Emulsifiers, dyes, preservatives, colouring agents, antioxidants, and stabilizers are some of the categories of a food additive. The food production industry has come a long way from making the perfect loaf of bread to enriched cereal and milk or even mix and bake cakes. We see these chemicals in almost all processed foods nowadays. Sometimes it is to prolong the shelf life, increase attractiveness, or to ease the processing.
The question is, is it bad for our health?
While some additives are harmless such as salt being used for the purpose of preserving meat or vinegar being used to pickle vegetables. Certain food additives can have very negative effects on our health and wellbeing.
There are over 850 different additives approved for use in Canada.
MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)
This is a flavour enhancer, while it makes things appear tastier behind the scenes it is known to cause damage to our brain cells. MSG is an excitotoxin and is also reported to affect our ability to tell if our stomachs are full, causing weight gain. This additive has also been linked to side effects such as headaches, disorientation, fatigue, and depression.
Aspartame
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener usually known as NutraSweet, Sugar twin, and Equal. This is a controversial one, as this sweetener is not shown to have a risk according to the FDA and many studies show it’s safety in small amounts. However it has also been linked to headaches, migraines, dizziness, and memory loss. It is also often used as a “Zero sugar” replacement but contains a high sugary flavour. This replacement for sugar may keep you off sugar but does not address the addiction to sugar nor is it worth the risk of negative effects on the brain.
Common Food Dyes
Yellow #5 and #6, Red #3 and #40, Blue #1 and #2, and caramel colouring. These are widely used in North America to give processed foods their bright unusual colours. The FDA approves of these colourings being used for foods in small amounts even though they have been linked to cancer and learning and concentration disorders in children. Best to avoid these as they are in ultra processed food that does not serve the body to begin with.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
A cheaply derived sugar substance from corn. This sweetener is predominant in this society and is wildly over consumed. There are links to obesity, risk of cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. This form of sugar is the cheapest and used in cheap processed products so it is easily accessible and easily abused. In small amounts there is no apparent harm however the issue as of late is the overconsumption and addiction to sugar so it’s best to limit consumption.
Sodium Nitrate
This is commonly used in meat and fish products to maintain the pinkish colour and prevent bacterial growth. When sodium nitrate and nitrate react to certain amino acids, they can produce cancer causing compounds called nitrosamines.
Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils
Made artificially through forcing hydrogen gas into vegetable oils under extreme pressure. This creates a semi solid trans-fat. The FDA has recognized the extreme risk & connection to cardiovascular disease so it has been banned… for the most part. It is still found in some products in less than .49 gram per serving. This trans-fat has been commonly found in pastries, crackers, breads, cakes, and margarine. While not used prevalently anymore the risk of damage to your arteries is not worth the texture or flavour of these processed foods.
BHA & BHT
Known as butylated hydroxytoluene and butylated hydroxyanisole, these petroleum-derived antioxidants are used to preserve fats and oils in crackers, cereals, baked goods, and beer. BHA has been linked to cancers in animal studies and they are both considered carcinogens.
These are just a few of the many potentially harmful ingredients that are added to our food. It’s important to keep in mind that even foods that are marketed as healthy options often contain some of these too. If you’re interested in going more in depth, check out https://www.ewg.org/search?fullsearch=Food+additives.
Thanks for reading our article… Here at Optimize Coaching we strive to help our clients build a strong foundation of nutritional knowledge and guide them to increased health and performance. If you are interested in learning more information regarding health, nutrition or supplements, book an appointment with one of our practitioners today.
