How to avoid the harmful effect of food additives

For centuries, people have enhanced their foods with various flavourings, preservatives and dyes. But some ingredients on today's food labels can be downright scary. Here are some tips on the effects of food additives and how to avoid them.

Few foods reach today's supermarkets free of additives — substances that do not occur naturally in a food but are added for various reasons.

These include:

• Preservatives to prevent spoilage
• Emulsifiers to prevent water and fat from separating
• Thickeners
• Vitamins and minerals (either to replace nutrients lost in processing or to increase nutritional value)
• Sweeteners (both natural and artificial), salt, and flavourings to improve taste
• Dyes to make everything from candies to soft drinks more visually appealing.

In all, North American food processors may use any of about 2,800 additives. Although many people question the safety of these additives, the fact is that their use is governed by stringent regulations.

Authorities require extensive studies before an additive is allowed on the market. In spite of this, rare reactions to certain additives are possible.

• The most common food additives are sugar, corn syrup, other sweeteners and salt; they are used both to enhance flavour and to retard spoilage.
• Other additives offer their own unique health benefits; these include calcium, as well as ascorbic acid (vitamin C), vitamin E and other antioxidants that prevent fats from turning rancid and may also offer some protection against cancer, heart disease and other ailments.

Additives can be safe even though they sound distasteful.

• Shellac, the resinous secretion of the female Indian "lac" bug, is often referred to in the trade as "confectioner's glaze." It can be used to give a protective, glossy coating to candies, jelly beans and ice cream cones.
• Since it is insoluble in water, shellac can prevent the food product from drying out by forming a moisture impermeable layer. That's the reason citrus fruits and avocados are sometimes treated with shellac.
• Shellac has long been used as a food additive without any problem, and animal tests have shown no adverse reactions.

Substances such as sodium stearyl fumarate, an additive to improve the texture and handling properties of baked goods and dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, an emulsifier and flavour enhancer, although harmless, make those of us without a degree in chemistry understandably wary.

The majority of food additives are safe, but there are exceptions, and every now and then, one is removed from the market.

• Some dyes, such as Red #2, are banned in the United States but allowed in Canada.
• Red #40, which was used in the United States to replace Red #2 and is allowed in Canada, is banned in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Watch out for yellow colorant #5, or tartrazine. It has been linked with adverse reactions in sensitive people who are typically aspirin intolerant, allergic or asthmatic.

• Symptoms may include hives, itching, runny nose and asthma.
• This dye is the only dye that must be identified by name on food labels.
• Although it does not represent a major health risk to most people, its use in childrens' medications is clearly inappropriate.