Most people are familiar with the basics of good nutrition but many aren’t aware of the thousands of food additives found in popular foods which if consumed in excess could create health risks. MSN Health has put together a list of 10 additives you should try to avoid. Let’s be clear, we don’t expect you to avoid all of these additives altogether, although, it certainly is possible. The key is being aware of them so you can effectively limit their intake. The list of additives, inside…
10. Sodium Nitrate, Sodium Nitrite
Found in: bacon, ham, hot dogs, luncheon meats, smoked fish, and corned beef.
Used to stabilize food color and add flavor. When grilled it transforms into a reactive compound that has been linked to cancer.
9. BHA and BHT
Found in: many foods such as cereals, chewing gum, potato chips, and vegetable oils.
It prevents fats and oils from going rancid. For some people it can increase their cancer risk.
8. Propyl Gallate
Found in: meat products, chicken soup base, and chewing gum.
Also prevents fats and oils from spoiling. While not proven to cause cancer in humans, it is linked to cancer in animals.
7. Monosodium Glutamate
Found in: soups, salad dressings, chips, frozen entrees, and restaurant food. The infamous MSG, associated with Asian food can cause headaches and nausea for some people. Try using a moderate amount of salt as a healthier alternative.
6. Trans Fats
Found in: numerous foods, fast food.
Too much trans fat has been proven to cause heart disease and other serious health conditions. Experts recommend consuming no more than 2 grams per day.
5. Aspartame
Found in: low-calorie desserts, gelatins, drink mixes, and soft drinks.
Studies have shown that lifelong consumption may increase risk of cancer or other neurological problems.
4. Acesulfame-K
Found in: baked goods, chewing gum, and gelatin desserts.
Not proven to be unhealthy, but studies on this additive have been scant. If that concerns you, then you may want to avoid this sweetener.
3. Food Colorings: Blue 1, 2; Red 3; Green 3; Yellow 6
Found in: products too numerous to mention.
These colorings have been linked to cancer in animals, while Yellow 6 has been linked to bladder cancer in humans.
2. Olestra
Found in: reduced fat snack chips.
Olestra blocks fat absorption but blocks vitamin absorption as well. It can also cause severe diarrhea, cramps and gas.
1. Potassium Bromate
Found in: white flour, breads, and rolls.
Most bromate breaks down into a harmless form, however, small amounts can create a risk for people. California requires a cancer warning on products with this ingredient.
12 Food Additives to Avoid [MSN Health]
(Photo: ableman)
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I don’t think high fructose corn syrup should be something you ‘try to avoid’ since it is pretty much almost universally impossible to do so.
@yourbffjill: High fructose corn syrup has nothing to do with trans-fats. Heck even recently a study was done that natural trans-fats were actually associated with lower risks of a certain type of cancer. Though admittedly ‘natural’ trans-fats are hard to come by in general.
This is actually *shockingly* helpful to me – I know I’m allergic to MSG, but oddly, also to some products that advertised as being MSG-free. Particularly meats, some soups, and gum – I’m going to try to avoid Propyl Gallate and Sodium Nitrate from now on, and see if that helps
@AstroPig7: Green M&Ms aren’t aphrodisiacs. That’s a myth.
The reason pretty much every additive is found to be a carcinogen is because a lot of these studies are done using bacteria infused with human genes. If the human genes show a high rate of mutation in the presence of these additives, it’s said to be a carcinogen. The problem with this method is that bacteria multiply at a fairly high rate, and therefore are already susceptible to high rates of mutation.
That being said, the carcinogenic effects of these additives hasn’t been *disproven*, and natural > artificial, at least in my book.
Jeez… I might as well just take up smoking.
I’ll avoid trans fat and carbonated drinks but you’ll pry the bacon from my cold dead hands before I give it up.
The incidence of stomach cancer is way down as as result of food additives. Primarily because of the reduction of molds which produce a wide variety of mycotoxins. The mycotoxins cause both acute and chronic illnesses such as cancer. Aflotoxin, a mycotoxin, is one of the most potent carcinogens known, and is strongly implicated in liver cancer and other diseases.
Preservatives also help to reduce the incidence of bacterial diseases that had a high morbidity and mortality before appropriate preservation measures came into being.
Additives that only provide coloring, preserve texture and enhance taste are more of a problem than the preservatives because there is little on the positive side for them.
@Eilonwynn: MSG is present naturally in fair to large amounts in mushrooms, tomatoes, soy products, hard cheeses, corn, peas, seaweed, and human breast milk. If you are not allergic to the foods listed, particularly tomatoes and mushrooms, you are not allergic to MSG. You may have a reaction to it, but that is not the same as being allergic.
If you truly do have an allergy then you probably already know, but I’ll mention for the sake of completeness, that MSG is also often present in ingredient lists under the following names:
- Natural Flavoring (not all natural flavors are MSG, though)
- Hydrolyzed [Soy, Wheat, etc.] Protein
- Autolyzed Yeast Extract
- Flavour Enhancer 621
- E621
- Aji-no-moto
- Glutamic acid
That said, I have absolutely no reaction to MSG, and neither does anyone in my household, so I cook with broth mixes containing MSG regularly and suffer no ill effects. I am normally careful about additives, but this particular one is overhyped.
NutraSweet, now… but don’t get me started…
One’s personal medical history could change the list. I’m diabetic and if it wasn’t for Aspartame I’d be very sad indeed.
Wow. Yay Whole Foods. I didn’t know they had a whole list of ingredients they won’t carry. Yet another reason to shop there.
If I eat enough of this I may die of cancer but I can save on funeral costs. I’ll be preserved!
I read this thing yesterday and I’m sure the count was 12 not 10. #11 was sugar and #12 was salt. I’d really like to know how you avoid eating salt or sugar? High fructose corn syrup and uhh…?
Don’t forget HFCS.
@satoru: It’s really easy to avoid high fructose corn syrup if you a) mostly eat fresh things, and b) shop at Whole Foods or similar places for any processed foods. Now, I don’t think there is anything especially harmful about HFCS. But I don’t like the extra calories being added to everything for essentially no reason, and I don’t quite understand why people seemingly want everything sweetened.
@Bladefist: what doesn’t cause cancer?
cancer itself?
@pgh9fan: Look into something called erythritol if you want an extremely low glycemic index natural sweetener that does not have a bitter or sour aftertaste and the problems of the artificial sweeteners. Erythritol occurs naturally in food. It is a sugar alcohol like mannitol and sorbitol but it does not cause gastrointestinal upset like the other sugar alcohols. You can actually use it one for one to substitute for sugar in most baked goods and other cooked recipes (it is DANGEROUS to bake or otherwise heat aspartame!!!), make candy out of it (mints are particularly good), and use it in coffee and tea.
Its drawbacks are minor… it is not quite as sweet as sugar (but most sugar sweetened things will seem too sweet for you now anyway), and it does not dissolve well in cold water (so you can’t use it in a glass of iced tea, make Kool-Aid with it, or put it on your cereal). If you use it by itself in a cold dish, it can have a “cool” flavor, as if it is a little tiny bit minty. It’s sort of expensive compared to sugar, but it’s available in bulk online so shop around.
I use this stuff and like it and it has helped us reduce our calories.
arrgh, close the italic tab after “natural.” Sorry.
Bet this will be picked up by some local news outlet on a slow news day, they LOVE fear-mongering!
@sn1per420: Maybe the green M&Ms aren’t aphrodesiacs, but I know *for sure* that wearing green on a Thursday means you’re horny.
@failurate:
You’re kidding, right?
Any update on the health issues with saccharin? I use it in my coffee and tea since I’m trying to reform from my fat boy ways.
@sn1per420: I think “natural” vs. “artificial” is something of an arbitrary distinction. What counts as “natural”? What level of processing is acceptable? Everything is natural, in a sense, and everything is artificial in a sense. The only thing that matters to me is what the scientific evidence says.
@gavers:
I think the key is to minimize, not eliminate, the use of sugar and salt. Personally, I don’t add salt to anything I eat. I just don’t need it. I eat breakfast cereals with more healthy sweeteners already in them, so I don’t add sugar, and I use saccharin in my coffee and tea (possibly poisoning myself, I don’t know). The only “sugar” I get is in the occasional piece of candy or dessert I have, and whatever salt I get is already in the food.
@speedwell:
Good tip! I added your post to my Google Notebook so I can shop around for that stuff later.
Does this remind anyone else of the Animaniacs song about the ingredients of in food:
Yakko: Ingredients Zinc Trisodium Aspartate,
Sorbatale, and Bisulfate
Oxide, Beta Caratine
Lactic Acid, Carab Bean
(music begins)
Yakko: Grade A milk emulsified
Malto-dextrin alkalide
Silicon deoxylite
Lots of sugar,
W+D : Hey, all right!
Yakko: Calcified synthetic salt
Artificial barley malt
Glycerine and aspartate
Folic acid,
Wakko: That tastes great!
YW+D : Monosodium glutamate
Dehydrated calceinate
Soybean oil, butter fat
Caramel center,
Wakko: I’ll eat that!
YW+D : Hooray for sugar, ’cause we love it
Chocolate chips; we want more of it
Cakes and ice cream; watch us shove it
Down our throats real fast.
Yakko: Here’s a candy bar, you tried it?
Wakko: Hey, let’s all see what’s inside it.
Yakko: Gelatinized triglycerin
Phosphate, soybean, lecithin
Deoxylite tri-silicon
Dipped in chocolate,
W+D : Bring it on!
Yakko: Citrus enzymes, BHT
Powdered milk,
Dot : Sounds good to me!
Yakko: Baking soda, carob gum
Carbohydrates,
W+D : Yummy yum!
YW+D : Monosodium glutamate
Zinc disodium algenate,
Whole grain flour, yeast and fat
Wakko: Time to eat it; I’ll do that
YW+D : We like sweets a lot
But they make your insides rot
So remember it’s your body
And the only one you’ve got.
@johnva: Good question. In the case of erythritol, for example, it’s made by a natural fermentation process. Essentially all they have to do is filter the yeast out to get a practically pure product.
“Everything
Everything gives you cancer
Everything
Everything gives you cancer
Theres no cure, theres no answer
Everything gives you cancer
Dont touch that dial
Dont try to smile
Just take this pill
Its in your file
Dont work hard
Dont play hard
Dont plan for the graveyard
Remember -
Everything
Everything gives you cancer
Everything
Everything gives you cancer
Theres no cure, theres no answer
Everything gives you cancer
Dont work by night
Dont play by day
Youll feel all right
But you will pay
No caffeine
No protein
No booze or
Nicotine
Remember -” Joe Jackson, “Cancer”
Thanks Mr_B… I was about to chime in but you already got to it… If you don’t understand a chemical… Talk to your local chemist haha… I’ll tell you alllllll about how these things break down and “kill” you… HAHAHAHA
I don’t see how this list says “all food causes cancer” or “avoid all food.” To me it’s saying nearly all PROCESSED food contains things you’d like to avoid in excess. If every single thing a person eats was made commercially, chances are that person has more of these additives (not to mention high-fructose corn syrup) in his system than someone who cooks and bakes for her/himself.
@The Great Aussie Evil: forget what about it? that its no different than cane sugar once in the body?
I try to avoid HFCS as much as possible too.
@mikelotus: The problem I have with HFCS isn’t so much that I think it’s a poison or something. It’s that they use it to add extra sugar to almost every food product you can think of. This just adds calories needlessly without adding any good nutrition.
So just what CAN we eat now…
@warf0x0r: @johnva: calories are calories
This … is why we grow as much as we can. I’m retired to a gentleman’s ranch, and most of you aren’t at that point yet, but … really … our own vegetables, our own beeves, our own chickens, and a guy up the road raises dairy cows and dairy goats, and we trade .. nothing fancy, just a little back and forth. I’m lucky. I get to do this. But … additives are for the benefit of the producers and marketers, not you. It’s all bad madness.
OTOH – your body can sustain the damage caused by additives for a while. But not indefinitely. Be mindful of what goes in your body. GIGO ain’t just for programmers. But don’t stress over it like the Global-Warming Fanatics do about dying in ten years. Stress and worry are deadlier than additives. Eat real food that isn’t packaged or canned or boxed and in the main, you’ll be okay.
Except for that extra pair of teats on your back from growth hormone dairy and beef.
And don’t forget about that sinister Dihydrogen Monoxide: dhmo.org
@mikelotus: I know – you don’t need to tell me. I’m not saying that HFCS calories are worse than other calories. I’m saying that HFCS makes foods higher calorie than they would have been otherwise. I’m not saying that they should just replace it with cane sugar or something. The reason that it adds needless calories is that they add it to foods for reasons other than flavor, like consistency and shelf-life.
@BlackFlag55: “our own beeves”
Awesome! Can you teach me how to grow my own beeves? That would make life so much easier.
MSG has such a bad rep for almost no reason at all.
[www.foodandhealth.com]
Including MSG in this list because it causes headaches makes me question the entire list.
@mikelotus:
True, calories are calories, but you can get vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, etc. with some caloric sources, or you can get just calories from other sources.
Actually, now that I think about it, some sources of calories are better than others, strictly in the caloric sense. That’s why complex carbs are better than simple carbs — the complex carbs make your body work to extract the fuel, and that keeps your body’s sugar level more constant.
@testsicles:
“Ward, don’t you think you were a little hard on the Beeve last night?”
I see this is another “Everything you eat will kill you” stories.
Guess I better stick to water and fruit.
@dragonfire81: “Guess I better stick to water and fruit. “
OMG NO! Chlorine and arsenic and lead in water and pesticides on fruit!
Sodium Nitrate/Nitrite is one of the most important preservatives known to man…it’s awfully hard to safely cure meat without it. Sodium Nitrate also happens to be found naturally in leafy greens.
FWIW, the jury is still out on it. It’s been linked in some studies to cancer and COPD, but other studies have found no link. Plus, people who eat a lot of cured meat and hot dogs are probably also doing other unhealthy things that might be the real cause of cancer.
Anyhow, moderation in all things. Eat a widely varied diet and you won’t have to worry about any one ingredient poisoning you after years of consumption. There are very few things that the body can’t tolerate in low, infrequent doses (ie, stay away from lead and mercury and dioxine and whatnot)
@discounteggroll: @
Remember, don’t eat the yellow snow…
No HFCS? I’d say this is much worse than some of the more esoteric ones on the list. Or maybe they didn’t want to terrorize everyone since it’s in near everything.
@scarletvirtue (ΣΣΣ):
During grad skip day (don’t ask…), I printed several pages from that website and posted them all over the school. It took one of the Chemistry teachers to go over the PA and clarify WHAT it is (about 30 minutes before school ended) before people stopped buzzing so much about it.
Don’t Smoke
Don’t Drink
Don’t Take Drugs
DIE ANYWAY
And, MSG?! Sigh. MSN hates Yellow people.
So now we shouldn’t eat? Thanks Cosumerist!
@Bellatrixie: Best. Simpson’s reference. Ever. My husband and I do a “That’s good. That’s bad.” list almost everyday. Or sometimes, we’ll just say, “The [blank] is also cursed.”
Hmmm, aspartame is bad for you?
“To date, FDA has not determined any consistent pattern of symptoms that can be attributed to the use of aspartame, nor is the agency aware of any recent studies that clearly show safety problems.” – [vm.cfsan.fda.gov]
“Analysis of the National Cancer Institute’s public data base on cancer incidence in the United States — the SEER Program — does not support an association between the use of aspartame and increased incidence of brain tumors.” – [www.fda.gov]
“Even daily large doses of the high-intensity sweetener aspartame, also known as NutraSweet, had no adverse effect on study subjects’ health and well-being, a visiting scientist at MIT reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition last week. ‘We conclude that aspartame is safe for the general population,’ said Paul A. Spiers, visiting scientist in the Clinical Research Center (CRC).” – [web.mit.edu]
“In fact, aspartame, known as “NutraSweet” and “Equal,” is safe. Aspartame is one of the most thoroughly tested substances in the U.S. food supply. Numerous authorities, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the FAO/WHO, the European Community, and the American Medical Association have concluded that aspartame is a safe product, except in the rare cases of phenylketonuria. For more information on aspartame, please refer to ACSH’s peer-reviewed booklet Low Calorie Sweeteners. And beware of Internet health hoaxes.” – [www.acsh.org]
Does anyone have to fact check in journalism anymore?
@DeepFriar: When you find that apple, watch out for the seeds. The seeds contain trace amounts of cyanide.
@Mr_D: Nitrate and nitrite are different but
very similar. Nitrite naturally turns into nitrate on its own in an
oxygen rich environment. In some ways, nitrite is a more potent
substance and requires less of for its purpose or for adverse health
issues. However, both are supposedly strictly regulated in how much can
be used at a time so that the risk in eating products which contain
them should be very minor unless you do something like eat nothing but
products which contain them. As far as the original article and
nitrites/ates goes, there is some debate about carcinogens and them.