The Secret Ingredients in Your Foods

Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), salt, (salting), smoke (smoking), sugar (crystallization), etc. This allows for longer-lasting foods such as bacon, sweets or wines. 

Video 1.  Butter-Flavored Microwave Popcorn or Breathing (YouTube link)

Processed Foods

With the advent of processed foods in the second half of the twentieth century, many additives have been introduced, of both natural and artificial origin. Food additives also include substances that may be introduced to food indirectly (called "indirect additives") in the manufacturing process, through packaging, or during storage or transport.

Video 2. Who Determines if Food Additives Are Safe? (YouTube link)

Adverse Effects of Chemical Cocktails in Processed Food

A recent assessment done by the Danish National Food Institute warns that even small amounts of chemicals can amplify each other's adverse effects when combined, yet whatever risk assessment is done on these chemicals is typically done on individual chemicals in isolation.^[14]

Most notably, the researchers found that even non-carcinogenic chemicals may act synergistically and cause cancer when combined!

This is a significant concern, considering the fact that more than 10,000 additives are allowed in food and food packaging. The latter often contain bisphenol-A (BPA), bisphenol-S (BPS), and phthalates, for example, which can migrate into your food.

Food Additive	Usage	Health Concerns	Where
Sulfites[1]	Preservative	One in 10 people will have some reaction to sulfites with reactions ranging from rashes and itching to restricted breathing, asthmatic attacks, hives and anaphylactic shock.	Beer, wine, dried fruits (goji, raisins, prunes), pizza, oven chips, jam, seafood products and processed meats
Nitrites and Nitrates[2-4]	Preservative, Coloring	The problem is, in the presence of heat—especially high heat—nitrites can combine with amines in processed meat to form nitrosamines, and these are carcinogenic.	Added to processed meat to help them maintain that nice pink color
Potassium Bromate[2,5]	Flour improver	Studies have linked potassium bromate (an endocrine-disrupting chemical) to kidney and nervous system damage, thyroid problems, gastrointestinal discomfort, and cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies potassium bromate as a possible carcinogen.[16] Potassium bromate is banned for food use in UK, Canada, Brazil, and the European Union (EU).[17]	Commonly used in flours.  Makes the dough more elastic and better able to stand up to bread hooks.
Propyl Paraben[2,6]	Preservative	Propyl paraben (an endocrine-disrupting chemical) has weak estrogenic activity, which makes it relevant when it comes to estrogen-sensitive cancers like breast cancer. This substance has been found to accelerate the growth of breast cancer cells, impair fertility in women, and reduce sperm counts and testosterone levels.	It’s commonly found in tortillas, muffins, and food dyes and may also contaminate foods via packaging.
Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)[2]	Preservative	BHA is known to cause cancer in rats, and may be a cancer-causing agent in humans as well. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, National Toxicology Program's 2011 Report on Carcinogens, BHA "is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” The international cancer agency categorizes it as a possible human carcinogen, and it’s listed as a known carcinogen under California’s Proposition 65. BHA may also trigger allergic reactions and hyperactivity. BHA is banned from infant foods in the UK and is banned from use in all foods in certain parts of the EU and Japan.[18] In the US, the FDA considers BHA to be a GRAS additive.[6]	Can be found in breakfast cereal, nut mixes, chewing gum, butter spread, meat, dehydrated potatoes, popcorn, chips, and beer, just to name a few.
Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)	Preservative	BHT is chemically similar to BHA and the two preservatives are often used together. While BHT is not considered a carcinogen like BHA, it has been linked to tumor development in animals. It’s also been linked to developmental effects and thyroid changes in animal studies, which suggests it may be an endocrine-disrupting chemical. In the US, BHT is given GRAS status.	Food manufacturers add BHA) and BHT to foods like cereal and other dry goods to help their fats stay fresher longer. Both BHA and BHT are antioxidants, which means they can protect other compounds from the damaging effects of oxygen exposure.
Aluminum Additives	Stabilizer	This metal can accumulate and persist in your body, especially in your bones, and animal studies show aluminum may cause neurological effects, including changes in behavior, learning, and motor response. A link between Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders and aluminum exposure may also exist.	The acidic sodium aluminium phosphates or sodium aluminum sulfate are used as acids for baking powders for the chemical leavening of baked goods. Or, in general, as an acidity regulator in food.
Phosphates	Multiple- purpose additive	Phosphates have been linked to some concerning health conditions, including heart disease and kidney function. Estimated total intake of phosphates from food may exceed the safe level set by EFSA after re-evaluating their safety.  Therefore, EFSA’s scientists recommend a group acceptable daily intake [ADI] of 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight [mg/kg bw] per day.	Phosphates are added to more than 20,000 products, including fast food, baked goods, and processed meats. They’re used to reduce acid, improve moisture retention, and facilitate leavening.
Propyl Gallate	Preservative	It is classified as Equivocal Evidence of Carcinogenic Activity for male rats and mice by a National Toxicology Program study. Based on FEEDAP's assessment, propyl gallate is safe for veal calves, cattle for fattening, dairy cows, sheep, goats, sows, horses and salmonids at some proposed maximum use levels Propyl gallate is irritant to skin and eyes and a dermal sensitizer. Exposure via inhalation is possible and it is considered a hazard.	Propyl gallate is a preservative used to prevent fats and oils from spoiling. It’s often found in sausage, frozen pizza, and other processed foods that contain edible fats.
Theobromine	Flavoring Agent	According to the National Hazardous Substances Database: "It has been stated that "in large doses" theobromine may cause nausea and anorexia and that daily intake of 50-100 g cocoa (0.8-1.5 g theobromine) by humans has been associated with sweating, trembling and severe headache." Occasionally, people (mostly the elderly) have needed hospital treatment for a theobromine reaction.[19] Theobromine is also the reason chocolate is poisonous to dogs. Dogs and other animals that metabolize theobromine (found in chocolate) more slowly,[20] can succumb to theobromine poisoning from as little as 50 grams (1.8 oz) of milk chocolate for a smaller dog and 400 grams (14 oz), or around nine 44-gram (1.55 oz) small milk chocolate bars, for an average-sized dog.	Theobromine is flavoring agent.  It is often found in baked goods, confection (frosting), Gelatins (puddings), milk products, soft candy, sweet sauce.
Natural and Artificial Flavors	Flavoring Agent	Most people assume that a natural flavor describes something like strawberries, garlic, or chili pepper used to naturally season food. In reality, most natural flavors are created in a laboratory, just like artificial flavors. The only difference is that natural flavors must be sourced from a natural product, whereas artificial flavors do not.	When you see a word like “artificial flavor” or even “natural flavor” on an ingredients label, it could mean that one unnatural additive is included, or it could be a blend of hundreds of additives. Strawberry artificial flavor can contain nearly 50 chemical ingredients, for example.
Artificial Colors	Coloring Agent	Food dyes pose risks of cancer, hyperactivity in children, and allergies, and should be banned, according to a new report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and other studies.[6,21-23]	Artificial colors are often used to increase the appeal of foods that have little nutritional value. They can be found in everything from M&Ms to Manischewitz Matzo Balls to Kraft salad dressings.
Diacetyl	Flavoring Agent	Research shows diacetyl has several concerning properties for brain health and may trigger Alzheimer’s disease. Diacetyl has also been linked to respiratory damage, including inflammation and permanent scarring of the airways, in workers at a microwave popcorn plant.	Diacetyl is often used as a butter flavoring in microwave popcorn. It’s also used to flavor dairy products, including yogurt and cheese, and exists in some “brown flavorings,” including maple, strawberry, and raspberry flavors.

Video 3. How Corporations Are Ruining Your Health (YouTube link)

Video 4. Are Emulsifiers Like Carboxymethylcellulose and Polysorbate 80 Safe?
 (YouTube link)

References

1. Sulphite preservatives in wine and food can cause significant health issues
2. EWG Releases Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Additives (Dr. Mercola)
3. Total N-nitroso compounds and their precursors in hot dogs and in the gastrointestinal tract and feces of rats and mice: possible etiologic agents for colon cancer.
4. No risk from nitrates in vegetables, says EFSA
5. Could You Be Iodine Deficient?
6. EWG’S DIRTY DOZEN GUIDE TO FOOD ADDITIVES
7. THE SECRET INGREDIENT IN YOUR ORANGE JUICE
8. The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts
9. 認識現代食品的科技 (in Chinese)
10. Nasty stuff that’s in your food
11. 餐館的黑心食材 (in Chinese)
12. Where Food Preparation Leads To Food Poisoning
• Reported illnesses from food occur most frequently in restaurants
13. 7 Domestic Factors That Can Make or Break Your Health
14. New knowledge strengthens risk assessment of chemical cocktails in food
15. Artificial Sweeteners Cause Cancer
16. POTASSIUM BROMATE
17. Potassium Bromate (EWG)
18. What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?
19. The Poisonous Chemistry of Chocolate
20. Chocolate – Toxicology – Merck Veterinary Manual
21. DIET AND NUTRITION: The Artificial Food Dye Blues
22. CSPI Says Food Dyes Pose Rainbow of Risks
23. Red Dye 40: Safety, Side Effects, and Food List
24. More SS, Vartak AP, Vince R (October 2012). "The butter flavorant, diacetyl, exacerbates β-amyloid cytotoxicity". Chemical Research in Toxicology. 25 (10): 2083–91.
25. Monosodium glutamate (MSG): a villain and promoter of liver inflammation and dysplasia