Say NO to strawberry-flavor!

Just to share something interesting that I just learnt.

A couple of weeks ago, Zahra had another allergy attack. Quite bad since it stirred up her breathing that she had to do the nebulizer thingy. 

still manage to pose a smile for me. she looks absolutely healthy minus the wheezing sound.

It happened on Saturday when I noticed she has this wheezing sound which is so not her. But she looks normal though, running here and there, and chatty as usual. So I just brushed it off but night came by and the wheezing didn't go away. I felt a little uneasy about it, so I bought her to a clinic. 

Turn out that she IS having a wheezing which means her airways is tighten and she needs to take the Ventolin inhaler *thank God for mother's instinct*. So she had a neb and a few meds, went back, closely monitor her condition and by morning, the wheezing slightly still there, so we went to second clinic for another opinion and another round of nebulizer.

Alhamdulillah she's all better after that with no further medication.

Ok, so lets talk about what causing this allergy. According to the doctor, it could not be not an allergy at all. It could be that her body is stress out (due to trying to adjust to new environment at the new school) and she is exposed to new kind of germs that she's not used to like at the babysitters. Well, it does make sense, with new school and what not, stress is the word.

At the same time, I asked her did she take anything strawberry flavored at school and she said, YES! She had strawberry buns! I texted the teacher and asked about it and yes it's true. My bad that I didn't remind her about Zahra's allergy.

Anyway, this is her third allergy attack linked with strawberry flavor, I've blogged about it before here and here. And yes now we came to a conclusion that she is allergic to strawberry flavored, not the yogurt. She can take any kind of yogurt as long as nothing to do with strawberry. 

The thing is, Zahra doesn't has any problem with strawberry, which look like this.

She can has a whole pack of strawberries if she wants to, and has no problem at all. Problem came when she had anything strawberry flavored. Which is mind-boggling, but funny thing is I NEVER googled about it, because.. I don't know, it just slipped from my mind I guess.

Until one of MrComot's friends googled it and let me tell you that....

........ It's NOTHING strawberry about strawberry-flavored. 

In fact, it contains 50 different chemicals to make it "strawberry" which include: 

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 acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-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, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.

And it is listed as No #1 as fake food that you wish you won't have it in the kitchen.

click for details

Ok, now that answers what has been going on and don't you thing this stuff is shit-scary?

So strawberry flavored is definitely a no-no in the pantry after this. No matter how delicious they might be.

You want a strawberry milkshake? Just dump a handful of fresh strawberries in milk and blend it. You love strawberry cake? Bake it yourselves if you can, but stay away from the obvious flavored one if store-bought. Other than that, maybe you can eat something-else rather than this 50-chemicals mix.