Oreo cookies: processed and toxic
Although recently reviewed Oreo Milk’s Favorite sandwich cookies of Craft Foods/Nabisco are far from being the best nutritious choice, they, at least, don’t contain potentially dangerous food additives (read Behavior, Learning and Health: The Dietary Connection). Oreo Ice Cream cookies represent completely different case: a variety of four artificial food colorants is included. Therefore, the DyeDiet risk diagram for the cookies looks half-red.
DyeDiet Doesn’t Buy It
Oreo Ice Cream cookies: Risk, Nutrition and Dyes
All the synthetic food dyes are added in their so called lakes form derived from the combination of the original dyes with metal salts like ones of aluminum. This makes them dispersible in oils used in the filling for Oreo sandwich cookies (high oleic canola or palm oils) and also makes it difficult for us to determine their actual content. Our rough estimate suggests 2-3 mg of overall artificial food colorants per cookie. While this may look not a lot, consider this fact: 20,866,071.50 pounds of synthetic food colorants were certified by the FDA in the year 2011 that translates into 30 g of these chemicals per every American per year. Tens grams of a xenobiotic chemical (bio-chemically foreign) is enough large amount to ruin a person’s health over some time. This is what I consider the latent “food terrorism” approved by the FDA in the name of corporate profit. With every cookie eaten you take chemical risk of DDFI = 35/21 ~ 1.7 and gain almost no nutritional value of DDNF = 21/43 ~ 0.5. I have tried the cookie and it did taste like cologne water to me: too sharp chemical fragrance for my nose. Also, you will get 30% more sugar than with the Oreo Milk’s Favorite.
Better choices. You better start your morning coffee with the cookies which contain no artificial colorants in their ingredient lists. Many other Oreo cookies or BelVita biscuits are much safer choices. I hope this quick report helps you to find your way of eating better food and quit eating food additives!
Category: Baked goods, Cookies, Food Dyes Exposure
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There are many choices better than Oreos including a natural version that looks just like them. I can’t think of the name but they are available at Whole Foods (maybe its 365 brand). Synthetic foods dyes are made from petroleum.
The link you posted is from the Feingold Association, a non profit support group formed by parents in 1976 to help others find products without these dyes, etc. The website is really helpful: http://www.feingold.org
Thank you for your comment. You are right. Whole Foods Market is a paradise for those who care about eating right. I and Feingold Association are in contact. You can see their link on the right of the DyeDiet page. As to the food colorants, while the fact that they are made from petroleum sounds scary for the general public, it is NOT important. Chemical technology (and I am a professional chemist) allows to make so many useful substances from petroleum! Chemists can synthesize (from petroleum) genuine amino acids or sugar or other NUTRIENTS that are identical to the natural ones. Source is NOT the Problem and this is exactly the Beauty and Power of chemistry. The Problem comes from the very structural specifics of the food dyes (and many other food additives) that are INCOMPATIBLE with the bio-chemical processes in living cells.