Side effects of food additives

Introduction

Food additives are certain types of substances that get added unintentionally or intentionally during the production or processing of the food. The most common food additives include monosodium glutamate, artificial sweeteners and coloring agents. Antioxidants can be found in fatty or oily foods, fruit juices sometimes contain the benzoic acid while sulfites can be found in some alcoholic beverages. Meat products sometimes contain nitrates and nitrites while different food stabilizers and emulsifiers can contain corn starch, lecithin, waxes, gelatins, gums and propylene glycol.

What they do

Food additives basically have five main functions that they are supposed to serve. The first one is to maintain the consistency of a product. A consistent texture and non-separating products are provided certain types of substances called emulsifiers. An even texture can be obtained by using a stabilizer or a thickener while the free flow of substances is provided by certain anti-caking agents. Many foods and beverages are enriched and fortified with minerals and vitamins so that they could have a better nutritional value. It is common thing with products like cereal, margarine, milk and flour but these products must always be labeled appropriately.

Preservatives are usually added to the food in order to prevent the food from being spoiled by certain types of yeast, bacteria, fungi and air. These elements can contaminate the food and causes various illnesses. The preservatives are also beneficial in preserving the flavor of baked foods, preventing the oils and fats from going bad and keeping fresh fruits from turning brown due to the exposure to the air. Sometimes a desires color, taste or flavor is needed in a certain type of food and that can be done by additives that changed the balance of acids and bases. Leavening agents get heated in order to release acids and react with baking soda in order to help baked goods to rise. Sometimes certain types of food require some color in order to improve the appearance. Flavors also sometimes get enhanced by synthetic and natural flavors and spices.

Are they safe?

The scientific community and the FDA have a list of food additives that are considered safe, although not all of them have been tested properly. The GRAS list has about 700 items and it includes salt, sugar, vinegar and guar gum among many others. The margin of safety is limited only by the intake of a potentially dangerous substance. Intentional food additives have obvious potential enhancing effect on many types of food but unintentional food additives can sometimes be harmful.