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Food Additive List
Find out the truth about the substances manufacturers pile into processed food.
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This food additive list spells out what all those items on food labels really mean. And these little items can really add up. In a year, an average adult in the UK eats an astonishing 6-7kg of these additives, whose only use is to help processed foods last for ever, and make cheap, unhealthy ingredients seem appetising. It's time manufacturers realised that consumers don't want healthy, natural food. At last, UK supermarkets are beginning to respond, but there's still a long way to go.
FOOD ADDITIVE LISTSugars
Empty calories, which appear in a wide range of guises. Look out for these - they're all names for sugars:Agave, brown rice syrup,
Genuine Office 2007, dextrin, dextrose, fructose, galatose, glucose,
Microsoft Office Pro 2010, xylitol.
Foods labelled as no added sugar are probably sweetened with artificial sweeteners.
Salt,
Windows 7 Pro Key, sodium
Sodium is a mineral present in salt, which the body needs to regulate fluid balance. Too much sodium can raise the blood pressure, which in turn can lead to heart disease and strokes. Sodium, in salt, is added in large quantities to processed foods, like canned vegetables, bottled sauces, ready meals and many more. It's also used to coat many snacks, like nuts and crisps. These are some of the sodium-based additives to beware of on the label: monosodium glutamate, sodium benzoate, sodium caseinate, sodium chloride (table salt), sodium citrate, sodium hydroxide, sodium nitrate or nitrite, sodium phosphates, sodium saccharine.
Fats and oils
Manufacturers use high calorie/low nutrient vegetable oils in large quantities. Keep your eyes peeled for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils and fats. Heat treatment has altered these fats, so that they harden arteries and cause heart disease. They lurk in crisps, snacks, biscuits,
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, cakes,
Microsoft Office 2010 Home And Business, cereal bars, margarine-type spreads. Avoid them like the plague. There is some good news here - as research into the health effects of hydrogenated oils appears, some UK supermarkets have responded by pledging to remove these oils from their own label products by the start of 2007.
Modified starches
These are everywhere, too, despite having zero nutritional value coupled with mega-calories. They're used to soak up water injected into meats and poultry, and they can cunningly imitate the texture of fresh fruit and veg in products from baby foods, yogurts and pasta sauces to pie fillings and fruit drinks. Oh yes, they're also used to disguise 'off' flavours and smells. Delicious, eh?
Flavourings and colourings
Why do foods need these? Because their natural flavours and colours have been removed or altered by processing. Many countries, but not the UK, ban their use in children's foods, and there are moves to ban certain food colours from children's food in the UK and across Europe because of links with hyperactivity.
E numbers
E numbers are code for a huge range of additives, like emulsifiers, preservatives, stabilisers, thickeners. Health effects are not known for all of these substances.
This food additive list demystifies the worst of what's on the label. But the lavish use of additives is just one of the unpalatable fast food facts that you need to know. Once you're aware of just how undesirable all those additives are, it becomes much easier to browse the shelves and make healthy food choicesevery time.
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