food additives

some of the risks with food additives

Most of the packaged food found in conventional supermarkets is highly processed and contains a multitude of food additives. These additives are frequently used in conventional foods to improve colouring, taste, texture, smell and appearance. Additives are also used to stabilise product processing and to extend shelf-life.

However, food additives, colourings and preservatives may cause a range of health problems in people, particularly children because they ingest more food per unit of body weight than adults, so exposure is greater in proportion to their size.

Indeed, the intolerance of some consumers in general to food additives appears to be rising. Increasingly, researchers are questioning the safe use of artificial additives, especially the mostly unknown effects of how chemicals interact with each other.

According to the Soil Association in the UK, tartrazine (the yellow food colouring E102) and other additives have been linked to allergic reactions, headaches, asthma, growth retardation and hyperactivity in kids. In the US, the Agency for Toxic Substances has warned that children with asthma or other respiratory problems may suffer asthma attacks or breathing difficulties if they eat foods preserved with sulphur dioxide or other sulphur-based preservatives.

In a recent study for the Soil Association, Shane Heaton found that more than 500 food additives are permitted for use in non-organic processed foods, and that organic food products specifically exclude the use of hydrogenated fats (also known as trans-fats), phosphoric acid, aspartame, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and sulphur dioxide. Comparatively, around 30 are permitted in organic food processing and only if “the product cannot be produced or preserved without them”.

Specific ingredients and additives not allowed in organic food are monosodium glutamate, aspartame, phosphoric acid and hydrogenated fats. Indeed, research has found that hydrogenated fats (used in many non-organic processed foods like biscuits, margarine and snack foods) have been directly linked to increased rates of heart disease and cancer.

So it's pretty simple - eating organic food is the best way to avoid food additives.

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