10 Food Additives You Should Try To Avoid
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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Comments:
what doesn't cause cancer?
I'd like to formally thank MSN Health for promulgating the Culture of Fear.
"Be afraid of everything! Food gives you cancer!"
@Bladefist: Apples. That's it. But you have to be sure they grow naturally 100 miles from anywhere that uses pesticides. And it can never have been tainted with an iota of air polution. I think there is still one left somewhere in Colorado.
No wonder everyone has cancer
Point taken...avoid all food. Got it.
I also sell Frogurt. [That's good]
The Frogurt is also cursed. [That's bad]
But it comes with a free topping. [That's good]
But it contains Potassium Benzoate. [That's bad]
so by the transitive theory...food causes cancer?
Olestra is pretty messed up stuff. Ate 1/2 a tin of fat free pringles and felt like the good year blimp about 45 minutes later
You lost me at # 10. #4 is reaching, even for nutritionists. Isn't there another reason to avoid Yellow #6?
This is why I do my grocery shopping at Whole Foods. They refuse to sell any products containing anything on this list: [www.wholefoodsmarket.com]
I do eat a lot of Subway and I'm guessing their meats probably contain nitrates, but at least I try to do what I can to minimize how much of the nasty stuff I ingest.
also, where's yellow 5 on that list???
Avoid artificially colored food in general.
There probably isn't anything wrong with MSG. My understanding is that although it is widely perceived to cause problems by the general public, the idea has not really been scientifically validated. And anyway, free glutamate occurs naturally in a wide variety of foods.
You lost me at #10. #4 is reaching, even for nutritionists. Isn't there a better reason to avoid Yellow #6?
I love MSG. I keep a little shaker of it next to the salt and pepper. Makes my taste buds happy.
It stays on the list.
@stacy75: Pretty sure its everything in the store. I'm always very meticulous about checking the ingredients panel of stuff before I throw it into the cart, too.
I appreciate not having to have a background in chemistry to understand the food I'm eating.
I actually haven't seen MSG in Chinese restaurants for years, despite that urban legend that claims they do. Then again I haven't seen American restaurants use lard instead of butter or oil. I see it more often in the instant ramen, Campbell's soups, those shrimp chips I used to like before I developed an allergy.
Damn you KBrO3, I can't seem to avoid you! If only that was deemed illegal in this state!
Health nuts kill me. Used to be they would eat a lot of tuna steaks just to find out there's too much mercury. Now all that bottled water they are drinking has been dosing themseleves with that compound in the plastic. Too funny.
@savvy9999: I love MSG too. I can taste it in salty snack products. I'll grab some out of a bag and say, "Yumm, these have a lot of MSG, tasty." And then my friend will look at the bag and be in amazement that MSG is in the snack. Love love love MSG, so tasty.
So chewing gum is evil. Got it. And bread is the number one health risk in everyday foods - what a dark horse! Maybe we should get cigarette-style labels on our bread?
"WARNING: BREAD KILLS"
Damn lag.
@Dabby:
As someone who moved to the states, I'm bothered by some of the extra ingredients present in the bread they sell here. The 'regular' bread I bought in Canada is considered one of those alternative breads here, and is considerably pricier.
@Angryrider: People added MSG to food because it tastes great.
As far as I can tell, there is almost no evidence to suggest that MSG is the cause of so-called "Chinese restaurant syndrome", if CRS even exists. I'm thinking that people maybe feel weird after eating cheap Chinese food because it may be really salty, and it raises their blood pressure or something. I highly doubt it's MSG, considering that MSG is in many other things besides Chinese food that don't generally have this reputation.
@Truvill: Fair enough. But when they're talking about an ingredient found in white flour being a health risk, you have to wonder if it's worth taking seriously.
Acesulfame-K... so basically, we should fear it because it hasn't proven to be either dangerous or interesting?
Got it.
@Dabby: When will the bread industry admit they're killing Americans?! Money-grubbing scum!
Wait, what?
MSG = Makes stuff good
Geez, you can't eat ANYTHING. Chewing gum? NO! It might cause cancer! Bread? NO! It might cause cancer.
Ugh, DeepFriar is right. Culture of fear.
The other one is Sodium Benzoate. Benzene. A known Carcinigen that Soda makers insist on putting in their drinks
why is MSG even on there? only because some people are allergic? might as well put peanuts on their, i heard they're killers!
Wonders how they forgot "high fructose corn sirup."
food causes cancer?
In short, yes. Your normal metabolic processes involved in breaking down food (of any kind) produce a surplus of free radicals that can cause cancer.
Oxygen... causes cancer.
Don't eat. Don't breath. Oh wait...
Seriously, if people want to go back to a presticide-free, preservative-free existence, that's fine by me. But, that probably means restricting our diet to locally-grown foods by experts, and eliminating many flavourful delicacies (like apples!) from our diet.
A professor teaching History of American Culture painted a very different story about what life was like before pesticides, and it didn't sound very appetising. Malnutrition was common, and the average person (or farmer) wasn't eating anything close to resembling a balanced diet.
Yes, health nuts... chip away all you want.
Back in Biblical times, before there was all these additives, people lived to be like 500 years old.
I should qualify the statement about apples:
Fruit used to be considered extremely dangerous to eat, unless they were cooked at very high temperatures thoroughly. One wouldn't eat a "fresh" apple because of dangerous mold that loved to grow on the fruit.
Such fruit was suitable for baking pies and going through the cannery, but that was about it... and we all know how healthy fruit pie and canned goods are!
I don't think any of these products count as "food". The only reason for these products to be in your food is so you don't notice that you're eating something that's stale. As trite as it sounds, if it's not food, don't eat it.
The idea that switching to more local foods will cause malnutrition - especially given our current technology, transportation infrastructure, and lifestyles - is ludicrous.
I only eat Soylant Green and I'm pretty sure it contains Food Coloring: Green 3 and I'm fine.
@Bladefist: what doesn't cause cancer?
Subscribing to Big Brother telling you what to eat? Though I think Big Brother causes cancer. ;)
@failurate: Back in Biblical times, before there was all these additives, people lived to be like 500 years old.
If Methuselah hadn't switched to Diet sodas in an attempt to lose weight he may have lived a few years longer.
#10: It's been a while since chemistry, but aren't nitrate and nitrite two different things?
#7: Isn't soy sauce a huge source of MSG? And isn't the worst thing the sodium, not the glutamate? Glutamates taste good.
@freejazz38: Sodium benzoate is not a carcinogen. Benzene is, and while benzoates can become benzene, they don't just change for no reason. Why, sodium chloride has sodium, an unstable metal, and chlorine, a toxic gas! Ban it!
@Saboth: not all food, but preserved and processed food. looks like pretty much everything in that list contributes to one category or the other.
I don't really see much wrong with instilling a little fear over the crap that we eat. we'd all be better off adjusting our diets toward more fresh, natural foods.
@Mr_D: Thanks for pointing out that sodium benzoate != benzene. While some of the benzoate is converted to benzene over time (which definitely isn't good), it needs to be taken in perspective - like all of these food recommendations! From [www.accidentalhedonist.com]
"Benzene is indeed a human carcinogen at high levels; people who are exposed to it at high concentrations in workplace air have an increased risk of cancer. But the director of the British Food Safety Agency has noted that people would need to drink more than twenty quarts of a beverage with ten ppb of benzene to equal the amount one would breathe from city air in one day."
I'll stick to my 1-2 cans/day, thanks.
My favorite side-effect of olestra is "may cause anal leakage". Yummy!