preservatives, flavorings, colors and other ingredients -- are added to foods in the United States.

    While each of these substances are legal to use in the US, whether or not they are safe for long-term consumption -- by themselves or in combination -- is a different story altogether. Many have been deemed too harmful to use in other countries.

    When you consider that about 90 percent of the money Americans spend on food goes toward processed foods loaded with these additives, it’s no wonder most people are carrying a hefty toxic load that can wreak havoc on their health.

    A list of ingredients that are banned across the globe but still allowed for use in America recently made the news. The list is featured in the new book, Rich Food, Poor Food, authored by nutritionist Mira Calton and her husband Jayson.

    The banned ingredients include various food dyes, the fat substitute Olestra, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate (aka brominanted flour), Azodicarbonamide, BHA, BHT, rBGH, rBST, and arsenic.

    Seeing that the overall health of Americans is so much lower than other industrialized countries, you can’t help but wonder whether toxic ingredients such as these might play a role in our unhealthy conditions.

    Meanwhile, Russia has announced that it plans to extend a ban on U.S. beef, pork and turkey imports coming into effect this month, due to the feed additive ractopamine in the meats. Ractopamine is a growth stimulant banned in several countries, including Russia.

Processed Foods Depend on Additives

    When foods are processed, not only are valuable nutrients lost and fibers removed, but the textures and natural variation and flavors are also lost. After processing, what's left behind is a bland, uninteresting "pseudo-food" that most people wouldn’t want to eat.

    So at this point, food manufacturers must add back in the nutrients, flavor, color and texture to processed foods in order to make them palatable, and this is why they become loaded with food additives.

    Most commonly, additives are included to slow spoilage, prevent fats and oils from going rancid, prevent fruits from turning brown, fortify or enrich the food with synthetic vitamins and minerals to replace the natural ones that were lost during processing, and improve taste, texture and appearance. When reading product packages, here are some of the most common food additives1 to watch out for:

Say hello to Hollywood’s hottest new BFFs.

Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens hit up Vanity Fair’s Oscars party together Sunday night at Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California. Fresh off a European promotional tour for “Spring Breakers,” the two stars have been inseparable lately.

Gomez, 20, and Hudgens, 24, arrived at the star-studded fete together and posed for pictures on the carpet. Inside the bash, the ladies rarely left each other’s sides and seemed to be enjoying themselves alongside A-listers including Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon, and Sandra Bullock.

Although it was definitely a girl’s night out for Gomez, don’t think that’s because the “Love You Like a Love Song” singer is holding out hope for a reunion with her ex, Justin Bieber.

Selena and Justin at the Vanity Fair party in 2011 (Michael Buckner/WireImage)“She’s having a blast being single,” a source tells omg!. “She’s been working a lot and is having a lot of fun going out with her friends.”

It was just two years ago that Gomez and Bieber made their red carpet debut at the same party and there was no shortage of PDA then.

What do you think now that Hudgens has replaced the Biebs as Gomez’s date? Is Gomez better off without him? Sound off below!

A 23-year-old math teacher at Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado is in a heap of trouble after a local television station publicized the bawdy — but awesome — contents of her Twitter account.

Carly McKinney’s Twitter page contained half-naked photos and all kinds of chatter about marijuana, including a boast of pot possession on school grounds, reports KUSA-TV.

“Watching a drug bust go down in the parking lot. It’s funny cuz I have weed in my car in the staff parking lot,” McKinney recounted in one Twitter post.

    Top-Ranked Full Time MBAin Finance, Marketing, HR, Retail IT, Financial Market, Digital Media itm.edu/Register

Another tweet reported that McKinney was high while grading her students’ work.

“Naked. Wet. Stoned,” reported still another one.

Other tweets on McKinney’s account were also controversial, KUSA reports.

“Instead of being productive, I’ve been on Twitter…,” the first-year teacher admitted in one message that appears to have been posted during the school day.

“Just got called Ms. McCutie. Points for being clever, however you are still jailbait,” read another tweet.

    The OnlineSlangDictionary.com defines “crunk” as a blend of “chronic” — a slang term for marijuana — and “drunk,” notes KMGH-TV. Other definitions include “extremely fun” and “angry.”

McKinney told KUSA she and a friend had created the Twitter account as a parody. She maintains that her partner in tweeting is the one responsible for the offending posts.

She also maintained that she never brought any illegal drugs to campus.

Officials with the Cherry Creek School District are on the case, according to the station. They reportedly met with McKinney on Tuesday morning. Since then, she has been placed on administrative leave.

The school district does train teachers on the use of the Internet and social media, the Denver-area NBC affiliate added. School officials say the basic mantra is: Don’t publish anything on the web that you wouldn’t write on the blackboard in your classroom.

Blizzard conditions slammed parts of the central Plains Monday, forcing the closure of highways in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and sending public works crews scrambling for salt and sand anew just days after a massive storm blanketed the region with snow.

National Weather Service officials in Kansas and Oklahoma issued blizzard warnings and watches through late Monday as the storm packing snow and high winds tracked eastward across West Texas toward Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Forecasters also warned of possible tornadoes further southeast.

Snow covered Amarillo, Texas, where forecasters said up to 18 inches could fall, accompanied by wind gusts up to 65 mph. Paul Braun, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transport, said whiteout conditions and drifting snow had made all roads in the Texas Panhandle impassable. Interstate 40 was closed from Amarillo to the Oklahoma state line.

"It's just a good day to stay home," Braun said.

"This is one of the worst ones we've had for a while," he said. "And we kind of know snow up here."

The weather service issued a blizzard warning for the Oklahoma Panhandle and counties along the Kansas border, warning that travel in the area would be "very dangerous" until Tuesday morning with near zero visibility and drifting snow.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed all highways in the Panhandle, citing slick roads and limited visibility. Trooper Betsy Randolph said the patrol advised its non-essential personnel to stay home until Wednesday.

Forecasters said up to 16 inches of snow could accumulate in some areas, with wind gusts reaching up to 55 mph.

About a dozen flights were canceled at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. The Chicago Department of Aviation reported normal operations at Midway and O'Hare — the bellwether air hub of the Midwest.

Matt Lehenbauer, emergency management director for Woodward County, Okla., told The Associated Press he was expecting whiteout conditions and that although there was plenty of salt and sand on hand to clear roads, delays were still likely.

"We may not get the roads cleared until midday Tuesday if we get the expected amount of snow and wind. As it's falling, in the blizzard-like conditions, we just won't be able to keep up," Lehenbauer said late Sunday.

The weather service warned of similar high winds and upward of a foot of snow across south-central Kansas. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback amended a state of emergency declaration to include the new weather.

"This storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week's storm," Brownback said late Sunday. The storm late last week dumped more than a foot of snow in some places, closing airports and leading to several deadly traffic accidents.

Brownback urged motorists to "stay off the road unless it's absolutely critical," adding that drivers who must travel should pack charged cellphones and emergency kits containing food, water, blankets, road flares and shovels.

"It would have been nice if we'd had a few days to recover, to do some equipment rehab," Joe Pajor, deputy director of public works in Wichita, Kan., told The Wichita Eagle. The city saw its second-highest snowfall Thursday with 14.2 inches.

The southern Kansas town of Zenda saw 18 inches of snow last week, while 17 inches fell in Hays, Kan., about 13 inches in northeast Missouri and 12 inches in parts of Kansas City.

It seems the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences paid attention to the notoriously edgy Golden Globes this year, opting for a racy opening as delivered -- with plenty of audience laughs -- by Oscar host Seth McFarlane on Sunday night.

However, not everyone was humored by the ABC-broadcast monologue, which was peppered with such things as cocaine-snorting puppets and racial/domestic violence "jokes."

"Seth McFarlane spoon fed sexism and likewise innuendo through song, setting a terrible example for young children watching the show," political and entertainment publicist Angie Meyer told FOX411's Pop Tarts column. "His opening monologue was rather inappropriate, providing a poor example of Academy Awards etiquette that's suitable for all audiences."

McFarlane banted with Hollywood great William Shatner, who appeared as his Star Trek character Captain Kirk on a drop-down monitor and attempted to give advice on how to improve the ceremony, mocking himself, the media and almost every A-lister in Tinseltown.

Among McFarlane's zingers was a comparison between "Django Unchained" and a Chris Brown/Rihanna "date night," and a pondering whether the always-in-character "Lincoln" star Daniel Day-Lewis would have tried to free Don Cheadle if he had run across him during filming.

And then there was Shatner -- speaking from the future -- quipping that McFarlane would be a member of the Los Angeles Gay Men's Chorus in a few years.

A second Academy Award for best director has thrust Taiwan native Ang Lee into the top ranks of world film-makers and made him a national hero on this diplomatically isolated island.

Lee's victory at Hollywood's annual Oscar extravaganza on Sunday for the fantasy epic "Life of Pi" followed his 2005 directorial win for "Brokeback Mountain." Garnering additional awards for visual effects, cinematography and original score, "Life of Pi" pulled down four Oscars, the most of any film this year.

News of Lee's triumph electrified Taiwanese, many of whom watched a live TV broadcast of the event. It was not only the surprise nature of the directorial award – "Lincoln" director Steven Spielberg was considered the category's clear frontrunner – but the intense pride they felt at a native son making it big in the world at large.

Since losing most of its diplomatic allies to China in the 1970s and 1980s – the two sides split amid civil war more than six decades ago – Taiwan has been on the outer fringes of the international community. It is now recognized by only 23 countries – mostly impoverished and devoid of influence – and outside of information technology circles, its global footprint is small.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou saw Lee's triumph as at least a temporary reversal of those fortunes, thanking Lee for "pushing Taiwan toward the world."

"Taiwanese are proud of you," Ma said in a congratulatory message.

Making Lee's Oscar win even sweeter was Taiwan's key role in the production of "Life of Pi," which tells the story of a shipwrecked Indian boy sharing his small boat with a ferocious tiger. A majority of the film was shot at a specially constructed water tank in the central city of Taichung, and Taiwanese took many of the most important jobs in seeing the film to completion.

Taiwanese production team member Mike Yang said Lee had the total devotion of the Taichung crew.

"If he wanted us to make the wave bigger or the movement of the animated tiger more detailed, we were willing to cooperate, and not because he was Ang Lee but because he commanded�respect," Yang said.

Born in the southern Taiwanese city of Pingtung in 1954, Lee went to the U.S. in 1979 to study film-making at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He burst into international prominence with "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995, and in 2000 was nominated for best director for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which won the Oscar for best foreign language film.

Taiwan's film industry has been in the doldrums for more than two decades. Once seen as a world trendsetter for its subtle presentation of human interactions, it now languishes well behind other Asian cinemas, including those in South Korea and Hong Kong.

Jennifer Lawrence took home the Oscar for Best Actress at the 2013 Academy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Lawrence won for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook." Also nominated in the category were Emmanuelle Riva ("Amour"), Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty"), Quvenzhane Wallis ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") and Naomi Watts ("The Impossible").

Many observers believed the Best Actress race was down to Lawrence and Riva going into Sunday, with Chastain a distant third. Lawrence won Best Actress at the Screen Actors' Guild Awards and the Golden Globes, but Riva won at the BAFTAs. Riva, 86, and Wallis, 9, are the oldest and youngest Oscar nominees in the category's history, respectively.

"You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell," said Lawrence, when accepting the award from Jean Dujardin, who presented.

Meryl Streep won the 2012 Best Actress award for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in "Iron Lady."

The Oscars are voted on by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which separates the Academy Awards from other award shows, which are either voted on by the press (Critic's Choice Awards, the Golden Globes) or members of a specific profession (Screen Actors Guild Awards, Directors Guild Awards and Writers Guild Awards).

Seth MacFarlane hosted this year's telecast. James Bond, a "Chicago" reunion, a "Les Miserables" medley, performances by Adele and Barbra Streisand and even Ted were all a part of this year's program and reflected the producers' plan to "trim the fat" from what has been sometimes been criticized as a painfully long and slow ritual.

Take a big gulp, New York: Hizzoner is about to give you a pop.

Nanny Bloomberg unleashes his ban on large sodas on March 12 — and there are some nasty surprises lurking for hardworking families.

Say goodbye to that 2-liter bottle of Coke with your pizza delivery, pitchers of soft drinks at your kid’s birthday party and some bottle-service mixers at your favorite nightclub.

They’d violate Mayor Bloomberg’s new rules, which prohibit eateries from serving or selling sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.

Bloomberg’s soda smackdown follows his attacks on salt, sugar, trans fat, smoking and even baby formula.
LESS SODA, MORE DOUGH: If you order a pizza, you cannot get a large bottle of soda delivered with it. Already, Domino’s locations across the city are doing away with 1 and 2 liter bottles of soda, deliveryman Philippe Daniba says. They’ll sell smaller bottles instead — costing you more money and increasing plastic waste.
Angel Chevrestt
LESS SODA, MORE DOUGH: If you order a pizza, you cannot get a large bottle of soda delivered with it. Already, Domino’s locations across the city are doing away with 1 and 2 liter bottles of soda, deliveryman Philippe Daniba says. They’ll sell smaller bottles instead — costing you more money and increasing plastic waste.


The city Health Department last week began sending brochures to businesses that would be affected by the latest ban, including restaurants, bars and any “food service” establishment subject to letter grades.

And merchants were shocked to see the broad sweep of the new rules.

“It’s not fair. If you’re gonna tell me what to do, it’s no good,” said Steve DiMaggio of Caruso’s in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. “It’s gonna cost a lot more.”

And consumers, especially families, will soon see how the rules will affect their wallets — forcing them to pay higher unit prices for smaller bottles.

Typically, a pizzeria charges $3 for a 2-liter bottle of Coke. But under the ban, customers would have to buy six 12-ounce cans at a total cost of $7.50 to get an equivalent amount of soda.

“I really feel bad for the customers,” said Lupe Balbuena of World Pie in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Domino’s on First Avenue and 74th Street on the Upper East Side is doing away with its most popular drink sizes: the 20-ounce and 2-liter bottles.

“We’re getting in 16-ounce bottles — and that’s all we’re going to sell,” a worker said.

He said the smaller bottles will generate more revenue for the restaurant but cost consumers more.

It will also trash more plastic into the environment.

Deliveryman Philippe Daniba said he had brought countless 2-liter bottles of soda to customers over his 19 years at the restaurant. The ban, he said, “doesn’t make sense.”

Police have identified a suspect in an early morning shooting and pileup that killed three people and injured at least six on Las Vegas' famous Strip Thursday, NBC affiliate KSNV reported.

Police are seeking Ammar Harris, 26, in the shooting and subsequent car crashes that occurred in a section of the Strip that includes Caesars Palace, Bally’s and the Bellagio.

The shooting came after the occupants of a black Range Rover and a Maserati got into an altercation in the valet area of the Aria hotel and casino, according to Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie.

“We have numerous witnesses to this,” Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said. “But what is the genesis of this? We don’t know yet.”

The suspect was in the Range Rover, while 27-year-old aspiring rapper Kenny “Clutch” Cherry of Oakland, Calif., was at the wheel of the Maserati.

According to reports, the Range Rover pulled up and allegedly opened fire into the Maserati near a stoplight in the pre-dawn hours. A passenger was injured by the gunfire and Cherry was killed, causing the car to spin out of control. The careening silver Maserati smashed into a taxicab, trapping the passenger and driver and causing the cab to burst into flames; both occupants were killed, police said.

In a scene witnesses describe as looking like a Hollywood set, a confrontation between a group of men escalated into a shooting, multiple vehicle pileup, and an exploding taxicab. The incident left three people dead. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

Then, the Maserati smashed into three other cars before coming to a stop.

The taxi driver was identified as Michael Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas. His passenger was Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash. She was a two-time breast cancer survivor. Both died of "multiple blunt force injuries," the coroner's office said.