Food Additives could be Harming Your Health

Food Additives could be seriously harming your health: read this article in the Ecologist. Remember also that salt is a very harmful food additive if you are vulnerable to salt.

Poisoned for Profit: Toxic Transfats still Allowed in UK Food

The Independent has a feature article about the continued scandal of UK food manufacturers being allowed to add transfats to their food products. "Within many shop-bought pastries, cakes, doughnuts, crisps, processed meats, soups, frozen food, biscuits, chocolate bars, breakfast cereals and takeaway food, exists an ingredient that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared toxic in 2009. It's hydrogenated vegetable oil, otherwise known as trans fat, and it doesn't even have to appear clearly on ingredients labels. Have a look, and you might find it called 'shortening', or 'hydrogenated fats', maybe 'hydrogenated vegetable oils' (HVOs), perhaps 'partially hydrogenated vegetable oils' (PHVOs), or... not mentioned at all. " Outrageous, isn't it?

Trans fats are useful to the food industry principally because they increase the shelf life of the harmful products they sell as food. But trans fats are not food. They are manufactured substances that do not exist in real food. - Real food, i.e. the natural fresh food that's good for you, tends to go off once it has been kept too long and is no longer fresh. Food that can be stored 'safely' for very long periods of time by means of highly unnatural processes is not really 'safe' at all. - If even germs and other microbes turn up their little noses at it, it should have no place in our stomachs! Since trans fats cannot be metabolised by the body they can only get up to a heap of no good once we've eaten them.

Why are consumers being sold this garbage then? With the health damage (individual suffering and national financial cost of treating the diseases caused) that inevitably accompanies it? Thousands of people dying before their time? - It's pretty clear we have Andrew Lansley, the Dark Lord of UnHealth, to thank for this lamentable state of affairs. His evident conflict of interests leads him to favour food company profits over the health of the citizenry (his ostensible job). Some other countries have managed to Ban Transfats from food despite the blandishments of big business. Our country should do the same. If you want to sign a petition about it you can do so here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/330 though to be honest, I don't think it will do any good.

Seriously, why are we even considering more junk additives in processed food, instead of simply banning the salt?

Seriously, why is anyone even considering more junk additives in processed food, instead of simply banning the salt? See today's Sunday Telegraph article. - Do you really fancy a bit of dental plaque(!) mixed in with your ready-meal? your cornflakes? your slice of toast? - Of course you don't!

The Food Standards Agency should stop playing about, and so should the Dept of Health and Andrew Lansley. They should all get it made illegal to add salt to processed food and thereby do what they are purportedly paid for, i.e. protect the health of UK citizens against the self-serving interests of the Food Industry. - And while they're about it, ban the addition of transfats too! - Come on, Mr Lansley! - Show us what you're made of! - Prove that you are not influenced against such a ban because of a conflict of interest that favours food manufacturers.

Ten Food Additives to avoid

Read Top Ten Food Additives to Avoid. - Plus avoid added salt/sodium, of course, especially if you are overweight or have high blood pressure or suffer from breathing problems.

For your health's sake, try CIY - Cook-It-Yourself.

There are many health benefits from cooking meals yourself instead of eating processed foods and takeaways. - You can reduce the amount of salt and sugar in the meal. (Ready meals are usually much higher in salt and sugar than are home-made meals.) You are in greater control of the quality of the ingredients that go into the meal. You can avoid dodgy additives like colourings/dyes and artificial flavourings and sweeteners, harmful 'flavour-enhancers' like MSG, bulking agents, preservatives, emulsifiers and all the rest of the witches' pharmacopoeia of the modern-day food technologist. And you can enjoy the satisfaction of having cooked the meal yourself.

If you are not too confident about your cooking, why not join a cookery class and learn/brush up on your skills along with others? Failing that, there are some excellent recipes and cooking videos available online. - Bon appétit!

Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

IOM presses FDA to set new federal standards for the amount of salt that food manufacturers and restaurants be allowed to add to their products

This WebMD article reports that the Institute of Medicine is calling for the FDA to set mandatory standards for safe levels of sodium, using their existing authority to regulate salt as a food additive.

Not before time! Most people have surely encountered the message that lowering sodium intake can reduce high blood pressure, as well as reducing the risk of stroke, heart failure, heart attack, kidney failure, type 2 diabetes and many other degenerative diseases. Unfortunately most people do not know that lowering sodium intake, i.e. cutting down on salt and salty food, is also the fastest, safest and simplest way to lose excess weight.

The trouble is that there are many vested interests seeking to keep consumers salt intake high. It suits food manufacturers to add more salt than is healthy for a number of reasons. Among these reasons: salt is a very cheap ingredient, and it is an ingredient that allows more water to be added (thus adding salt and water to ham enables salt and water to be sold at the same price as ham). Salt is also addictive for many people and so this keeps up the sales of salty products. And in the case of fast food restaurants, high salt levels produce increased thirst and therefore increased sale of drinks and enhanced profits.

Until mandatory salt restriction in foodstuffs comes about, we need to police our own intake of added salt and avoid it as far as we can.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, boost your lung function and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!

See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Sodium in foods

Fat retention and fat excretion: the importance of getting enough calcium.

I can be contacted from my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

MSG (monoSODIUM glutamate)is another high-sodium compound to avoid if you are overweight.

Common salt, sodium chloride, is the most common high sodium additive to avoid if you are overweight, because it increases fluid retention, but MSG (monoSODIUM glutamate) is another high-sodium additive you would do well to avoid if you are overweight.

Read here about how to lose weight by eating less salt/sodium.

See Sodium in foods

And here is some further MSG information: Dr Mercola's article about MSG.

Which Food Additive Is Doing The Most Harm? - For Most People The Answer Has To Be Salt.

Which is the food additive most likely to be harming your health? - It is salt - common salt - sodium chloride. - That's if you are one of the people living in the developed world and are one of the majority who are overweight or obese.

These are two of the factors that make salt/sodium a harmful food additive for you:

1. It may be that you like to eat convenience food/ready meals/takeaways/processed foods/salty snacks. These are too high in salt to be healthy for anyone who is overweight.

2. It may be that you have taken or are taking prescribed medication that causes salt sensitivity and that has resulted in fluid retention/weight gain/obesity/high blood pressure and all the other health problems associated with drug-induced obesity.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

FAT RETENTION

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

Vulnerable groups

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

A ban on six food additives linked to hyperactivity in children has reportedly been backed by the Government, signalling an end to green mushy peas.

Ban on food additives 'supported by ministers'
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Ministers have agreed that if food manufacturers do not voluntarily phase out the additives, which the Food Standards Agency asked them to stop using earlier this year, they will pursue a ban through law, according to the BBC.

One of the additives is used to give mushy peas their bright green colour. Without it, the takeaway staple is a murky grey. Manufacturers have so far been unable to find an effective alternative.

The Food Standards Agency request came after researchers from Southampton University found last September that children behaved erratically and lost concentration after they consumed the additives, which are also commonly found in fizzy drinks, sweets and processed food.

The additives are Allura red (E129), an orange/red dye; Carmoisine (E122), a red colouring in jellies; Ponceau 4R (E124), a red colouring; Quinoline yellow (E104), a yellow colouring; Sunset yellow (E110), a colouring often found in squashes; and Tartrazine (E102), a colouring found in fizzy drinks, lollies and mushy peas."

Well it will be good if/when these additives do get banned, but in my opinion it is much more urgent for children's health to get rid of added salt from children's food.

Children and Obesity

See Sodium in foods

vulnerable groups

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has ruled against the Food Commission's calls for a complete ban on food additives.

Food campaigners are up in arms following the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) ruling against Food Commission's calls for a complete ban on food additives. The call for a complete ban was made last week when the Food Commission identified Cadbury as having the most products that contain one or more of the seven food additives that contribute to increased hyperactivity in children. This includes products such as Cadbury Creme Egg, which is coloured with Sunset Yellow (E110), one of the additives that the Action on Additives says should be banned from children's food. The EFSA says that the UK study provides limited evidence that the additives "had a small and statistically significant effect on activity and attention in some children selected from the general population."
Read article in Marketing Week magazine (UK)
Comment: As is also the case with pesticides, many artificial additives are manufactured by some of the same pharmaceutical and chemical companies that would like to ban vitamin supplements and force GM foods onto our dinner plates.

Food Commission warns about additives in children's medicines

Warning on additives in children's medicines

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"Additives linked to hyperactivity in children are still used as ingredients in some medicines used by youngsters, a report out today warns.

The Food Commission found that 28 of 70 medicines suitable for under-12s contained one or more of the additives."

"The seven E numbers included in the report were part of a Food Standards Agency study carried out by Southampton University.

Its research found that 17 paracetamol products contained one or more of the additives.

Four medicated throat syrups, two ibuprofen products and five brands of two different antibiotics also contained at least one of the seven E numbers each."

A food additive (the colouring, E128) found in some sausages and burgers could trigger cancer, food safety specialists have warned.

Eating sausages 'could cause cancer' - Telegraph

Extract:

"A food additive found in some sausages and burgers could trigger cancer, food safety specialists have warned.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) panel on food additives and flavourings yesterday recommended that the colouring E128 should no longer be considered safe for human consumption.

It released a statement describing E128, also known as Red 2G, as a "safety concern". The Food Standards Agency (FSA) will today hold a meeting with food manufacturers to establish how widely it is used in products sold in Britain. Many large brands have recently been trying to remove additives and artificial colourings from their meat products. For example, in May Asda pledged to remove artificial colours or flavours, hydrogenated fat or flavour enhancers from its 9,000 own label products by the end of this year.

However, E128 is still commonly used, especially in economy sausages and burgers."

You are possibly in more danger of developing cancer from the high sodium content of sausages if you are sensitive to salt/suffer from fluid retention - i.e. if you are overweight or obese or are taking certain powerful drugs on prescription. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

and foods high and low in sodium

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...(o:

Food companies should warn about dangers of additives in food.

Food companies are criticised for failing to warn about additives - Independent

Extract:

"Concerns over the use of E-number additives in food heightened yesterday when it emerged that medicines containing additives were obliged to carry warnings of possible side effects such as skin allergies and breathing problems.

The Food Commission campaign group argued that if European Union guidelines on the warnings applied to medicines, they should also appear on food and drink products swallowed in greater quantities.

The additives have been linked with a variety of health problems in recent years and the Government has commissioned new research into a preliminary link between colourings and hyperactivity in children. Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury supermarkets are phasing out artificial colourings and flavourings from own-brand foods because of public concern.

But E-numbers are still widely used by manufacturers of sweets, crisps, cakes and soft drinks. In the latest stain on their safety, EU guidelines dating back to July 2003 say that medicines with specific additives should warn variously of "allergic reactions", "mild irritation to the skin, eyes and mucous membranes" and possible "severe hypersensitivity reactions".

Among medicines on sale, Calpol Paracetamol warns patients that its ingredient carmoisine (E122) "may cause allergic reactions", while the same warning accompanies E-numbers in Buttercup Infant cough syrup. The Food Commission found that 31 out of 41 medicines checked failed to warn of the "unwanted effect" of certain additives. Nonetheless, the EU states that medicine manufacturers using sodium benzoate - a preservative found in Vimto, Sprite, Pepsi Max and many other soft drinks - should warn of side effects.

Similarly, many sweets and crisps such as Starburst and Doritos do not carry warnings about their colourings but would have to do so if they were medicines. The EU guidelines state that six colourings - E102 tartrazine, E110 (sunset yellow), E122 (azorubine, carmoisine), E123 (amaranth), E124 (ponceau 4R red) and E151 (brilliant black BN) - "may cause allergic reactions". There are other problems with preservatives. E210 (benzoic acid), E211 (sodium benzoate) and E212 (potassium benzoate) are "mildly irritant to the skin, eyes and mucous membranes".

E220 (sulphur dioxide), E221 (sodium sulphite), E222 (sodium bisulphite); E223 (sodium metabisulphite), E224 (potassium metabisulphite) and E228 (potassium bisulphite) "may rarely cause severe hypersensitivity reactions and bronchospasm [difficulty in breathing]".

All the additives are approved by the EU but there are concerns that the tests missed some problems linked to their consumption. Ian Tokelove, of the Food Commission, a group of health professionals, said: "If medicines are supposed to display a warning for these additives then food and drink products should as well. We only take medicine occasionally, but we all need to consume food and drink on a long-term basis so our exposure to these additives will be greater.""

Many prescribed drugs/medications, particularly some steroids, HRT and other oestrogen-containings medications, several antidepressants and other antipsychotic drugs and several pain-killers, cause salt sensitivity leading to sodium and water retention and therefore to weight gain and obesity. Few, if any, of these drugs warn of this very common side-effect, and doctors rarely if ever mention it to the patients to whom they prescribe these drugs. Prescribed drugs may well be the main cause of morbid obesity in adults. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Further fears over E211 and other E-numbers as evidence accumulates about food additives.

E211 Revealed: Evidence highlights new fear over drinks additive - Independent on Sunday

It's best to read the whole, detailed article, but here is an extract:

"The Independent on Sunday's revelations focus on another potential side-effect of soft drinks and one that may have much longer-term implications.

The substance is known as E211, or sodium benzoate, and the findings of Professor Peter Piper, from Sheffield University, represent another challenge to the already blemished reputation of food additives.

New studies have emerged over the past few years that call into question whether E-numbers approved for use in Europe are as harmless as regulators and the food industry suggest.

The most famous of them all is probably E621 - monosodium glutamate, the "flavour enhancer" found in many takeaways and pasties.

In all, the EU sanctions 395 additives: 71 thickeners and emulsifiers, 64 colours, 54 preservatives, 54 antioxidants, 54 anti-caking agents and acidity regulators, 52 miscellaneous, 27 additional chemicals, and 19 flavour enhancers.

Some additives are just innocuous everyday things such as E601 (vitamin B2) and E901 (beeswax), but others have properties that alarm university professors.

Perhaps the most controversial are the "azo dyes", a series of vivid yellow and orange colourings that give a lurid colour to fruit squash, fizzy drinks, sweets, jelly, cakes and other foods often eaten by children. The best-known azo dyes are sunset yellow (E110), quinoline (E104), and tartrazine (E102).

Professor Piper's research touches on a common preservative, sodium benzoate, which is found in everything from Fanta to barbecue sauce.

For some time, there have been fears about the ability of sodium benzoate to form benzene (a carcinogenic chemical) when it reacts with another preservative in soft drinks, ascorbic acid (vitamin C)."

Do your health a big favour! - Stop eating salt - or at any rate, cut down on it seriously.

Avoid high blood pressure and many other health problems, and lose weight by eating less salt and salty food! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Fanta, Pepsi Max and some other soft drinks may be damaging your health because they contain E211 (sodium benzoate).

Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health - Independent on Sunday

Extract:

"A new health scare erupted over soft drinks last night amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.

The problem - more usually associated with ageing and alcohol abuse - can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.

The findings could have serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who consume fizzy drinks. They will also intensify the controversy about food additives, which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.

Concerns centre on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a preservative used for decades by the £74bn global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. It is also added to pickles and sauces.

Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. A Food Standards Agency survey of benzene in drinks last year found high levels in four brands which were removed from sale.

Now, an expert in ageing at Sheffield University, who has been working on sodium benzoate since publishing a research paper in 1999, has decided to speak out about another danger. Professor Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, tested the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his laboratory. What he found alarmed him: the benzoate was damaging an important area of DNA in the "power station" of cells known as the mitochondria.

He told The Independent on Sunday: "These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether."

As far as cirrhosis of the liver and many other degenerative diseases are concerned, the best way to reduce the risk of developing them is to stop eating salt and salty food. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Food additives that could be damaging your children

Warning over food additives - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Parents are being advised to cut several food additives commonly found in sweets and soft drinks from their children’s diets until the publication of a new study which is expected to link the “E numbers” to behavioural problems.

The latest study, conducted for the Food Standards Agency (FSA), is thought likely to back up earlier research which raised doubts about the safety of some food colourings and a widely-used preservative. "

"A source at the university told the food industry magazine The Grocer last week that their findings supported those of another FSA study seven years ago, which linked the additives to problems such as hyperactivity, lack of concentration, temper tantrums and allergic reactions. "

"The colours, tested on three year olds and eight-to-nine year olds, were tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), quinoline yellow (E104) and allura red AC (E129). The preservative tested was sodium benzoate (E211), which is found in many sweets, drinks and processed foods in the UK.

The additives are all approved for use by the EU, although some of the colours are banned in the US and Scandinavian countries.

The Hyperactive Children’s Support Group (HACSG), a charity which advocates a dietary approach to the problem of hyperactivity, has long recommended that some of them should be completely withdrawn from children’s diets. "

You can further protect your children's health by minimising their intake of salt. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)