Doritos Cool Ranch: 25 ingredients for flavor

December 31, 2012 | DyeDiet

Recently I have recommended Tostitos Scoops of the Frito Lay, a division of PepsiCo, Inc., with no artificial anything and made with only 3 ingredients: corn, vegetable oil and salt. Doritos is a brand of seasoned junk food chips produced since 1964 by the Frito-Lay. Here is another bag of corn chips from the Frito Lay with diametrically opposite content: Doritos Cool Ranch made with 25 more (!) ingredients added in relation with flavoring. Shopping tip: The fewer ingredients the better. Long list of ingredients is a sign of highly processed food which is likely stuffed with many strange chemicals. Here is what your body has to deal with while you are enjoying Doritos Cool Ranch flavored tortilla chips:

DyeDiet Doesn’t Buy It!

Doritos Cool Ranch: Risk and Nutrition

The DyeDiet risk and nutrition diagram does not look friendly: It has 4 red segments warning you about food additives to avoid:

Red 40 an artificial color which is absolutely strange to living cells. Red 40 may promote hyperactivity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adults. So it may affect your brain functioning. Also read this: Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks
Blue 1 is another hostile chemical allowed into your blood and brain. That is what happens when too much Blue 1 is consumed: Blue colon at autopsy
Yellow 5 is yet another synthetic colorant to terrorize your body with allergies, asthma attacks, hives and thyroid tumors
Salt is one of the vital electrolytes in the human’s body; this is why it is represented by yellow segment in the DyeDiet diagram. But too much of anything should be avoided! Doritos Cool Ranch contains ~ twice as much salt (sodium) as Tostitos Scoops: 180 mg (8% RDI per serving and screaming ~ 3.1 g per bag (130% RDI). Regular eating too salty foods may contribute into the development of stroke, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and other serious health conditions.
Natural and artificial flavors are a bunch of synthetic chemicals. While natural flavors alone are acceptable I do not recommend accepting it when added along with artificial ones.

Other food additives of interest are:

Corn syrup solids are simply sugar from corn
Monosodium glutamate is a leading flavor enhancer, a sodium salt of one of the most abundant naturally occurring amino acids that is very unlikely to be harmful despite of many unfounded rumors
Disodium inosinate is another flavor enhancer, obtained from natural sources
Disodium guanylate is yet another flavor enhancer obtained mostly from fish. Disodium guanylate is not safe for babies under twelve weeks, and should generally be avoided by asthmatics and people with gout, as guanylates are metabolized to purines. Vegetarians and vegans may wish to avoid this food additive too
Sodium acetate added to foods as a seasoning. It may be used in the form of sodium diacetate, a 1:1 complex of sodium acetate and acetic acid. It is often used to impart a salt and vinegar flavor to potato chips. CURIOUSLY, sodium acetate is also used in consumer heating pads or hand warmers.
Sodium caseinate is a protein derivative from milk.

In agreement with all of the above, Doritos Cool Ranch poses relatively low chemically caused health risk of: DDFI = 32/41 ~ 0.8 but also low nutritional value of DDNF = 41/64 ~ 0.6.

Bottom line. Despite 16 of the total 28 ingredients are edible, Doritos Cool Ranch flavored tortilla chips as a whole are not recommended for eating due to the 4 chemicals incompatible with the human cell bio-chemistry and other chemical ballast (8 benign chemicals). Note, 3 flavor enhancers are added to make you like it. Better alternatives could be Doritos Toasted Corn, Tostitos or Terra chips. Have a Happy and HEALTHY New Year!