Non-Dairy Creamer, What's In It

Now, even though it is called "non-dairy creamer," I've keenly observed the liquid type certainly looks like milk to me and the powdered looks like powdered milk, but if it's "nondairy," as it clearly states on the front label, there couldn't possibly be any milk in it, right?

Well, I took a look at the ingredient label on the back of the container and was aghast. First, because I could hardly pronounce any of the ingredients, second, because there wasn't a REAL food ingredient listed in this product at all and third, because there IS milk in it, among many other hazardous chemical ingredients!

On a nutrition label, ingredients are listed in order from the greatest amount contained in the product to the least. The first ingredient on this canister of powdered non-dairy creamer reads, "corn syrup solids." Mmmmmm, this would be dried corn syrup - the same stuff found in soft drinks and processed foods causing children (and adults) to become obese and diabetic. It accumulates in the human liver and it also has a direct effect on our triglycerides - that is, it shoots them straight through the roof! Nothin' like a triglyceride boost first thing in the morning.

The next ingredient on the list, the second most prevalent ingredient, is "partially hydrogenated soybean oil." What? Hydrogenated oil? "Hydrogenated" means it is a trans fat! How can this be? The label says "Og" of trans fats! Well, it appears there is a convenient loophole in the labeling laws that states if a product has .5g of transfats per serving, the manufacturer can still claim there are NO trans fats in it, EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE STILL DANGEROUS TRANS FATS IN THE PRODUCT! If food manufacturers simply make their serving size small enough, they can claim "zero grams" of trans fats, just like this non-dairy creamer does. It appears the U.S. labeling laws are put in place to benefit the food industry, NOT you and your health. So, in addition to that nice triglyceride boost, we're increasing our chances of cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol (LDL- the bad kind) and even liver disease, from, of all oils - hydrogenated soybean oi l-one of the most highly processed and genetically modified oils on the market. Could it get any worse?

Here's another sour spoonful to swallow: the third ingredient on the list had me shaking my head as I read it aloud - sodium caseinate! This is a MILK protein. Yes, MILK is in this NON-DAIRY (meaning NO dairy NO milk) product. It even says on the label in parentheses in clear printed English: "a milk derivative" and further down the label it states: "Contains: milk, soy." They TELL us it contains milk! Digest that! What kind of IQ do these so-called food makers think we have?

Not only is sodium caseinate a protein extracted from milk, according to Robert Cohen of www.notmilk.com, "it's actually a glue used to put a label on a bottle of beer. It's the glue used to hold together the wood in your furniture. When you eat this casein, this glue from milk, your body is seeing this foreign protein, and you're producing these histarnines which end up as mucus. And that's why it is mucus-forming."

According to the website of a popular brand of non-dairy creamer: "When sodium caseinate is processed, it is so materially altered that both dairy scientists and government regulators no longer regard it as a true dairy substance. This is why sodium caseinate can be an ingredient in non-dairy products, according to FDA, regulation 21 CFR 101.4 (d). Sodium caseinate is also not a source of lactose."

So, let's see; they process the heck out of milk so they can SAY it's not milk anymore and then they turn around and milk us till the cows come home for all we're worth. Incredible (legal, unfortunately) logic. And we think the COWS have gone mad? Whey to go FDA, thanks for looking out for us, once again.

The rest of the list reads like moo-tant hieroglyphics going in one ear and out the udder, with barely a recognizable syllable; dipotassium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, silicon dioxide, sodium stearoly lactylate, and soy lecithin - a genetically modified soy waste product of soy processing. Oh, and non-dairy creamer has a 2 year shelf-life. Holy cow! Can you stomach this?

Of course, if we are going to play biological roulette with our bodies and treat our digestive tracts like a garbage disposal, we certainly couldn't leave out artificial colors and artificial flavors. And sure enough, they are I listed here on the label of our non-dairy creamer. 'Few ," points out Randall Fitzgerald in his mind-boggling book, The Hundred Year Lie, "have been researched or tested to deter mine individual effects on health, much less the possible synergistic effects inside the human body."

A website for another popular brand of non-dairy creamer states creamer was "created to be a healthier alternative to high-fat dairy products." That just sounds udderly ridiculous after what we've milked from this ingredient label.

So, how many of you were hoodwinked into thinking this sci-fi-freaky non-dairy creamer was just a harmless coffee additive? Another example of how the grass isn't always greener. This trickery is not only used in nondairy creamers, but in imitation whipped cream as well as many other products, so learn to be an avid label reader. The best advice is to eat as close to nature as possible and remember what 93 year old fitness guru Jack LaLane says, "if man made it, don't eat it."

The complete list of ingredients exactly as it appears on the label of powdered nondairy creamers:

INGREDIENTS: CORN SYRUP SOULIDS, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL. (MAY CONTAIN ONE OR MORE OF THE FOUOWING OILS: SOYBEAN, CANOLA, SUNFLOWER, CORN, OR COTTONSEED). SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE), DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES SODIUM SILICIALUMINATE, SOY LECHITHIN ARTIFICAL FLAVOR, ARTIFICAL COLOR.

Vol 27 Issue 3 Page 24