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Fast Food Milkshakes Exposed

Even though I live in America now, I still like to keep an eye on the British press to see what's going on in Britain. A little while ago, I came across an article in one of Britain's biggest newspapers, The Guardian. I found the article funny, but at the same time, shocking.

The headline of the article went like this: The 59 Ingredients in a Fast Food Strawberry Milkshake. Now, that's not a very good start. Is it? Fifty-nine ingredients. So, I looked a little further, and it turns out that in one fast food restaurant strawberry milkshake from a big fast food chain, there are two ingredients that are notably absent: Milk and Strawberries!! Does that put you off for life already? Well, let's see if I can put you off a bit further.

It turns out that the strawberry flavor they use to flavor their milkshakes is actually made from 40 different chemicals. Let me read you a couple of the names of these chemicals. This is just the strawberry flavor. Forty different chemicals.

  • Amyl valerate
  • Anethol
  • Ethyl lactate
  • Methylphenylglycidate (Oh, my word! That's a mouthful and a half!)
  • Ionone
  • Maltol
  • Methyl benzoate

That's just to name but a few of those 40 ingredients that go into their strawberry flavoring.

Now, I don't know about you, but I've had strawberry milkshakes from fast food chains before, and some of them are very, very tasty. But after finding out that there's 59 ingredients, and that both milk and strawberries are absent from these milkshakes, I can definitely say I've been put off for life, and I hope you are as well.

So, is there a healthy alternative? Of course! And in a future video, I will be showing you how to make your own raw, very healthy, strawberry milkshake, start to finish, in only one minute. So, I hope you'll going to enjoy that recipe.

But in the meantime, now that you've got this information about fast food restaurants' strawberry milkshakes, (and I'm sure this goes for their other milkshakes as well) I hope you will want to avoid them like the plague. I know I sure will.





 
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Comment on This Article Community Comments (67)
 
 
Posted On Jul 10, 2007
Luci may be shocked as the 59 ingredients in a UK shake, but this is "child's play" with the overt, synthetic, artificial, toxic, and harmful chemistry throughout the UNLABELED take out, food service, fast food, restaurant, over the counter, junk food, institutional food and beverage business; which represents at least 2/3rds of all meals consumed in the USA today, that few folks have any idea as to what's in what they are consuming!!!

 
Russ Bianchi
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 9/2006
Russ Bianchi  
Replied

The Herb Doc
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 11/2006
The Herb Doc  
 
Posted On Jul 10, 2007
What are we to do with this mess over here Russ? Food It is absolutely insane anymore as is of course “Medication”! Sometimes I feel trapped in the worst “B” Sci-fi movie I have ever seen! Where are the good guys in this film? How does it end?


Russ Bianchi
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 9/2006
Russ Bianchi  
 
Posted On Jul 10, 2007
Fade up volume on the Indy Jones theme music....

Doc, the FOOD NAZIS will lose in the long run....the body count will be HIGH, in the mean time.

Maybe, Joe Mercola's cover of his new book, should have him in a fedora, leather jacket, with colt revolver in holster, and bull whip?!

Those who tell their friends, family, and colleagues, to regularly read Vital Votes, and become participants, as well as in turn having them tell others, are CREATING AN UNSTOPPABLE geometric progression, that WILL bring Big Pharma Food & Soda to justice, by shutting down that which makes them tick, REVENUE.

Or as in the closing scenes of THE LAST CRUSADE, the ancient Knight smiles at Indy (Harrison Ford) trying to save his Dad's life (Sean Connery), and says regarding Indy's cup selection: "You Have Chosen Wisely"....

The simplest and least expense prevention protocols remain far better in net outcome results, than the very costly, harmful side effect ridden, reactive alternatives.

Uncle Russ






The Herb Doc
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 11/2006
The Herb Doc  
 
Posted On Jul 10, 2007
I'm liking this movie better and better! and I think you are right about the fedora and leather jacket for the book cover! with a wild glint in his eye! - Maybe cracking the whip on an ungodly manifestation of Big Pharma foming at the mouth! Yea thats it! I can see it now!


horse lover
Novice User Novice User Joined On 7/2007
horse lover  
 
Posted On Jul 11, 2007
Yes, it seems like so few people actually cook at home anymore. 

When I eat out, I find myself wondering such things as, "What ingredients are actually in this?  How much bleach was this meat pre-soaked in?  Was this food cooked on Teflon?"  Restaurants are in the business to make a profit, and the decisions that lead to increased profit sometimes lead to health harming results.  I try cook at home, bring my lunches to work, and attempt to maintain a healthy lifestyle

Is there a web site that lists "healthier" restaurants?  It is fun to go out to eat once in a while.


horse lover
Novice User Novice User Joined On 7/2007
horse lover  
 
Posted On Jul 11, 2007
This explains why I would feel nauseous for hours after drinking one of those shakes!


marymarg
Novice User Novice User Joined On 2/2007
marymarg  
 
Posted On Jul 13, 2007
Milk Shake video was very informative but I watch the other Milk Shake video from UTube that was on that same video page and I was amazed that you would have such a nasty video with all that swearing and dirty language coming from your web page.  Thought maybe you would screen those UTube video first.  Makes me think twice about visiting Dr.Mercola in the future.   

 
 
 
Posted On Jul 10, 2007

The 59 ingredients in a fast-food strawberry milkshake

Monday April 24, 2006
The Guardian

Now take a look at the ingredients you might find in a fast-food strawberry milkshake: milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, sweet whey, high-fructose corn syrup, guar gum, monoglycerides and diglycerides, cellulose gum, sodium phosphate, carrageenan, citric acid, E129 and artificial strawberry flavour.

And what does that "artificial strawberry flavour" contain?

Just these few yummy chemicals: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphrenyl- 2-butanone (10% solution in alcohol), ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, undecalactone, vanillin and solvent.

 
Sandralee
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 6/2006
Sandralee  
Replied

C Ed Wright
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 6/2007
C Ed Wright  
 
Posted On Jul 11, 2007
I stopped at "E129".  What the hell is THAT....?

So, like school teachers used to tell us,  I looked it up, and here's what I found:
E129
Allura Red AC, FD&C Red 40

[various hyperlinks deleted]

Orange-red colour used in sweets, drinks and condiments, medications and cosmetics, A red synthetic azo dye introduced in the early eighties to replace Amaranth, E123, in the United States of America where E123 is prohibited.

May have slightly less allergy/intolerance reaction by aspirin intolerant people and asthmatics than most of the azo dyes, although those with skin sensitivities should be careful. ALLURA RED HAS ALSO BEEN CONNECTED WITH CANCER IN MICE.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CONSUMPTION BY CHILDREN.

BANNED IN DENMARK, BELGIUM, FRANCE, GERMANY, SWITZERLAND, SWEDEN, AUSTRIA AND NORWAY.

[Emphasis added.]

Hey, but you can still microwave it.



Shu
Novice User Novice User Joined On 1/2007
Shu  
 
Posted On Jul 17, 2007
Very interesting to read about all the additives in a strawberry shake.  As to where to go to eat out or get a healthy shake, etc., here are a few ideas. For the past 3 years, we have owned and run a coffee house in Pelican Rapids, MN where we tried very hard to implement our own ideas of what was healthy or at least not harmful. We recently sold this business and we hope the new owners will keep up the tradition. But as to the strawberry shake, we made smoothies that very closely approximated a shake using 100% fruit puree, no sweetners or fruit puree sweetened only with sugar..no corn syrup.  If a customer wanted to avoid all sugar, we would make it with no "base" which wasn't too bad as bases go, and instead we'd add protein powder and a few drops of stevia.  So, ineffectualy avoiding milk, sugar and chemicals. They were always delicious.  But it was an on-going effort to educate our customers.  Our sandwiches and soups were equally well thought out.  If we wouldn't eat it, we did not want our customers eating it either.
This just proves that there are a few of us out there, but it does take a search.  If you live anywhere near a big Whole Foods grocery or equivient, try their deli and food & salad bars. Sit down areas in store.
Good luck, and always let the folks who are doing something right know that you appreciate it.
Mother Goose

 
 
 
Posted On Jul 10, 2007
maybe all these chemical preservatives will also preserve your body like antioxidants, thats why dead people decay slower now than 100 years ago:)

 
bemmy
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 4/2007
bemmy  
 
 
 
Posted On Jul 10, 2007
I don't know what the U.K. legal standards are, but here in the U.S. if you look at your fast food menus, you will notice that those drinks are listed as "shakes", not milk shakes.  Therefore, if it is listed as a shake, you can be sure there is not one drop of milk in it.

 
Mark DeBarbieri
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 6/2006
Mark DeBarbieri  
Replied

Bikin Mom
Novice User Novice User Joined On 7/2006
Bikin Mom  
 
Posted On Jul 10, 2007
Good infomation! I once asked what they were made of and the fast food emplyee asked her manager then said "shake base with ice cream added" it just wasn't appealing enough, so I bought the toy and left, dreaming of old fashion ice cream churns and my Dad and Uncle taking turns. Ahhhh, there really was a lot of good in the good old days.

 
 
 
Posted On Jul 10, 2007
As a former foodservice reasearcher, one with personal experience in the testing processes of fast food restaurants, there are a couple more things that you will find in all fast food milkshakes.  E-coli and coliforms.  It is important that  small children, the elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system stay away from this type of fast food as well as any beverage that comes out of a recirculated container (ie: lemonade) as you are at the mercy of those who are responsible for  the cleaning and sanitizing of those machines.  And at the mercy of their personal hygiene habits as their hands come in contact with this equipment while cleaning and filling them.   In some instances I have seen E-coli and coliforms way, way past the allowable limit.

 
Terry L. S.
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 7/2007
Terry L. S.  
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cheftodd
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 4/2007
cheftodd  
 
Posted On Jul 12, 2007
that's no joke!

 
 
 
 
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