Food Additives

A food additive is any substance that a food manufacturer intentionally puts into a food product in order to achieve a specific desired effect during production or processing. There are 3,000 types of additives currently being used in this country, and the average American consumes approximately 150 pounds of them a year. Some people have developed chemical sensitivities to certain additives, causing allergies, asthma, and a host of other health problems. Some additives are thought to negatively impact behavior, particularly in small children.

Processed, packaged, frozen, ready-to-heat and ‘microwaveable’ foods are the most abundant in artificial preservatives, flavoring, and coloring. Emulsifiers, binders and anti-caking agents are added to most processed foods to improve appearance and texture.

The 4 most commonly used food additives:

Nutritional Supplements – many foods are fortified with vitamins and minerals primarily to replace nutrients lost during processing and, therefore, to percent deficiency diseases. Common fortifications include vitamin D in milk, vitamin A in margarine, iron and vitamin C in breads and iodine in table salt.Artificial Flavoring Agents – some, such as MSG, can cause severe headaches and nausea as it has a stimulating effect on the brain (an excitatory neurotoxin)

Coloring Agents – are used to make foods more attractive. They are especially prominent in foods targeted for children. Some allergists feel that those agents and other additives can cause behavioral disturbances (especially ADD/ADHD) and headaches.

Preservatives – such as nitrites and sulfites, retard spoilage, preserve flavor and color, and keep oils from turning rancid, thereby greatly extending the safe-use period of many foods. Nitrites in cured meat have shown to cause cancer in animals and increase the risk of cancer in humans. Please use nitrite-free cured meats whenever available. Sulfites are used to preserve color in dried fruits and frozen French Fries. They can trigger asthmatic attacks in susceptible people.