Just about everyone loves ketchup.
It's been around since the late 1700's, although it didn't become popular with the US until the late 1800's.
We put it on our burgers, hot dogs, french fries and meat loaf.
If you go to any fast food place or restaurant, you'll find it.
And if you ask anyone who's a fan of the stuff if it's healthy for you, they'll more than likely say yes.
While the popular condiment is made with lycopene, an antioxidant that is found in tomatoes, the added sugar, high fructose corn syrup and salt is not good for you.
And some brands are even made with artificial colors, flavors and preservatives.
Yuck! The other bad news is, you'd need to consume several bottles of the stuff to benefit from the antioxidant rich tomatoes.
So in reality you're not getting very many nutrients just because you cover your hamburger or hotdog in the stuff.
And because more and more of us are starting to catch on, some manufacturers are taking note and making their product organic.
While organic may contain twice as much lycopene as the original version, it doesn't mean it's free of sugar or salt.
About the only thing organic are the tomatoes.
So why not just leave out the sugar and the salt? At one point, some manufacturers tried that.
The result however was a sour tasting sauce due to the added vinegar.
Interestingly, it is said that the thicker the catsup, the greater the amount of sugar it contains.
Even more interesting is the fact that at one point, catsup became colorized by adding dye to the sauce to make things fun for kids and give parents another reason to by the unhealthy stuff.
But here's the kicker.
In 1981, the government tried to order the USDA to call catsup a vegetable so that schools could spend less money on their lunch programs! Thankfully someone came to his or her senses and the idea was thrown out.
So is there any hope for ketchup lovers worldwide? It's doubtful unless you don't mind spend an entire day making your own version of the stuff.
If the tomato taste is what you're after, you could just add a few slices of tomato to your burger or hotdog.
However, there are still those darn french fries to consider.
But that's another story of its own.
a
It's been around since the late 1700's, although it didn't become popular with the US until the late 1800's.
We put it on our burgers, hot dogs, french fries and meat loaf.
If you go to any fast food place or restaurant, you'll find it.
And if you ask anyone who's a fan of the stuff if it's healthy for you, they'll more than likely say yes.
While the popular condiment is made with lycopene, an antioxidant that is found in tomatoes, the added sugar, high fructose corn syrup and salt is not good for you.
And some brands are even made with artificial colors, flavors and preservatives.
Yuck! The other bad news is, you'd need to consume several bottles of the stuff to benefit from the antioxidant rich tomatoes.
So in reality you're not getting very many nutrients just because you cover your hamburger or hotdog in the stuff.
And because more and more of us are starting to catch on, some manufacturers are taking note and making their product organic.
While organic may contain twice as much lycopene as the original version, it doesn't mean it's free of sugar or salt.
About the only thing organic are the tomatoes.
So why not just leave out the sugar and the salt? At one point, some manufacturers tried that.
The result however was a sour tasting sauce due to the added vinegar.
Interestingly, it is said that the thicker the catsup, the greater the amount of sugar it contains.
Even more interesting is the fact that at one point, catsup became colorized by adding dye to the sauce to make things fun for kids and give parents another reason to by the unhealthy stuff.
But here's the kicker.
In 1981, the government tried to order the USDA to call catsup a vegetable so that schools could spend less money on their lunch programs! Thankfully someone came to his or her senses and the idea was thrown out.
So is there any hope for ketchup lovers worldwide? It's doubtful unless you don't mind spend an entire day making your own version of the stuff.
If the tomato taste is what you're after, you could just add a few slices of tomato to your burger or hotdog.
However, there are still those darn french fries to consider.
But that's another story of its own.
a
Source...