Prepared and processed foods may offer
convenience, but they are also likely to contain some of the 3000 food additives
around today. Additives have a host of adverse effects – and children are
especially susceptible.
Many consumers are thinking more carefully about
what food they put on the table. Their main concern is not calorie counting or
budget, rather the additives that everyday items like soft drinks, muffins,
cereals and sausages are likely to contain. Reactions such as skin rashes,
blurred vision, hyperactivity or migraines are indeed cause for concern and
consumers are becoming more aware of the health risks their food could pose.
What exactly are additives? An additive is added to
a food product either intentionally, to produce a desired effect or
unintentionally through processing, storage or packaging. Preservatives are
added to help maintain a food's freshness and to keep it from spoiling, or
oxidizing. Artificial clourants and flavourants are used to improve taste
and appearance.
In 30 years, there has been an incredible increase
of additives since processed foods have become more abundant. These
products are, 'man-made' since there is no resemblance to the natural food it
once was. Most additives are considered safe but some are known to be
carcinogenic and even toxic. Hyperactivity, allergies, asthma and migraines are
common reactions to food additives.
Often the food to which children are attracted –
biscuits, chips and sweets – are filled with additives to enhance colour and
flavour. These additives have a disproportionately higher impact on children.
This is because, relative to their size, children consume more food than adults
do. In addition, the organs responsible for detoxifying or removing harmful
substances are not as effective as those of adults. The adverse effects of food
chemicals on children’s behaviour, health and learning ability have been
verified by various studies.
There are 12 key additives that adversely affect
health in the short term (e.g. headaches, mood or energy level) and in the long
term (e.g. risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease). These are the main
additives known to cause reactions:
1. E102
TARTRAZINE
What:
Colouring containing synthetic azo dye.
Found: Used in confectionery, soft drinks, packet
desserts, fruit flavoured cordial, pickles.
Effects: It can provoke migraine, urticaria (skin
rash), itching, rhinitis (runny nose), blurred vision, purple patches on the
skin, irritability, restlessness, inattention and wakefulness in young children.
It has immunosuppressive effects.
2. E110 SUNSET
YELLOW
What: Colouring containing synthetic azo dye.
Found: It is used in cereals, bakery items, crumbed
foods, sweets, snack foods, ice cream, drinks and canned fish; also in many
medications.
Effects: It can provoke hives, eczema, gastric
upset, swelling of the blood vessels, nasal congestion, behavioural problems and
wakefulness in children. It is able to cross the placenta and is potentially
dangerous to asthmatics.
3. E123
AMARANTH
What: Colouring containing synthetic coal tar dye
and azo dye.
Found:
Used in jelly crystals, packet cake mixes,
fruit-flavoured fillings.
Effects: It can provoke urticaria, and overactivity
in children. It is linked to malignant tumours in rats. It has immunosuppressive
effects and was banned in the USA in 1976.
4. E127 ERYTHROSINE
What: Colouring containing synthetic coal tar dye.
Found: It is used in glace and canned red cherries,
strawberries and rhubarb, quick custard mix, biscuits, packet trifle mix.
Effects: It can cause phototoxicity (sensitivity to
light). Large dietary intakes of this additive could affect the thyroid. It
should be consumed sparingly by children. It reduces sperm counts and increases
sperm abnormalities in mice. It has oestrogen-like growth properties and could
be a significant factor in human breast cancer. The US Food and Drug
Administration has recommended that this dye should be banned as a carcinogen.
5. E160b ANNATT
O EXTRACTS
What:
Colouring. A vegetable dye from the seed coat
of the tropical Annatto tree.
Found: Used in cereals, biscuits, margarine, yoghurts and ice-cream.
Effects:
It can provoke urticaria,
gastrointestinal, airways and central nervous system reactions including
behaviour problems and headache. It plays a possible role in the development of
diabetes mellitus especially in the undernourished state.
6. E211 SODIUM
BENZOATE
What: Preservative.
Found:
Used in soft drinks, fruit drinks, fruit
flavoured cordials, toppings, syrups, maple syrup and syrup medications
including Phenergan.
Effects: It can provoke asthma, urticaria and
gastrointestinal symptoms, plus behaviour problems in children.
7. E220 SULPHUR
DIOXI
DE
What: Preservative.
Found: Used in dried fruit, soft drinks, cordials,
fruit drinks, beer, wine, sausages, other processed meats including pet meat,
hot chips, instant mashed potato, prawns.
Effects:
It can provoke asthma and skin rashes
especially in young children. It destroys Vitamin B1 (thiamine) and folic acid
in the body, from both foods and supplements. Associated with an estimated 12
asthma deaths in the USA and thiamine deficiency in pet dogs and cats in
Australia leading to vestibular dysfunction, irritability and occasionally
death. Banned in meat in the USA since 1959.
8. E282 CALCIUM
PROPIONATE
What:
Preservative.
Found: Used in bread, hamburger buns, crumpets,
English muffins, pita bread.
Effects:
It can provoke irritability, restlessness,
inattention and sleep disturbance in children, migraines, skin rashes,
gastrointestinal upsets. It is found to cause forestomach tumours in rats, long
lasting learning deficits and brain alteration when given to very young rats.
9. E320 BHA
(BUYLATED
HYDROXANISOLE)
What: Antioxidant used as a preservative in oils
and fats.
Found:
Products containing oils and fats including
fried foods, softened butter, dairy blends, margarine, hot chips, frozen chips,
crisps, biscuits, ice-cream cones. May be unlisted in products containing less
than five percent vegetable oils.
Effects: It can provoke eczema, irritable bowel
symptoms, migraine, irritability, restlessness, inattention, wakefulness and
depression. There are frequent reports of toxicity at high doses, including
promotion of forestomach cancers in rats. Not permitted in foods intended
specifically for infants and young children. Banned in Japan.
10. E621 MONOSODIU
M GLUTAMATE
What: Flavour enhancer (MSG) introduced into Western food in 1948.
Found: Added to savoury processed foods including
snack foods, instant noodles, biscuits, takeaways, prepared meals, sauces,
gravies, stocks and stock cubes, canned tuna, many frozen foods. In cigarettes
and animal food. In over 10,000 foods in USA. Derived from the fermentation of
molasses.
Effects: It can provoke migraine, asthma, eczema,
irritable bowel symptoms, heart palpitations, dizziness, nausea, heart
attack-type symptoms, irritability, restlessness, inattention and wakefulness.
Not permitted in foods intended specifically for infants and young children.
11. E635 RIBONUCLEOTIDES
What: Flavour enhancer- a combination of disodium guanylate (627) and disodium
inosinate (631).
Found:
Used in the same foods as MSG, also
rotisseried chicken, chicken flavoured salt, blended butter. Originally prepared
from sardine, meat and yeast extract, now prepared synthetically.
Effects:
Reports of adverse effects include itchy
skin rashes, angio-oedema (swelling of the lips, tongue or eyes, may constitute
a medical emergency), and behavioural effects in children. Not permitted in
foods intended specifically for infants and young children. Should be avoided by
people with gout.
12. E951
ASPARTAME
(ARTIFICIAL
SWEETENER)
What:
Artificial sweetener 200 times as sweet as sugar.
Found: Used in 9000 products including diet drinks,
low joule or 'no added sugar' foods, confectionery, chewing gum and medications.
The US Food and Drug Administration has received more complaints about this
additive than any other.
Effects: Reported effects include headache, mood
alteration (anxiety, agitation, irritability and depression), insomnia, fatigue
and dizziness, gastrointestinal symptoms and allergic reactions. US research
suggests a link to brain tumours. Diet drinks containing it are banned for US
Air Force pilots.
For decades, concerns expressed by parents have
often been dismissed by food manufacturers and government as anecdotal and
lacking in scientific evidence, even though serious behavioural changes can
cause much distress in families until they are able to identify the cause of the
trouble and eliminate additive-laden foods from their children's diets.
In more recent years there have been a number of
trials conducted to prove that adverse reactions can be caused by additives. In
2002, a government-funded study by the UK's Asthma & Allergy Research Centre
concluded that all children could benefit from the removal of specified
artificial food colourings from their diet.
If our children are eating healthily, do they
require a vitamin and mineral supplement? It is generally accepted that the
modern food supply doesn't offer consumers sufficient quantities of vital
vitamins and minerals due to processing and intensive farming practices.
A child's intelligence may be affected by a vitamin
and mineral supplement. Twenty-three vitamins and minerals are required directly
and indirectly for glucose utilisation in the brain, which is required to
constantly power the brain's electrical activity and function properly. If the
supply of one or more of these nutrients is restricted, then glucose utilisation
will be impaired. The first part of the brain to suffer is usually the frontal
lobe - the part concerned with intellectual thought, reasoning skills and
socialisation. It therefore seems likely that even small nutrient deficiencies
could lead to lower IQ scores as well as reduced emotional control.
In addition to this, there is also talk of a link
between nutrition and behavioural problems. According to a new USC study,
malnutrition in the first few years of life leads to antisocial and aggressive
behaviour throughout childhood and late adolescence. The study shows that
inadequate nutrition in the early postnatal years is also associated with
behavioural problems.
Information supplied by Linda McCourt-Scott (MA
Genetics, Epidemiology, Nutrition and Psychology (Somerville College, Oxford)) for Savvy
Kids and seen in the summer 2005 issue of TLC, South Africa's key to
health.
In
the next issue of TLC, packed with information on health, parenting and
cutting edge medical information will be available at your doctor's
waiting room in early June. Copies of the magazine can be bought from
selected newsagents nationwide or contact Jacqui Chin at (021) 462-1023
for subscription details.
TLC Magazine,Picasso Headline
105-107 Hatfield
Street, Gardens, Cape Town
Tel: +27 (21) 462-1023 Fax: +27 (21) 461-9476
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