Artificial 'nano-food'

could soon show up at a

store near you

Monday, December 06, 2010
by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) The scientific community has once again
caught food-tampering fever.
Recent reports indicate that food scientists are busy
developing nanoparticle-modified (NM) food that
could one day end up on your dinner plate -- and you
may never even know about it.
By shifting around nanoparticles, food scientists say that
fat-free foods can taste like full-fat foods,
and they can be programmed to digest more slowly--two
changes that some say may help reverse
the obesity epidemic.
But most of this research is going on in secret because
of fears over how the public will respond.
Like genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), nano-
modifying food involves literally changing its
molecular properties, which has never been proven safe.
So naturally, consumers are likely to reject
NM food if given the choice.

"These particles could be hazardous and we need to
know more about their effects both in the body and
in the environment," said Frans Kampers, coordinator
of research on food nanotechnology at Wageningen
and Research Center in the Netherlands.
"Since these particles are very small, they can…
enter cells or even the nucleus of a cell if they have the
right characteristics."

The stated goal of nanotechnology research in food is
to create foods that behave differently than real
ones in terms of digestion, assimilation, taste and
nutritional value. By altering the "nano-structure"
of food, so to speak, NM food can be programmed
to make people feel fuller faster, for instance.
And nutrients in food can also be nano-encapsulated
to release at timed intervals to specific parts
of the body.

Even though NM food has yet to see the light day,
the European Union (EU) is already taking proactive
steps to make sure that, if it does make it to consumers,
NM food will at least be regulated and labeled.
Thus, the EU has developed a research project called
NanoLyse to address the "very limited knowledge
[that is] available on the potential impact of engineered
nanoparticles on consumers' health."

Sources for this story include:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS..

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030633_artificial_food_nanotechnology.html#ixzz17VulL4mg

Artificial 'nano-food' could soon show up at a store near you