Food 4 Thought: Food Additives

Food 4 Thought was a bi-weekly article written for a school paper several years ago. It was discontinued after moving to a new state.


FOOD ADDITIVES


Our bodies are amazing machines. Each cell does a different job, working in harmony with every other cell to create bone, skin, heart, nerves; all to create you. And in ten years, every cell in your body will have been replaced, renewed by the food you eat. And so I find myself concerned when I read the ingredients lists on some of my favorite foods and have to ask: Is my food made of FOOD anymore?

There are more than 10,000 chemical “food additives” that can legally be found in food. A common example is monosodium glutamate (MSG). Used to add flavor to many canned soups and other canned goods, frozen foods, and fast food, MSG is naturally found in seaweed and soybeans. So what’s the problem? MSG in even moderate amounts can cause headaches, nausea, numbness, and heart palpitations, and is the source of the so-called “Chinese-restaurant syndrome,” where MSG is often used.

Next time you pick up a can of soda, before taking a swig of delicious carbonated pleasure, flip the can around and find the ingredients list. If you see BHA or BHT (Butylated Hydroxyanisole and Butylated Hydroxytoluene) then this may interest you: BHA and BHT are used as emulsifiers and clouding agents; they make the soda cloudy and smooth. When, in the 1970s, it became more and more clear that BHT was linked to health problems, including childhood aggressiveness and tumor growth, some companies voluntarily switched to the less-studied BHA to assuage their health-concerned consumers. Now, however, BHA is being studied more and being found to have effects on not only your own hormones, but on the sexual function of your future children, according to the scientific journal Toxicity. It is recommended that BHA and BHT be avoided if you take steroids, birth control, or are pregnant.

Perhaps you’re reading this and thinking “I eat fairly healthy, don’t drink much soda. Fresh fruit will do me good.” Let’s take a walk over to the produce section and I’ll tell you about red dye #2. Citric red dye #2 is used to dye oranges, to make their bright color last longer and make them more appealing to consumers. Perhaps clever marketing, given the sensationalist society we live in. And yet: red dye #2 is a probable carcinogen (cancer causing substance) that the US Food and Drug Administration has recommended banned from use.

There are more than ten thousand chemical additives legally found in food: ten thousand scientific words without meaning to the average person. It’s so easy to concern ourselves with the stresses of work, the demands of family life, and ignore the simple actions we take for granted as normal and safe. So I leave you with this thought: Our bodies are delicate, amazing machines growing and changing constantly; what will YOUR body be made of ten years from now?