Oh poo....

... in Chocolate?

I'm always reading articles about health and nutrition. It seems there is just always something interesting to learn. Recently, an article from Men's Health came to my attention. It was full of interesting and maybe even scary information that I thought was worth sharing. Here's part of it:

Shocking Food Industry Secrets - Part 1

1. The average American has easy access to 2,700 calories each day, versus just 2,200 in 1970. If 500 calories a day doesn't sound like much, that’s 52 pounds a year.

Tip: Canadian researchers have found that daily e-mails (or tweets) that contain weight-loss advice remind you of your goals and help you drop pounds.

2. Between sodas, energy drinks, lattes, bottled teas, milk shakes, the average American drinks 450 liquid calories a day. (Here are the most sinister culprits—the 20 worst drinks in America.)

3. Fresh fruits and vegetables cost 10 times more than junk food, according to researchers at the University of Washington. A thousand calories of nutritious food cost $18.16, while a thousand calories of junk food cost a mere $1.76. How do they keep junk-food costs so low? Pretty simple, actually: flavor enhancers and other chemical additives. Speaking of . . .

4. There are more than 3,000 items on the FDA’s list of approved food additives—everything from acesulfame potassium (an artificial sweetener that animal studies have linked to breast cancer) to Yellow #5 (a food coloring linked to learning and concentration disorders in children).

Tip: Click here for a list of food additives to avoid.

And the top shocker for today:

5. Your food can legally contain maggots and rat poop. Sure, the FDA limits the amount of such appetite killers in your food, but that limit isn't zero. Trace amounts won’t make you sick, but the thought of them will. For more on this, check the FDA's Food "Defect Levels Handbook".

Come back tomorrow for more shocking secrets!