{"id":9004111223101598,"date":"2016-06-28T21:20:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T21:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.healthcoachinstitute.com\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2022-03-03T21:28:35","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T21:28:35","slug":"toxic-food-additives-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/toxic-food-additives-101\/","title":{"rendered":"Toxic Food Additives 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nowadays you need to be armed with a science degree,\u00a0The Consumer\u2019s Dictionary of Food Additives<\/em>, and plenty of free time to do the hours of research needed just to make sense of all the processed food lurking on\u00a0our supermarket shelves in enticing packaging.<\/p>\n

Then to top it off, you\u2019ll need to deal with conflicting advice, conspiracy theories, FDA controversies, and people\u2019s different opinions. Wouldn\u2019t it be so refreshing if what we needed to know were all neatly laid out as Truth: Top 100 Toxic Food Additives. You could probably Google exactly that and find something like it but even then, there is no absolute truth.<\/p>\n

Additives that the FDA deemed safe a few decades ago are now deemed unsafe and are banned in some countries. But before we go there what are \u201cAdditives\u201d anyway?<\/p>\n

What are Food Additives and are they Safe to Eat?<\/h2>\n

Additives are substances or a mixture of substances added to food\u2014that are either nature identical (copies of natural substances) or synthetic or plant derivatives (including genetically modified) in order to make them last longer (preservatives), taste \u201cbetter,\u201d (flavor enhancers and sweeteners) and look \u201cbetter\u201d (colorings). These are to name a few. There are more.<\/p>\n

Did you know that oranges are often dyed bright orange to look more\u2026orange and red meat is also chemically enhanced to look more\u2026red? It\u2019s strikingly similar to the photoshop touch-ups that turn supermodels into flawless, ageless super-humans\u2014and we buy into it!<\/p>\n

Some of these additives have been tested over the years and proven (if you want to believe the \u201cproof\u201d or not) to be what the FDA terms \u201cGenerally recognized as safe\u201d (GRAS). So, really, it\u2019s up to you, the consumer, to determine what this vague statement really means.<\/p>\n

According to Nasdaq Globe Newswire, a 2015 study published by Transparency Market Research firm states that the global food additives market will reach $36 billion by 2018.<\/p>\n

What this means for us as consumers is that the food additives industry has a lot at stake and that food additives are likely not going away anytime soon. It is, however, changing. The less we buy into it by educating ourselves and making healthier, more natural choices, the less power it has over us and the less harmful these substances will be to our bodies only because we\u2019ll be choosing not to consume them.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that in today\u2019s world there are thousands of additives to watch out for, many of which are harmful, if not outright toxic, so here\u2019s an easy way to remember them:<\/p>\n

Colors<\/strong>
\nColors usually have one or more of the following numbers listed on the label. Colors are added to a lot of processed food marketed to children, such as breakfast cereal and ice lollies. Read the label and if it has one of these numbers leave it on the shelf.
\n102,104,107,110,122,123,124,127,128, 129,132,133,142,151,155 (all of these are synthetic) and 160b (annatto\u2014the only natural food color.) These numbers usually start with the letter \u201cE\u201d but not always.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe the following is true but it is\u2026 Did you know that artificial food dyes or colors are made from chemicals derived from petroleum (otherwise knows as gasoline, diesel, asphalt and tar). That\u2019s a hard one to swallow yet some of us swallow it every day and so do our children.<\/p>\n

Sometimes colors are listed like this:
\nRed #40, Blue #1 and Citrus red #1 are all carcinogens that have been linked to cancer, many of which are used in baked products, desserts, candy and sodas. So stay away from anything that lists a color and a number. It\u2019s most likely toxic. Don\u2019t believe it? Read the labels on food products before you feed it to your kids and you\u2019ll likely find these colors listed as ingredients.<\/p>\n

Preservatives<\/strong>
\nLook out for these terms: Sorbates (200-203), Benzoates (210-213), Sulphites (220-228), NItrates\/Nitrites (249-252) and Propionates (280-283).<\/p>\n

Benzoates, for example, are used as a preservative in sodas and salad dressings and are known carcinogens that can damage human DNA. Nitrates, are ranked in many sources, as the absolute worst preservatives offender. Nitrates are used to stop bacterial growth in processed meat and are directly linked to cancer. Think about it, in the old days, food was preserved (made to last longer) with good old salt. Now, food is made to last unnatural lengths of time with unnatural preservatives so stay away from any food that does not rot because it is obviously preserved\u2014most of the time with harmful chemical preservatives.<\/p>\n

Synthetic Antioxidants<\/strong>
\nSynthetic antioxidants are on the opposite end of the health spectrum to natural antioxidants found in berries etc. Look out for Gallates (310-312), TBHQ, BHA and BHT (319-321).<\/p>\n

Propyl gallate is added to meat, popcorn, soup mixes and frozen dinners. It\u2019s banned in parts of Europe and has been shown to cause cancer in rats yet it\u2019s safe according to the FDA. BHT (Butylated Hydroxytulene) and BHA (Butylated Hydroxyanisole) are chemical preservatives used to stop a product turning rancid.<\/p>\n

BHT and BHA are found in a lot of processed food like cereals, chips and shortening. The same compounds are used in the cosmetics, rubber and plastics industries. For real. This is no joke.<\/p>\n

Flavor Enhancers<\/strong>
\nLook out for Glutamates including MSG (620-625) and Ribonucleotides (627, 631, 635). The one most people are familiar with is MSG or Monosodium Glutamate, which has been linked to heart problems and seizures when tested on animals and is notoriously linked to headaches and migraines in humans.<\/p>\n

Ribonucleotides, like Glutamates, is specifically used as a flavor enhancer as it creates the umami taste. It\u2019s a combination of Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate. It\u2019s used to flavor most snack food like noodles, chips and crackers and has the same harmful effects as MSG. It basically is MSG. So be safe. Read the labels\u2014especially on processed packaged snack food\u2026that we tend to feed our children.<\/p>\n

Artificial Flavors<\/strong>
\nThis subject heading opens a huge can of worms. There\u2019s such a fine line between what\u2019s listed as \u201cnatural\u201d and what\u2019s listed as \u201cartificial\u201d that makes it a difficult topic to tackle. But basically, if any product is flavor enhanced whether by adding \u201cartificial\u201d or \u201cnatural\u201d flavors, be skeptical. It generally means something has been added and the problem is you don\u2019t always know what.<\/p>\n

Start Your Health and Wellness Coaching Career with HCI<\/span><\/h2>\n

Coaching is a great career that you can help others, while also learning how to help your own personal growth. Health Coach Institute is a top health and wellness coaching certification program. <\/span>Join our Become a Health Coach program<\/span><\/a> and begin coaching in 6 months! If you are already a coach and want to advance your skills, check out <\/span>HCI\u2019s Coach Mastery program<\/span><\/a>. Feel free to get in touch with with one of our clarity coaches directly, by calling <\/span>1-800-303-2399<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nowadays you need to be armed with a science degree,\u00a0The Consumer\u2019s Dictionary of Food Additives, and plenty of free time to do the hours of research needed just to make sense of all the processed food lurking on\u00a0our supermarket shelves in enticing packaging. Then to top it off, you\u2019ll need to deal with conflicting advice, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9004111223100401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[164],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-9004111223101598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellness","tag-nutrition-2__trashed"],"yoast_head":"\nToxic Food Additives 101 | Health Coach Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Click here to learn about the most common toxic food additives and learn how to avoid them and what you should be looking out for!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/toxic-food-additives-101\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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off, you\u2019ll need to deal with conflicting advice, conspiracy theories, FDA controversies, and people\u2019s different opinions. Wouldn\u2019t it be so refreshing if what we needed to know were all neatly laid out as Truth: Top 100 Toxic Food Additives. You could probably Google exactly that and find something like it but even then, there is no absolute truth.\n\nAdditives that the FDA deemed safe a few decades ago are now deemed unsafe and are banned in some countries. But before we go there what are \u201cAdditives\u201d anyway?\n<h2>What are Food Additives and are they Safe to Eat?<\/h2>\nAdditives are substances or a mixture of substances added to food\u2014that are either nature identical (copies of natural substances) or synthetic or plant derivatives (including genetically modified) in order to make them last longer (preservatives), taste \u201cbetter,\u201d (flavor enhancers and sweeteners) and look \u201cbetter\u201d (colorings). These are to name a few. There are more.\n\nDid you know that oranges are often dyed bright orange to look more\u2026orange and red meat is also chemically enhanced to look more\u2026red? It\u2019s strikingly similar to the photoshop touch-ups that turn supermodels into flawless, ageless super-humans\u2014and we buy into it!\n\nSome of these additives have been tested over the years and proven (if you want to believe the \u201cproof\u201d or not) to be what the FDA terms \u201cGenerally recognized as safe\u201d (GRAS). So, really, it\u2019s up to you, the consumer, to determine what this vague statement really means.\n\nAccording to Nasdaq Globe Newswire, a 2015 study published by Transparency Market Research firm states that the global food additives market will reach $36 billion by 2018.\n\nWhat this means for us as consumers is that the food additives industry has a lot at stake and that food additives are likely not going away anytime soon. It is, however, changing. The less we buy into it by educating ourselves and making healthier, more natural choices, the less power it has over us and the less harmful these substances will be to our bodies only because we\u2019ll be choosing not to consume them.\n\nThe bottom line is that in today\u2019s world there are thousands of additives to watch out for, many of which are harmful, if not outright toxic, so here\u2019s an easy way to remember them:\n\n<strong>Colors<\/strong>\nColors usually have one or more of the following numbers listed on the label. Colors are added to a lot of processed food marketed to children, such as breakfast cereal and ice lollies. Read the label and if it has one of these numbers leave it on the shelf.\n102,104,107,110,122,123,124,127,128, 129,132,133,142,151,155 (all of these are synthetic) and 160b (annatto\u2014the only natural food color.) These numbers usually start with the letter \u201cE\u201d but not always.\n\nIt\u2019s hard to believe the following is true but it is\u2026 Did you know that artificial food dyes or colors are made from chemicals derived from petroleum (otherwise knows as gasoline, diesel, asphalt and tar). That\u2019s a hard one to swallow yet some of us swallow it every day and so do our children.\n\nSometimes colors are listed like this:\nRed #40, Blue #1 and Citrus red #1 are all carcinogens that have been linked to cancer, many of which are used in baked products, desserts, candy and sodas. So stay away from anything that lists a color and a number. It\u2019s most likely toxic. Don\u2019t believe it? Read the labels on food products before you feed it to your kids and you\u2019ll likely find these colors listed as ingredients.\n\n<strong>Preservatives<\/strong>\nLook out for these terms: Sorbates (200-203), Benzoates (210-213), Sulphites (220-228), NItrates\/Nitrites (249-252) and Propionates (280-283).\n\nBenzoates, for example, are used as a preservative in sodas and salad dressings and are known carcinogens that can damage human DNA. Nitrates, are ranked in many sources, as the absolute worst preservatives offender. Nitrates are used to stop bacterial growth in processed meat and are directly linked to cancer. Think about it, in the old days, food was preserved (made to last longer) with good old salt. Now, food is made to last unnatural lengths of time with unnatural preservatives so stay away from any food that does not rot because it is obviously preserved\u2014most of the time with harmful chemical preservatives.\n\n<strong>Synthetic Antioxidants<\/strong>\nSynthetic antioxidants are on the opposite end of the health spectrum to natural antioxidants found in berries etc. Look out for Gallates (310-312), TBHQ, BHA and BHT (319-321).\n\nPropyl gallate is added to meat, popcorn, soup mixes and frozen dinners. It\u2019s banned in parts of Europe and has been shown to cause cancer in rats yet it\u2019s safe according to the FDA. BHT (Butylated Hydroxytulene) and BHA (Butylated Hydroxyanisole) are chemical preservatives used to stop a product turning rancid.\n\nBHT and BHA are found in a lot of processed food like cereals, chips and shortening. The same compounds are used in the cosmetics, rubber and plastics industries. For real. This is no joke.\n\n<strong>Flavor Enhancers<\/strong>\nLook out for Glutamates including MSG (620-625) and Ribonucleotides (627, 631, 635). The one most people are familiar with is MSG or Monosodium Glutamate, which has been linked to heart problems and seizures when tested on animals and is notoriously linked to headaches and migraines in humans.\n\nRibonucleotides, like Glutamates, is specifically used as a flavor enhancer as it creates the umami taste. It\u2019s a combination of Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate. It\u2019s used to flavor most snack food like noodles, chips and crackers and has the same harmful effects as MSG. It basically is MSG. So be safe. Read the labels\u2014especially on processed packaged snack food\u2026that we tend to feed our children.\n\n<strong>Artificial Flavors<\/strong>\nThis subject heading opens a huge can of worms. There\u2019s such a fine line between what\u2019s listed as \u201cnatural\u201d and what\u2019s listed as \u201cartificial\u201d that makes it a difficult topic to tackle. But basically, if any product is flavor enhanced whether by adding \u201cartificial\u201d or \u201cnatural\u201d flavors, be skeptical. It generally means something has been added and the problem is you don\u2019t always know what.\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Start Your Health and Wellness Coaching Career with HCI<\/span><\/h2>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coaching is a great career that you can help others, while also learning how to help your own personal growth. Health Coach Institute is a top health and wellness coaching certification program. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/programs\/health-coach\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Join our Become a Health Coach program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and begin coaching in 6 months! If you are already a coach and want to advance your skills, check out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/programs\/coach-mastery\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HCI\u2019s Coach Mastery program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Feel free to get in touch with with one of our clarity coaches directly, by calling <\/span><a href=\"tel:+18003032399\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1-800-303-2399<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9004111223101598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9004111223101598"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9004111223101598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9004111223108670,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9004111223101598\/revisions\/9004111223108670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9004111223100401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9004111223101598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9004111223101598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthcoachinstitute.com\/articles\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9004111223101598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}