Your daily bread should be called your daily dread.

There is an ingredient in shop bought bread and bread products that you will want to avoid if you value your quality of life and that of your future offspring. In fact, there are a lot of ingredients but I’m highlighting a particularly troublesome one here.

Recently I produced a Facebook live stream on swapping cheap bread for a real food alternative.

When I talk about real food alternatives, I mean using ingredients that the human body welcomes and that cause absolutely no harm or obstacles to how it is supposed to function to keep you healthy.

What is this harmful ingredient?

Whilst doing a deep dive into the ingredients in the cheapest loaf that Aldi produce, I came across calcium propionate.

Now, I’ve been studying food and chemicals masquerading as food for over a decade, but calcium propionate hadn’t found it’s way into my knowledge sphere.

Isn’t it funny that as soon as you become aware of something you start to notice more and more about it?

No sooner had I been shocked to learn of its widespread use by the food industry and some of the possible detrimental impacts it might have on human health, when a study arrived in my inbox linking it to the rise of autism.

What is it used for?

Calcium propionate is the solid form of propionic acid. Propionic acid is a naturally occurring salt that was found to control mould in flour and is now used to inhibit mould in moist products such as bread, meat mixtures and dairy products. Basically, it extends shelf life.

But probably shortens your shelf life.

How did it end up in bread?

Although it’s been around since 1906 it wasn’t until the creation of the Chorleywood Bread Process (CBP) in 1961 that it became standard practice to use a range of non-food ingredients including calcium propionate instead of traditional flour, yeast and water to make bread.

To put it into context, approximately 80% of the bread products consumed in the UK uses CBP or similar.

CBP may have made bread affordable and last longer, but make no mistake, it was invented to improve profit and ignored the possibility that it might affect the human body.

How is it linked to the increase of autism?

It was a rat study that proposed the link between propionic acid and autism as so many studies are when it would be unethical to experiment on humans. It focussed on maternal consumption of the substance and the prevalence of cognitive impairment in the offspring.

But as we become more and more aware of the critical importance of our gut microbiomes and the problems caused by creating an imbalance in the bacterial populations of the gut, we must address the possibility that this food safety approved chemical not only inhibits mould in the food product but also wipes out crucial bacteria responsible for a robust immune system.

People with autism are more sensitive to changes in gut flora. Eliminating all chemicals from their food as well as gluten may help to reduce the inflammatory response in their gut and improve symptoms.

In people without autism, basically everyone else, reducing any and all inflammation is key to improving all health outcomes.

It cannot be a coincidence that autism rates, alongside every other major health issue, have risen while processed food consumption has become the norm.

A potential metabolic disruptor

I read another study that concluded that calcium propionate is a ‘potential metabolic disruptor’. And as we are seeing the rise of metabolic syndrome which is a catch all for the chronic health issues in the 21st century perhaps it’s time to understand that anything that has the potential to cause problems is more than likely already doing so.

We have seen how a condition called leaky gut allows bacteria to cross the blood brain barrier and cause havoc in the brain. We must therefore consider the possibility that the chemicals in food and substances like calcium propionate are making their way to the brain and the rest of the body. Places they shouldn’t be.

These are chemical previously never ingested by humans with no track record.

Would you hear about it on the news?

If you are waiting for an announcement from the UK health authorities that warn you of the dangers of consuming calcium propionate containing foods such as sliced loaves, bagels, pitta, wraps, soda bread, English muffins and flatbreads etc before you take action, you’ll be waiting a long long time.

How can they do a U-turn when our food advice, The Eatwell Plate, is based on the ultra processed food model?

Ask yourself the following question. During the past 60 years, the only time in history when industrially processed food consumption has replaced traditional foods around the world, have global rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer gone up or down?

Err on the side of caution and eliminate anything that you don’t recognise listed on a label as a food that you would store in your kitchen.

Because your body sure as hell won’t recognise it or welcome it. And your health is at risk if you don’t.

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?About the author

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Natasha Hodge is in her 50’s and is a qualified nutritionist and specialist in the management of type 2 diabetes.

Her first nutrition business was Wide Eyed Nutrition in 2014.

She then incorporated her knowledge in food for mental health, co-running the Happy People Solutions group in 2018.

And in 2020 changed the solo business to Natasha Is Wide Eyed.

Her 9 years’ experience in business has helped people who have experienced frustration at being stuck the diet cycle she herself lived for 30+ years, that doesn’t make sense to the human body, to overhaul their health once and for all.

Her mission is to erase the misguided food beliefs that are causing worldwide chronic disease and obesity.

She now helps men and women of her generation to transform their health with the simple and powerful tools of eating real food and fasting.

Using her background in catering she has redesigned everyday meals to meet your miracle body’s requirements and has created delicious recipe guides that build you from the inside out.

By distilling her own 11-year journey into an online membership, the knowledge is passed on in a matter of weeks. Join here

If you’d like her help but want to try before you buy, get the FREE 3-part video course here: https://mailchi.mp/bacbfb4b8a4b/new-video-course