In terms of recording on food packaging information about the food chain, where ingredients are a significant part of this subject, then food additives have received little publicity compared with emotive subject of those defined as Genetically Modified (GM) food products. In reality the lack of control over food additives makes them a much greater danger to human health than GM food products. Whilst GM techniques for modifying the DNA of foods adopt a similar approach to that naturally undertaken by original selective breeding and mutation breeding techniques the adding of additives into the food is not a natural pathway. It is an artificial engineered approach lacking any holistic assessments. For example the uncontrolled mixture of food additives being consumed by each individual’s diet. The one story that is very relevant is the comment from those who have managed mortuaries over the years that bodies decay much slower now due to all these preservation additives. So do not underestimate the effect these additives have on your body. Whilst they may preserve you they may also contribute to your early death.
It seems strange that whilst
the drugs industry and your intake of pharmaceutical drugs by you is closely legislated
for with drugs defined as those needing a doctor’s prescription verse those
sold over the counter at the pharmacy or supermarket. But food additives are
drugs but using another name. They are still specific chemical compositions. Some
more complicated that pharmaceutical drugs. Chemical compositions used to often
meet the food industries objectives and not your health objectives. The food
industry neither has an awareness of the volumes you choose to consume nor the
combinations you chose to make in your diet. As more and more foods move under
this Ultra Processed Foods (UPF) category you are being allowed to eat these
types of food without your knowledge. The marketing of these foods makes no
attempt to show you they fall within this UPF category. With UPF foods in
general cheaper to purchase than those that do not use food additives the
current economic climate draws more people unknowingly into this category for
economic reasons.
It is now very difficult, if
not impossible, to avoid eating food in a modern western society without eating
these food additives. Scientists in the UK now reckon the average person
consumes more than 8 kilograms of food additives every year. Now just to
confuse matters some of these food additives with their E- numbers are totally
natural causing no potential health concerns although the majority fall within
the best kept out of the food chain category. Research is increasingly looking
to seek out links between some of these food additives and health conditions
like cancer, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. If the link is scientifically
confirmed the additive is likely to be banned from the food chain but a lot
remain in the food chain where future links may well be established. Some of
these food additives may take many years of usage before their negative impact
can be accurately measure. So there may well be health conditions that are
resulting from food additives that are not on any body’s radar as yet. The one
that is showing itself up is obesity which in itself is the source of many
health problems.
It is the so called ultra -
processed foods (UPF) that are loaded with sweeteners, colourings and
preservatives that pose the greatest risks. The UK Food Standards Agency on
their website (www.food.gov.uk) under the Search for “Food Additives” lists
food additives under the following categories:-
1, Antioxidants. These stop
food becoming rancid or changing colour by reducing the chance of fats
combining with oxygen.
2. Colours
3. Emulsifiers, stabilisers,
gelling agents and thickeners – these help mix or thicken ingredients
4. Preservatives – used to
keep food safer for longer
5. Sweeteners – including
intense sweeteners like stevia and aspartame which are many times sweeter than
sugar.
Some of the additives support
food lasting longer and can protect us from food poisoning. Some are natural
like the colour beetroot or ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) causing no harm. Whilst
artificial colours are found to cause hyperactivity in children. Also there is
a move to buy fresh rather than use the ultra-processed frozen or tinned meals
that use very high levels of food additives.
But although the food industry
and their regulatory bodies look to ensure that the food additives used are deemed
safe for human consumption they cannot know what you choose to consume in your
diet. If you choose to live on ultra-processed ready prepared meals as your
main diet then you are exposing yourself to a much higher health risk.
If like the author you choose
to read the food packaging you soon realise how inconsistent the food
manufactures are in terms of the way they list the additives. Some do not quote
the E-numbers themselves just listing a name. Whilst missing is the weight or %
of additive therefore giving you no idea of the amount you will be consuming. Whilst
the nutritional information is normally very detailed (eg fat, salt etc) along
with the calorific value the additives are not
effectively communicated. The so called “nanny state” is often used as
an argument against more state intervention in food manufacture. The reality is
left to a purely capitalistic model with mass marketing, mass distribution and
centralised manufacture into a faster moving society is taking diets away from
a natural health focussed food chain. With the majority of the population
choosing not to focus on it as a subject that is very relevant to their current
and future health. The same argument being applied to exercise where fewer
people are appreciating its importance in maintaining health.
These ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are edible substances reconstructed from whole food that’s been reduced to its basic molecular constituents. These are modified and re-assembled into food-like shapes and textures, then heavily salted, sweetened, coloured and flavoured.
UPF has a long, formal scientific definition, but it can be boiled down to this: if it’s wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient that you wouldn’t usually find in a standard home kitchen, it’s UPF. Much of it will be familiar to you as “junk food”, but there’s plenty of organic, free range, “ethical” UPF too.
These substances entered the diet gradually at first, beginning in the last part of the 19th century, but the incursion gained pace from the 1950s onwards, to the point that they now constitute the majority of what people eat in the UK and the US, and form a significant part of the diet of nearly every society on Earth.
So
how can you avoid the Ultra Processed Food (UPF) trap.
The
problem is they can be devilishly hard to identify, with seductive packaging
often marketing them as good for you. Many of us know that crisps, shop-bought
biscuits and sugary breakfast cereals have been highly processed, but what
about more innocuous, healthy-seeming products such as your morning bagel or
peanut butter? “Often UPFs are cleverly marketed as healthy when they’re not,”
says Dr Federica Amati, a medical scientist and public health nutritionist.
“What everyone should remember is that the food industry is not healthcare.
It’s these companies’ job to make money and UPFs are the easiest way to do that
because they’re designed to be moreish but not make you full.”
What
seems strange is that most supermarkets have chosen a layout that you could use
to enable you to avoid Ultra Processed Foods. (UPF). When you enter a
supermarket by focussing your buying on the fresh fruit and vegetable areas you
will be avoiding UPF’s. If you also visualise the old butcher, baker, greengrocer
shops and their produce you are avoiding UPF’s. Avoid tinned and freezer areas
of the shop. Focus on fresh produce where you can clearly see the products
nearer to their source of creation. For meat the parts of the animal. For fish
the whole fish. For fruit and vegetables as you would see them just out of the
ground or off the tree. Look for shops that proudly display and define their
source providers. Particulary where free range is claimed for meat, poultry and
eggs. Look to buy off the artesian manufacturers that adhere to old trusted
ingredients and techniques of manufacture. Farm shops and markets often sell
goods from local shortened supply chains. Pick your own sites or places where
you can witness the manufacturing which will keep you clear of UPF’s. It about
changing your purchasing habits to avoid UPF’s.
So let us just look at 12 common Food Additives.
1.
Nitrates and nitrites (E249 – 252)
These preservatives
include potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate and are found in cured meat, such
as bacon and ham to give a salty, cured flavour and to protect against food poisoning.
MP’s have called for a ban after they were associated with bowel, breast and
prostrate cancer. Nitrates also occur naturally in vegetables Brussels sprouts,
broccoli and spinach but in safer, much less concentrated quantities.
2.
Sunset Yellow (E110)
This is found in jellies,
sweets, chips, biscuits, cake decorations, soft drinks and instant noodles. It
carries a Food Standard Agency warning. It is a chemical compound and therefore
harder for your body to brerak down and can lead to hyperactivity in some
children.
3.
Ascorbic acid (E300)
A naturally occurring
additive that is another name for vitamin C. this is actually good for us. It
is found in fruit juices and dried fruit such as raisins and is used to prolong
shelf life.
4.
Curcumin (E100)
Another naturally
occurring additive which gives salad dressing sauces and frozen curries their
yellowly orange colour. It derives from the spice turmeric and has anti-inflammatory
benefits.
5.
Aspartame (E951)
A man made sweetener used
to replace sugar in sugar free drinks and foods, especially puddings. Some
people experience headaches and joint pain from it.
6.
Sorbitol (E420)
Found in sugar free mints,
sweets and milkshakes, this is a sugar alcohol six times sweater than sugar. It
can cause gut and digestive problems in one in ten people.
7.
Saccharin (E954)
Another sugar substitute
found in sweeteners , this is extremely sweet and safe if eaten in small
quantities.
8.
Lecithin (E322)
An emulsifier found in
mayonnaise, smoothies, chocolate and ice cream used to mix oil and water based
ingredients. Not harmful but too much can cause an upset tummy.
9.
Shellac ( E904)
This glazing agent is used
to give food like chocolate a shiny finish. It can be natural or synthetic and
provides no nutritional value.
10. Monosodium
Glutamate (E621)
Better known as MSG , this
flavour enhancer stimulates taste bud receptors. A small proportion of people
have reactions of headaches, sweating, heart palpitations and numbness in the
face and neck.
11. Xylitol (E967)
A natural sugar alcohol found
in plants, fruit and vegetables and used as a sugar substitute in chewing gum,
sweets and toothpastes. It is recommended in amounts up to about 50 grams daily
but can cause diarrhoea in some people.
12. Xanthan gum (E415)
This is a natural additive
produced from sugar and molasses and used as a thickening agent and emulsifier.
In quantities contained in food it should not lead to side effects.
Relevant articles out of The
Times.
A technological solution to measuring
your indigestion behaviours.
The effect of genes on obesity.
Ultra Processed Food (UPF)
