A commonly held belief is that all, or some, food additives are extremely harmful, cause cancer, hyperactivity and ADHD and should be avoided.With the overwhleming selection of packaged and processed available, it's difficult to know what are good choices for children.
What is a food additive?
Anything that is added to food, during processing is considered an additive. For example sugar and salt have been used for centuries to preserve foods and are examples of additives. Other examples of food additives are preservatives, antioxidants and emulsifiers. Lots of additives are given numbers so we can easily identify them on food labels, and save space from printing long chemical names. These 'numbers' often sound scarier than they are. Many additives have unpronounceable or complex chemical names. It is often assumed that long chemical names indicate that an additive is artificial and potential harmful. This is not always true.
Take the following list of ingredients:
- acetaldehyde
- ethanol
- propan-1-ol
- ethyl pentanoate
- ethyl hexanoate
- ethyl-2-methyl butanoate
- 2 methyl butyl acetate
These are just a few of the chemicals that flavour an apple.
Many natural and commonly occurring products are used as food additives. Salt, sugar, vinegar and some vitamins are used as preservatives. Many food colourings and flavourings are obtained from foods. The food additive 300 is vitamin C; 101 is Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and grapeskin extract has the number 163.
Why do we use food additives?
The use of food additives in Australia is regulated by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ). According to FSANZ, additives serve three purposes:
1. improve the taste or appearance of a processed food
2. improve the keeping quality or stability of a food
3. preserve food when this is the most practical way of extending its storage life.
FSANZ does not approve an additive unless extensive testing has been undertaken and it has been shown that no harmful effects are expected from consumption. FSANZ also sets the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for each additive - the amount that can be eaten every day over a lifetime without risk of harm. The ADI is determined by reviewing available data and finding a level at which no toxic effect is observed. A large safety factor is included in the ADI.
Absolute safety is impossible to prove. Although vigorous tests have been conducted to assess the safety of additives approved for use in Australia, there is always a possibility that sometime in the future studies will demonstrate that a particular additive is in fact harmful in the doses taken by the general population.
Additives serve a wide variety of uses. For example, preservatives protect foods against deterioration and prevent growth of fungi and bacteria. Other additives help improve the texture and consistency of foods, keep them flowing freely when poured, or prevent them from drying out. Flavourings restore taste losses or can enhance the flavour or aroma of food. Emulsifiers ensure that oil and water in foods do not separate.
The bottom line:
The foods containing lots of additives are usually the foods that we should not be eating a lot of anyway. They are usually highly processed and contain a lot of fat, sugar and salt and contribute to overweight and obesity. Overweight and obesity are major causes of cancer and many other diseases. So the healthiest foods to choose are whole fresh foods which have less additives than processed foods and are also lower in fat, sugar and salt.
Although evidence suggests that most additives and preservatives themselves are not cancer causing, it is important to remember that obesity is a major cause of cancer and many other diseases. The processed foods, which tend to contain more additives, are often less healthy and should be eaten less often. The best recipe for health is to maximise intake of whole, fresh foods. These foods are free from additives and reduce the risk of cancer and other lifestyle diseases.