The National Research Council defines a “food additive” as:

A substance or a mixture of substances, other than a basic foodstuff, which is present in food as a result of any aspect of production, processing, storage, or packaging.

Two kinds of food additives exist:  Intentional and Incidental additives.  Incidental additives are those accidentally introduced in the production, handling, or processing of food, such as a pesticide residue or chemical contaminant from processing machinery.  However, this article will focus on intentional additives — those purposely put in food for over 45 purposes including flavoring, coloring, preserving, acidifying, alkalinizing, emulsifying, leavening, and occasionally improving nutritional value.

            Over 10,000 additives go into the American food supply.   It is a billion dollar business.   Food additives are present in 75% of the average person’s food resulting in a per capita consumption of 14 pounds of additives per year (Skye Weintrab, Minding Your Body, Complementary Medicine Publishing, Portland, OR, p. 140).  Food additives have been hailed by industry as a great advance in providing an abundant, spoilage-free food supply, while condemned by consumer groups and many health authorities as the cause of many new health problems.

THE PROBLEM WITH ADDITIVES

            Instead of dissecting reams of often contradictory research, I prefer to step back and look at the overall philosophical and theological issues that better reveal the truth about additives.  It’s pretty simple really.  God made the body for food as it grows on the earth.  The food additives are (in most cases) not food, and therefore your body treats them as foreign invaders — as toxins.  Thus, food additives become a primary source of externally derived toxicity.

            Food additive usage belies a certain arrogance in its assumption that man-altered food is superior to God-made food.  It’s part of man’s fallen nature to pervert God’s creation.  As I often say:

God provides; man perverts

God creates; man counterfeits

The partial wisdom of this arrogance assumes that spoilage, for example, is something to be prevented.  In actuality, spoilage is a method God built in to His creation to dissuade us from eating harmful food.  When you preserve a food so that it can sit on the store shelves for six months without spoiling, isn’t it logical to assume that the same food may sit in your digestive tract for six months without digesting?  Dr. E. V. McCollum, Professor of Nutrition at Johns Hopkins University earlier in the 20th century, said:

Eat only those foods that rot or spoil or decay — but eat them before they do!                                                                                                

Franklin Bicknell, M.D. adds:

Food which cannot go bad is bad food.

HUNTING FOR ADDITIVES

            The food additive problem is definitely a “buyer beware” situation.  You need to (1) read labels, and (2) be aware of additives that aren’t on the label of certain foods.  I frequently hear clients make defeatist statements like, “How can you avoid them—they’re in everything?”   Well, they aren’t in everything  and you can usually avoid most food additives.  But if you’re too lazy to read labels on food items, you won’t get very far.  One humorous “rule of thumb” is to avoid buying  anything with label ingredients you can’t pronounce!  That’s actually not too bad an idea.

            However, not all food additives are equally bad.  Some are fairly safe, some are questionable, and some you wouldn’t want to give to your worst enemy’s dog.  I’ve adapted the following lists from Chemical Cuisine  (Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW #300, Washington, D.C. 20009-5728) that I’ve found to be an excellent guideline:

FAIRLY SAFE ADDITIVES

            Because most food additives are not food but just synthetic chemicals, even the “safe” additives are questionable in my view.   Though no additives is best and safest, the following are regarded and safe, or at least as having no proven objections:

1. Alginate, Propylene Glycol Alginate — Derived from kelp; used for texturing in dairy products and thickening acidic foods.
2. Alpha Tocopherol- — Vitamin E; used for preventing rancidity in oils.
3. Ascorbic Acid — Vitamin C; stabilizes color.
4. Beta Carotene — Converted by the body to Vitamin A; used in butter and margarine.
5. Calcium (or Sodium) Stearoyl Lactylate — Dough conditioner and whipping agent.
6. Casein, Sodium Caseinate — This is the primary protein in milk.  Some people are sensitive to casein, however.
7. Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate — Acidifies and flavors ice cream, fruit drinks and carbonated beverages.
8. EDTA — Chelating agent (same thing as used in intravenous chelation therapy); used to remove metal contamination in food from processing machinery.
9. Ferrous Gluconate — Iron supplement; colors olives black.
10. Fumaric Acid — Produces tartness and acidity in dry food products.
11. Gelatin — Made from animal bones and hoofs; used as
12. Glycerin (glycerol) —Maintains water content in foods.
13. Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein — Flavor enhancer usually made from soy.
14. Lactic Acid —  Acidifier.
15. Lactose — Milk sugar.  Many people have trouble digesting lactose.
16. Lecithin — Emulsifier and antioxidant.
17. Mannitol — Sweetener with half the calories of sugar.
18. Mono– and Diglycerides —  Emulsifier; used in baked goods, margarine and peanut butter.
19. Polysorbate 60 — Emulsifier in baked goods.
20. Sorbic Acid, Potassium Sorbate — Prevents mold growth; natural fatty acid used as anti-candida supplement.
21. Sorbitol — Naturally occurring sweetener that’s half as sweet as sugar and doesn’t cause as rapid a blood sugar rise.
22. Vanillin, Ethyl Vanillin — Synthetic vanilla flavoring.

QUESTIONABLE ADDITIVES—Avoidance Advised

1. Artificial Flavorings — Though most flavoring chemicals occur in nature, many people are allergically sensitive to them.  Hyperactivity in children has been associated with these chemicals.
2. Aspartame —  Artificial sweetener; though made from two amino acids, numerous allergic reactions reported; 80% of all food additive complaints to the FDA concern this product.
3. Carrageenan — From seaweed; large amounts damaged test animals colons; possible link to ulcers and cancer.
4. Calcium (or Sodium) Propionate — Anti-mold preservative in bread; possible migraine link; no evidence other problems from this additive.
5. Corn Syrup, Dextrose — Sweetener and thickener; all the health problems of any other refined sugar.
6. Gums (Guar, Arabic, Locust Bean, etc.) — Thickening agents; removes thirst mechanism and may stimulate continual stomach acid.
7. Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil — Artificially saturated fat used to make margarine; used in other processed, junk foods.
8. Invert Sugar — Mixture of dextrose (corn sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar); same health problems as any other refined sugar.
9. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) — Flavor enhancer; animal tests indicate nerve cell destruction; many allergically sensitive.
10. Phosphoric Acid, Phosphates — Acidifies, emulsifies, inhibits discoloration; phosphoric acid used in carbonated beverages may pull calcium out of bones to buffer the acid.
11. Red #40 — Most commonly used coloring with lots of inconclusive research; used in carbonated beverages, candy, gelatin, desserts, pastry, pet food, sausage and other junk food.
12. Sodium Benzoate — Preservative; used in fruit juice, carbonated beverages, pickles and preserves; can cause intestinal upset, hives, or asthma.
13. Yellow #5 (tartrazine) — Second most used coloring; causes allergic reactions especially in aspirin-allergic people; only coloring that must be labeled by name; used in beverages, sausage, baked goods, candy, gelatin.

WORST ADDITIVES (Definitely Avoid)

1. Artificial Colorings — As a group these are perhaps the worst for your health.  Numerous studies have shown cancer or other problems prompting the FDA to ban several.  They are almost exclusively used in junk food that you shouldn’t be eating anyway:
2. Blue #1 — Possible cancer risk; used in beverages, candy, baked goods.
3. Blue #2 — Possibly causes brain tumors in male mice; used in beverages, candy, pet food.
4. Citrus Red #2 — Carcinogenic; used on some Florida oranges only; does not penetrate skin into the orange.
5. Green #3 — Possibly carcinogenic, but rarely used.
6. Yellow #6 — Animal tests showed it caused adrenal and kidney tumors in animals, as well as allergic reactions; used in beverages, sausage, baked goods, candy, and gelatin.
7. Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) — Emulsifier and clouding agent for soft drinks; residues accumulate in body fat; heart, liver, thyroid, testicle and kidney damage in rats.
8. Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) — Antioxidant used in cereals, chewing gum, potato chips, oils; prevents rancidity; contradictory tests on carcinogenicity; not really needed in these foods; may affect liver and kidney function; banned in Japan.
9. Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) — Same concerns as for BHA
10. Caffeine — Found in coffee, tea, cocoa, and cola drinks; can cause miscarriages, birth defects, insomnia, fibrocystic breast disease; many natural alternatives available.
11. Propyl Gallate — Antioxidant used to prevent rancidity of fats in vegetable oils, meat products, potato sticks, chicken soup base and chewing gum.  One study suggests carcinogenicity.
12. Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Nitrate —  Preservative and coloring agent that can form cancer-causing nitrosamines; used in bacon, ham, hot dogs, lunch meats, smoked fish and corned beef.
13. Sulfur Dioxide, Sodium Bisulfite — Sulfites prevent discoloration and bacterial growth; allergic reactions are legendary, especially in people with asthma; used in dried fruit, processed potatoes and wine.

UNDISCLOSED ADDITIVES

            It would be nice if all the additives were listed on the label, but that isn’t necessarily true.  If a chemical is considered “mandatory” or “permissible” by the FDA food standards, its presence on the label is optional.  Examples include brominated vegetable oils in ice cream, caffeine in cola drinks, and MSG in salad dressings or mayonnaise.

SO WHAT’S THE ANSWER?

            You will avoid most food additive problems simply by avoiding junk food!  If you’re not drinking regular soft drinks, chips, hot dogs, lunch meats, caffeine drinks, gelatin, and sugared foods, you’ll have minimal exposure to food additives.

            Then how do you get the toxicity from years of food additive ingestion our of the body?  Ceasing the intake of junk food will help a lot.  Fasting will probably also help, since many toxins are stored in fatty tissue that’s broken down in fasting.  Specific homeopathic formulas can target food additives as well.  At our clinics we test everyone for food additive toxicity.  Lots of distilled water and buffered vitamin C can also cleanse a whole range of toxins from the body.

            Whatever you do, stop embalming the living with food additives!

Better Health Update is published by Pacific Health Center, PO Box 1066, Sisters, Oregon 97759, Phone (800) 255–4246 with branch clinics in Boise, Idaho, Post Falls, Idaho and Portland, Oregon.  E-Mail:  drkline@pacifichealthcenter.com.   Monte Kline, Clinical Nutritionist, Author.  Reproduction Prohibited.

DISCLAIMER:  The information contained in this publication is for educational purposes only.  It is not intended to diagnose illness nor prescribe treatment.  Rather, this material  is designed to be used in cooperation with your nutritionally-oriented health professional to deal with your personal health problems.  Should you use this information on your own, you are prescribing for yourself, which is your constitutional right, but neither the author nor publisher assume responsibility.