Find out the truth about the substances manufacturers pile into processed food.
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This food additive list spells out what all those items on food labels really mean. And these little items can really add up.
In a year, an average adult in the UK eats an astonishing 6-7kg of these additives,
whose only use is to help processed foods last for ever, and make cheap, unhealthy
ingredients seem appetising. It's time manufacturers realised that consumers don't want healthy, natural food. At last, UK supermarkets are beginning to respond, but there's still a long way to go.
FOOD ADDITIVE LIST
Sugars Empty calories, which appear in a wide range of guises. Look out for these - they're all names for sugars:
Agave, brown rice syrup, dextrin, dextrose, fructose, galatose, glucose,
xylitol.
Foods labelled as no
added sugar are probably sweetened with artificial sweeteners.
Salt, sodium Sodium is a mineral present in salt, which the body
needs to regulate fluid balance. Too much sodium can raise the blood pressure,
which in turn can lead to heart disease and strokes. Sodium, in salt, is added in large
quantities to processed foods, like canned vegetables, bottled sauces, ready meals
and many more. It's also used to coat many snacks, like nuts and crisps.
These are some of the sodium-based additives to beware of on the label:
Manufacturers use high calorie/low nutrient vegetable
oils in large quantities. Keep your eyes peeled for hydrogenated or partially
hydrogenated oils and fats. Heat treatment has altered these fats, so that they
harden arteries and cause heart disease. They lurk in crisps, snacks, biscuits, cakes,
cereal bars, margarine-type spreads. Avoid them like the plague. There is some good news here - as research into the health effects of hydrogenated oils appears, some UK supermarkets have responded by pledging to remove these oils from their own label products by the start of 2007.
Modified starches These are everywhere, too, despite having zero
nutritional value coupled with mega-calories. They're used to soak up water injected
into meats and poultry, and they can cunningly imitate the texture of fresh fruit and
veg in products from baby foods, yogurts and pasta sauces to pie fillings and fruit
drinks. Oh yes, they're also used to disguise 'off' flavours and smells. Delicious, eh?
Flavourings and colourings
Why do foods need these? Because their natural flavours and colours have been
removed or altered by processing. Many countries, but not the UK, ban their use in
children's foods, and there are moves to ban certain food colours from children's food in the UK and across Europe because of links with hyperactivity.
E numbers
E numbers are code for a huge range of additives, like emulsifiers, preservatives,
stabilisers, thickeners. Health effects are not known for all of these
substances.
This food additive list demystifies the worst of what's on the label. But the lavish use of additives is just one of the unpalatable fast food facts that you need to know. Once you're aware of just
how undesirable all those additives are, it becomes much easier to browse the
shelves and make healthy food choices
every time.
