned beans & canned tomatoes are all approved to use EDTA, so let’s take a trip to our local grocery store & see what’s buried in the ingredients lists…

Salad dressings… Hidden Valley®, Kraft® & Ken’s® all have various dressings with EDTA. Instead try Bolt House Farms® or Marie’s® in your produce section.  Also, Newman’s Own®, Drew’s® or Brianna’s® located in the salad dressing aisle. Marie's Creamy Chipotle Ranch is a favorite in our house.

soruce: http://www.maries.com/

source: http://www.briannassaladdressing.com/

Spreadable margarines… Margarines alone are not that healthy for you, even some which seem healthier, like Brummel & Brown Yogurt Spread®, have EDTA. Try Land O’ Lakes Spreadable Butter® with Canola or Olive Oil instead.  Both only have 3 ingredients. We use this in our house & I love how easy it spreads & how well it can be used in cooking & baking, plus it tastes good too.



source: http://www.landolakes.com/



Mayonnaise… this was the most difficult to find in the regular grocery aisle. I couldn’t locate a single common mayonnaise that did not have EDTA in it. You will need to visit your local grocery’s “natural food section” if they do not stock these products in the regular shelves.  We’re lucky enough to have a local Trader Joes, so we use their brand, which tastes just like Hellman’s® to me.

Soups… A lot of cream based canned soups contain EDTA. Progresso® & Campbell’s® both offer varieties that don’t, just make sure you read the label before you buy.

I could list hundred’s of food products that have EDTA, but I will leave it to the few listed above & hope that you will look at labels on everything you purchase, before you buy.  Since this is widely used in health care products, I wanted to divulge a little information about that…

In cosmetics, personal care & skin care products, disodium EDTA is used as a preservative, stabilizer & purifying agent to keep the products free of contamination from metals & to help it retain a longer shelf life.  It also helps the topical penetration of active ingredients in skin care products. The DHH approves its use in baby care lotions & soaps, moisturizers, facial cleansers, body washes/cleansers, shampoos & conditioners, sunscreens/tanning oils, around-eye cream, styling gel/lotions, anti-aging creams, exfoliant/scrub, acne treatment, skin fading/lightener, hair color & bleaching, bubble bath, foot treatment, foundation, sunless tanning, mascara, after shave, perfume, anti-itch/rash cream, eye liner, makeup remover, lip liner, blush, lip balm/treatment, liquid hand soap, eye shadow, antiperspirant/deodorant & a host of other personal care products.  Clinical tests performed by the FDA show that disodium EDTA is non-toxic in the quantities approved for over-the-counter use. They stress that EDTA itself does not penetrate the skin; however, its ability to facilitate penetration means you should be aware of the other ingredients your beauty products contain.

Well, that a lot of information to digest, so I will leave it at that…

Until the next post….