Health: Cascadian Farm's "Cinnamon Raisin Granola"

With the amount of sugar added, degree of processing, and quality of oils used in the production of Cascadian Farm's "Cinnamon Raisin Granola" cereal, this should NOT be qualified as an organic food, nor should it be listed as good for your body.

Ingredient analysis, taken from the Nutrition Information (10) on cascadianfarm.com:

organic whole grain rolled oats
naturally milled organic sugar

• SUGAR (8)

organic crisp rice
    (
        organic rice
        naturally milled organic sugar

• SUGAR (8)

        sea salt
        organic malt
    )

• Puffed grains are, in fact, NOT healthy.  They are "very" processed grains and have little or no nutritional value to them.  They are "dead" foods.  70% or more of your daily food intake should be from raw, or living, foods. (7)

organic raisins
organic whole grain oat flour
organic honey

• SUGAR (8)

organic sunflower oil

• Polyunsaturated oils, such as sunflower oil, contain long-chain fatty acids, which are extremely fragile and unstable. (9) 
• Polyunsaturated fatty acids or PUFAs in vegetable seed oils are the bane of human health - they actually cause cancer, diabetes, obesity, aging, thrombosis, arthritis, and immunodeficiencies. (9)
• See also the notes about canola oil below.

sea salt
organic molasses

• SUGAR (8)

baking soda
organic cinnamon
soy lecithin (an emulsifier)

• Extracted from soy beans using a solvent such as hexane.  A by-product of soybean oil.

• Nearly all soybeans in America (89% in 2006) are from genetically modified (GM) sources. (5) This means that not only have these plants been injected with strange or unusual substances (like bacterial genes), but they have also been grown under the heavy use of pesticides.  Note that more countries outside the US implementing bans on GM foods.
• Polyunsaturated oils, particularly corn oil and soybean oil, cause numerous health problems, including and especially cancer. (6)
• Hexane is a mild anestheic and is used as a solvent in industries such as shoe manufacturing, furniture restoration, and automobile construction. (4)

• Soy Myths and Truths: (3)
• Read the comments about soy in this article: (2)

organic canola oil

• Typical oils such as canola oil are processed with heat and high pressure, and are often exposed to sunlight for lengthy periods after processing.  Contemporary vegetable oils (like canola oil) contain omega-3 fatty acids; Since omega-3 fatty acids rapidly become offensive smelling and subject to rancidification when processed with high heat and oxygen, the oil is then subjected to a deodorizing process which removes much of the Omega-3 and replaces it with trans fats.(1)
• Canola oil is not permitted in infant formula by the FDA due to concerns about inhibited growth in human infants. (1)
• See also the notes about sunflower oil above.

organic vanilla extract



(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola_oil#Health_effects
(2) http://www.chow.com/stories/10701
(3) http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstruths/mtsoy.html
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexane
(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean
(6) http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/conola.html
(7) http://www.living-foods.com/articles/environmental.html
(8) While not listed as the first ingredient in the list, SUGAR is essentially listed four times.  This is a devious practice by major corporations to hide the amounts of sugar in a list.  It's probably a good idea to qualify THIS cereal as a "sugar cereal"; according to the nutrition facts label, 29% of this cereal is made of sugar.  (55g serving size / 16g sugar)
(9) http://thescreamonline.com/essays/essays5-1/vegoil.html
(10) http://www.cascadianfarm.com/products/product_detail.aspx?cat=8&upc=0-21908-13334-8

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