Food Additives
If you look closely at ingredients in some of the everyday foods we buy from the supermarket, you’ll notice that most of them are listed as “numbers”. These numbers are food additives such as the bread preservative Calcium Propionate (282), Sulphite Preservatives (220-228) used more commonly in dried fruits, Synthetic antioxidants (310-312 and 319-321) used in vegetable oils and often unlabelled and Glutamates (620-625, 627, 631, 635). Food additives are substances added to food to enhance its taste or appearance or preserve flavour.
Unfortunately some people react to these food compounds. These reactions can range from itchy skin to epileptic seizures. Physiological responses from food intolerance to particular food or compound vary from person to person. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to always check the ingredients of the packaged food we buy and steer clear of food containing numbers. It is understandable that we cannot avoid food additives completely, so I’ve listed the ones we must try to keep away from at all costs below (Source: fedup.com.au) because they cause harmful reactions.
Colours
Artificial: 102, 107, 110, 122-129, 132, 133, 142, 151, 155
Natural: 160B (Annatto)
Preservatives
Sorbates :: 200-203
Benzoates :: 210-219
Sulphites :: 220-228
Nitrates, Nitrites :: 249-252
Propionates :: 280-283
Antioxidants :: 310-312, 319-321
Flavour Enhancers
Glutamate :: 621-635 (MSG)
Hydrolyzed Vegetable
Protein (HVP)
Textured Vegetable
Protein (TVP)
YEAST EXTRACT
List of additives to avoid in the USA can be found here.
Take up the Angel Maker challenge and experience an additive free transformation.
