What if you left one ingredient, like lead for instance out of gasoline would it still work efficiently?  Would it still get your vehicle from 'here' to 'there' as efficiently and quietly as it would with lead?

I seriously doubt it.  More than likely your engine would pound itself into oblivion before long.

Unfortunately the 'normal' food supply we depend on for our daily nutrition is letting us down.  It's slowly but surely being crammed full of chemicals that, while they may taste good, have little or no nutritional value and the body can't use them as fuel.  Pretty much everything you buy in the grocery store today has somehow been adulterated to the point that a lot of it is empty of real nutrition.