This is a great article written by Christine Farlow that I wanted to share with you!
Many additives in the food you feed your kids may be very dangerous to their
health. But you'd never know it if you believed the claims of healthy
ingredients on the packaging.
Take, for example, breakfast cereals. They are laden with sugar,
hydrogenated oils and artificial food colorings. Sugar can cause hyperactivity,
fatigue, depression, tooth decay, B-vitamin deficiency and indigestion.
Hydrogenated oils are associated with heart disease, cancer and elevated
cholesterol. These diseases, associated with old age, actually can start in
childhood when kids eat hydrogenated oils and other foods that contribute to
these diseases. Artificial food colorings are some of the worst additives found
in foods and are most abundantly found in foods made to appeal to kids, like
cereals, candy, gelatin desserts, fruit drinks and soft drinks. The worst are
Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2, Citrus Red No. 2, Green No. 3, Red No. 3 and Yellow No.
6. Some of these colors are carcinogenic, cause tumors in lab animals and are
not adequately tested.
If your child has asthma, eating raisins, dried apricots or some other dried
fruit that contains sulfites may cause her attacks. Sulfites were banned in
1985 on most fruits and vegetables, but are still allowed on fresh-cut
potatoes, dried fruits and wine. They can cause severe allergic reactions and
have even caused death in asthmatics.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and free glutamate are flavor enhancers
considered safe by the FDA. MSG may cause a variety of symptoms, including
headaches, itching, high blood pressure and allergic reactions. Free glutamate,
the active ingredient in MSG, may cause dizziness, shortness of breath,
headaches, drowsiness and even brain damage, especially in children. Because of
bad publicity, food manufacturers found ways to hide MSG in foods they produce.
They list the ingredients that contain MSG but not the MSG itself. Or they use
free glutamates instead of MSG. For example, broth may be listed as an ingredient
on a label. Broth may contain MSG, but the ingredients in the broth are not
required to be listed on the label. Hydrolyzed soy protein, a common ingredient
in tuna, is high in free glutamates, but does not contain MSG. The label can
legally say no MSG.
Even if the label says "all natural ingredients" and "no
preservatives," the product could contain harmful additives. Almost all
packaged foods, even so called "health foods", have additives in
them, and many are harmful or inadequately tested. The manufacturer hopes
you'll think these are healthy natural products, but if you read the list of
ingredients, you'll find ingredients that are not common food items. If you
learn to interpret food labels, you'll find that many of these ingredients are
harmful or of questionable safety.
So, how do you know which foods are really safe to eat? Dr. Christine
Farlow, in her handy pocket-sized book,
FOOD
ADDITIVES: A Shopper's Guide To What's Safe & What's Not, now in its
2004 revised edition, makes it easy to identify which additives are harmful and
which are not. She classifies over 800 commonly used food additives according
to safety, whether they may cause allergic reactions and if they are Generally
Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the FDA. In just seconds, the average person can
find out if an additive in the food they're buying is harmful to their health.
It's clear, concise and easy to use. Make this book your constant grocery
shopping companion and you'll never again wonder about the safety of the
ingredients listed on the package. You'll know.
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Deborah Mumm,
The Allergy Queen
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