FitSugar -- Healthy, happy you.

Why Is Quaternium-87 in My "Herbal" Conditioner?

FitSugar — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:00:00 -0700

I made the switch to all-natural shampoo and conditioner a few years back. Not only do I like the fact that they're made with "a perfectly balanced blend of botanicals," as the bottle states, but I also like that they're made without animal testing. As I was washing my hair the other day, I went to pour some Nature's Gate Herbal Conditioner in my palm, and I saw Quaternium-87 in the list of ingredients. To me that sounds more like a show on the SciFi channel canceled after one episode than a "botanical" ingredient to me.

To find out what it is,

Label Able Round Up

FitSugar — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:00:00 -0700

There are a few weird ingredients that I keep seeing over and over again on packages and I used to always wonder what they were doing in my food. In case you ever are perplexed by certain ingredients on food labels, here are some common ones along with what they do.

Label Able: Tricalcium Phosphate

FitSugar — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:00:00 -0700

I like to read food labels; I find them fascinating, especially when the list of ingredients seems long enough to contain a plot character development. As a general rule, I try to steer clear of foods made with ingredients that have lengthy confusing names. When researching for the yogurt breakdown, I saw tricalcium phosphate on the Dannon yogurt label. The name reminded me of sodium bicarbonate, aka baking soda, but I was fairly certain these two ingredients are not related at all.

I did a little poking around and found that tricalcium phosphate is calcium salt of citric acid. It's added to foods to act as a firming or anti-caking agent, or as an acidity regulator. Companies also add it to their products to increase the calcium content (Dannon told me this when I phoned them). That's why calcium supplements sometimes contain tricalcium phosphate as well. You may find this ingredient in foods such as dairy products, wine, carbonated beverages, powdered spices, candy and jams. Reduced fat liquid foods may also contain this ingredient, to add smoothness and an opaque color.

Want to hear more about this ingredient? Then

Label Able: Malic Acid?

FitSugar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:00:00 -0700

Another day of food shopping, another weird ingredient. What in the world is malic acid? I found it on the label of Dannon Fruit on the Bottom yogurt.

It doesn't sound healthy to me, but I may just be thinking this because it also contains high-fructose corn syrup – an ingredient I don't like to find in my yogurt. To find out, just

Label Able: Gum Acacia

FitSugar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:30:00 -0700

I recently reviewed Morningstar Farms Chik Patties, and when reading the way-too-long list of ingredients I came upon gum acacia. Great. Another ingredient that sounds weird and unhealthy.

So what is it? If you're curious

Label Able: Inulin

FitSugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:30:00 -0700

I admit that I'm a huge label reader and I've even been re-reading labels from foods I've been enjoying for years. Before working out, I was chomping on a Luna Bar and in the list of ingredients, I saw inulin.

So what is it? Is it a kind of sugar? Is it a chemical? To find out

Should You Avoid Modified Corn Starch?

FitSugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:30:00 -0700

When I was checking out all the yogurts at the grocery store to do the yogurt breakdown, in the list of ingredients on many of the containers, I saw modified corn starch. Although it sounds super unappetizing and something I wouldn't want to eat anyway, I'm wondering, is it something that's unhealthy?

To find out