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I have made strawberry milkshakes at home before. I like them thick, so I use strawberries and ice cream,
sometimes thinning it with a touch of milk. Occasionally, I will add in some chocolate. Other people like to use
yogurts or add sweeteners, like honey to their shakes. Chances are good that no one makes a McDonald's-style shake at
home, though. Why? According to the Guardian,
that shake has 59 ingredients, most of which are verging on unpronounceable and found in the "artificial
strawberry flavoring."
That milkshake probably contains the following: "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 flavor."
That flavoring, on the other hand, has:
"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."
Yum.
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4-25-2006 @9:58AM Blogdeez6 said... This unique delicacy is to die for. It's medium bodied with a subtle 4-methylacetophenone flavor that does not overpower the ethyl propionate. A scrumptious, cancer causing dessert. Yummy!
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4-25-2006 @9:59AM Kelly said... I only eat at fast food places maybe every other month when I get a craving for high fat (I normally eat low fat everything). I have to say- horrible unpronouncable ingredients or not- that's one delicious shake. When my dad died, and I couldn't stomach anything, I got myself a strawberry McDonald's shake and it helped calm me. So, there is good even in evil.
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4-25-2006 @10:05AM kathy said... i hate McDonalds....its VERY disgusting....in their meat its bugs and not even meat....
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4-25-2006 @10:08AM kiki said... This is just one of the many reason's I stay away from fastfood places. There are so many things that they say don't eat or don't do this because it causes cancer or other diseases. It's crazy that they allow fast food places legally poison people. I think that they have a part in people getting diseases from the products that they use in there artificial foods.
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4-25-2006 @10:09AM Connie said... My only complaint is against SONIC. My last strawberry milkshake, that I got there, had so many strawberries in it that I couldn't use the straw!!! lol Sorry McDonald's!!!
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4-25-2006 @10:20AM Matthew B. Zwick said... Holly Moley, Im in Artificial Heven. Why is this junk allowed in our food. Kids consume this Chemical abortion. Mcdonalds get out of the chemical buisness, get back to real food products.)or start selling viagra At your pharmacy.
Matt Z
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4-25-2006 @10:21AM Barbara Macpherson said... This information is PRECISELY why any shake I put in my body is packed with nutrition - no chemicals! Also precisely the reason I became an Independent Herbalife Distributor. Some of the 'foods' out there are nuts!
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4-25-2006 @10:25AM look a little more closely said... Just because you don't know what something is doesn't mean it's going to kill you. Take some organic chemistry classes, and you'll discover that many of those ingredients are naturally occurring. Don't get me wrong - I agree that McDonald's is a pretty bad thing to do to your health. But understand the real reasons why it is so bad - the saturated and trans fats, the high sugar and sodium contents, the unbelievable amount of calories. The fact that it is so processed has destroyed just about all of the nutrient value in the food. Empty, greasy calories. All those unknown "weird chemicals" dont have the effect on your body that the fat, sugar and sodium do.
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4-25-2006 @10:27AM jim said... might as well buy strawberry colored paint & drink that , probably tastes the same yuck
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4-25-2006 @10:30AM Jeff said... I dont eat at fast food places, I know they are bad for you. Those of you that call for laws to protect ourselves against fast food is stupid. Nobody needs another dumb butt law. If you need a law instead of information to keep you from eating at these places you are an idiot.
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4-25-2006 @10:38AM Tony said... My question - after all the hype has setteled, and after all the discovery of what they are feeding people - do you honestly believe that McD's will change? No way - we made them rich and now it is our children making them richer.
Writing in a blog is fine - but speak with your wallet - and close it next time you get near a McD's.
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4-25-2006 @10:40AM Floridacargocat said... Some comments for a btter understanding:
milkfat and nonfat milk is another form of blending milkfat (butter but with less water) and skimmed milk with a very low fat level)
sugar,this is an everyday ingredient
sweet whey, comes from cheese processing and is very nutritious, there are even whey-based beverages in the market)
high-fructose corn syrup, is a sweentening ingredient, and gives a little bit of a body, and it is cheeper than sugar. It is derived from a natural ingredient (corn).
guar gum, is a natural thickener
monoglycerides and diglycerides,
cellulose gum, is a thickener
sodium phosphate,
carrageenan, is a natural thickener
citric acid, either natural or chemical ingredient, is everywhere in all kinds of fruits
E129 is a colorant
and artificial strawberry flavor, if you analyse strawberry flavour, you will find all these components in the real fruit, but for cost reasons, the artificial strawberry flavor is preferred by many food companies, and you will find these artificial flavors EVERYWHERE.
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4-25-2006 @10:50AM Linda Musgrave said... This is horrible. I hear Wendy's shakes are suppose to be healthy. Can anyone tell if this is so?
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4-25-2006 @10:50AM Sherry said... I have to agree with 'TheMatt'. Some of those ingredients don't sound very appetizing, but EVERYTHING has a chemical formula. Just because you can't pronounce it doesn't neccessarily mean it's bad for you. It could be just 'food'. Let's have someone who knows what these things are tell us which ones (if any) are actually harmful before we fly into a panic.
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4-25-2006 @10:51AM Jason said... ok, good points. however, when you make your "fresh" strawberry shake....did you remember to check the long list of ingredients in your ice cream? There are only a few ice cream companies with short lists of ingredients. fact is a ice cream shake has never exactly been a health food. and mcdonald's doesn't even use ice cream. i believe it is yogurt...could be wrong though.
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4-25-2006 @10:55AM Julia said... I agree with the previous comments about the poisoning of our bodies...you really are what you eat. Garbage in, garbage out. Philip Morris (big tobacco) owns about 87% of Kraft Foods and I think they bought Nabisco some time back...can you say addictive ingredients? The other things they use are genetically modified crops. yuk...I'm planting a vegetable garden and growing my own...
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4-25-2006 @10:58AM nonshakedrinker said... While this article is clearly meant to scare people by listing all the "chemicals" in the artificial flavoring, the reality is, as another poster states, that you don't get just a "strawberry" when you eat a strawberry. You get all the chemicals that constitute a strawberry. And while people don't want to think that way, the flavor in a strawberry (or any other fruit, for that matter) comes from those esters and alcohols that develop as a fruit ripens. When you bite into a fresh, ripe strawberry, those chemicals are precisely what give it the flavor. Many of them are derived directly from other fruits and blended into "artificial flavoring" to give a stronger taste of the fruit. Of course it's simpler for a company like McDonald's to rely on a standardized artificial flavoring - one that doesn't spoil - that they can distribute worldwide and have consistent flavoring, than it is to rely on having real strawberry puree hanging around where it CAN spoil or even make someone sick from bacteria. Just the facts - and no, I don't eat at McDonald's either...but I hate seeing a lot of alarmist sensationalizing of facts, too.
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4-25-2006 @10:58AM Jodi said... say what you will, the chocolate shake is a good friend of mine..YUM..At least I'm not getting fat and at 118lbs I can partake it that yummy shake and reep the benefits of staying thin..Hmm. So what do most of you all put into your bodies?? Let me guess, Fat Fat and more Fat? Now that is healthy..Yha..
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4-25-2006 @11:04AM Julia said... What I want to know is why does almost EVERYTHING all of a sudden contain High Fructose Corn Syrup, which is a poison masquerading as sugar that is made from genetically modified corn? what happened to good old fashioned sugar made from sugar cane or sugar beets?
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4-25-2006 @11:05AM phyllis said... When I was in college, taking a geology course, the professor said that what made the McDonald's shakes so thick was a type of clay (yes, dirt!) called montmillionrite. I wouldn't be surprised by anything that goes into fast food.
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