What?s in your food? – A primer on artificial food additives.

In this series, we?ve been exploring the issue of the health effects of artificial food additives from a study on hyperactivity to food coloring.

In this part, we look at preservatives.

According to the FDA:

?In its broadest sense, a food additive is any substance added to food ? directly or indirectly, in its becoming a component or otherwise affecting the characteristics of any food. This definition includes any substance used in the production, processing, treatment, packaging, transportation or storage of food.?

In other words, there are thousands of direct and indirect food additives in the foods that we consume, many of which are used as preservatives to maintain freshness and retard spoiling.

Some of the additives lurking in your foods that are considered harmful include:

• Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) ? considered an ?unclassifiable carcinogen? by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• Acesulfame-K ? an artificial sweetener that disrupts thyroid function and is often used in conjunction with aspartame<
• Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) ? An allergen and suspected endocrine disruptor (may interfere with, mimic or block hormones)
• Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) ? a preservative, also an allergen and suspected endocrine disruptor
• Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) ? A University of Pennsylvania study showed that MSG ?interferes with the production of a number of liver enzymes, which are vital to the body’s ability to metabolize drugs and other potentially toxic substances. Neonatal exposure to MSG has a different effect on growth hormone production. [MSG] causes a permanent reduction in the secretion of growth hormone, which leads to a reduced production of the drug-metabolizing enzymes. This hampers the metabolization of drugs and toxic substance. The reduced quantity of growth hormone leads to stunted growth and irreversible obesity.?
• Sodium Nitrate/Nitrate ? a preservative, considered an ?unclassifiable carcinogen by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While Nitrates are naturally occurring, and do not present major issues for most, health consequences for infants and babies in utero are great.
• Sodium Benzoate ? studied in addition to the laundry list of food colorings that presented adverse behavioral effects in toddlers and pre-teens, it can create benzene when combined with vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Benzene, is a known carcinogen and has the ability to affect mitochondria in cells and cause cell death.
• Sulfites (including Sulfur Dioxide, Sodium Sulfite, Sodium And Potassium Bisulfite, Sodium and Potassium Metabisulfite) This group, and all of its derivatives falls under a chemical is considered to be ?unclassifiable carcinogens? by the WHO and the EPA.

All of these sweeteners and preservatives range from being as mild as creating allergic reactions in some consumers to having potential grave health effects.

While the FDA may counter that they are ?safe? in the small doses in each batch of food item, when one takes into account how many foods you and your family are ingesting every day that contain them, the issue of ?safety? seems compromised.

Even when you think that you are picking safe and healthy alternatives, you may be consuming toxins unwittingly.

In part four, we?ll examine your produce.

Learn more:

Comprehensive list of food and environmental chemicals and warning levels for each

FDA on the safety of food additives.

FDA?s ?What is a Food Additive??

How ?Safe? is Safe?

?Limiting your child?s intake of food additives?

Comprehensive list of food additives from the GSFA Codex

Organic Food

Parenting Starts Before Pregnancy

What’s in your food?
A primer on artificial food colorings.

In part one of this series, the issue of studies relating artificial food colorings and artificial additives presenting a link to childhood hyperactivity was explored. In this part, we look at artificial food coloring.

The list of artificial food coloring studied included tetrazine (FD&C yellow no. 5/European food code E102); sunset yellow (FD&C yellow no. 6/E110); quinoline yellow (FD&C Yellow No. 10/E104); carmoisine (Food Red 3/E122); and ponceau 4R (Food Red 7/E124).

All of these are considered color additives by the FDA, which by definition are: “any dye, pigment or substance that can impart color when added or applied to a food, drug, or cosmetic, or to the human body.” And according to the FDA, they are added to food “for many reasons, including to offset color loss due to storage or processing of foods and to correct natural variations in food color.”

Anyone who has made guacamole from scratch for example knows that after about a half hour, it loses that rich avocado green color, whereas from a commercial mix, it stays green even long after it has grown a moldy fuzz – all thanks to artificial color additives.

While coloring additives have been heavily monitored and regulated since 1960 and the FDA believes that they are safe, but the recent research may indeed prove otherwise because “both the Food Additives and Color Additives Amendments include a provision which prohibits the approval of an additive if it is found to cause cancer in humans or animals.” This statement makes it seem as if the FDA only raises concern once an additive is found to be carcinogenic – a growing epidemic of childhood hyperactivity is not enough to make revisions or adjustments.

The problem is that while manufacturers can only use the regulated amounts of coloring additives in their products, there are thousands of products that we consume daily that contain these “small, regulated amounts.” Consider this: the ten largest companies that make our food use artificial colorings regularly. After how many sippy cups of juice, bags of candy, boxes of cereal, cookies and other snacks that are not whole foods consumed in one day can we be sure that those ’small, regulated amounts’ are still safe when combined? The FDA even asserts that food additives (including color additives) are in cereals, snacks, beverages and oral cosmetics/personal health care items such as toothpaste. While we don’t want to be alarmist, it might be a good time to take stock in what’s in our pantries and cabinets to find out just what we are consuming and consider alternative measures to give our kids a healthier start, even as early as in utero.

Learn more:

• FDA on the safety of color additives.
• FDA’s “Summary of Color Additives“:
  (can search by FD&C number or color name)
• FDA’s ‘What is a Color Additive?‘
• “How ‘Safe’ is Safe?”
• “Limiting your child’s intake of food additives”
• Organic Food (from BOL)
• Parenting Starts Before Pregnancy (from BOL)

Part three will look at artificial sweeteners and non-coloring additives.

A recent report indicated that a pregnant woman miscarried in June 2007 as a result of drinking bacteria contaminated milk. The source of the contamination was listeria, which is rarely found in pasteurized milk. The bacterium is generally found in soil or water when contaminated by manure. As such vegetables, unpasteurizied milk and raw meat are key sources of the listeria bacteria.

Pregnant women are more at risk of getting Listeriosis than other women and as such need to pay particular attention to what they are eating. As a matter of fact, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that pregnant women are twenty times more likely than the general population to get Listeriosis. The CDC also claims that newborns are more likely than mothers to have serious health issues from listeria. Apart from miscarriage, listeria in pregnant women can lead to premature births and death of the infant.

Guess why pregnant women are often advised to exercise caution when preparing or eating pre-packaged, ready to eat food? Listeria contamination is a possibility with pre-packaged, ready-to-eat food such as hot dogs. To compound matters, contamination can occur at any stage of the preparation process. Deli meat is also susceptible to listeria contamination.

However, taking precautions greatly reduce the risk of getting this potentially deadly disease for both mother and babies, both while in the womb and after birth. Avoiding uncooked or partially cooked meat and not drinking unpasteurized milk are good habits to develop in pregnancy. It is also best to eat hard rather than soft cheese.

Proper hygiene in preparing food is also important, that is, wash all fruits and vegetables properly before eating and also definitely wash your hands before preparing and eating food.