Food Additives to Avoid

Artificial food additives and preservatives are often added to a variety of food products in order to enhance their flavor, visual appeal or shelf life. These chemical compounds help in preserving the freshness of the processed food items for a longer time. There are over 14,000 synthetically prepared chemicals that come under the category of food additives. Most of these chemicals are known to cause several adverse effects on children and adults. Most children are exposed to these harmful food chemicals right from infancy and can fall prey to several behavioral, health or learning problems. Food additives can also cause medical conditions such as hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, asthma and cancer.

How to Avoid Food Additives?
Most of the processed foods available these days, contain different types of food additives and preservatives. Not all artificial food additives are harmful! However, there is a large number of nasty additives in food to avoid. The best way to do so is to check the labels of the foods that we eat. A lot of coloring and flavoring agents, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, texture and processing agents can be included in the list of food additives to avoid. Try to avoid having foods that contain these additives by checking the ingredient list on the label. Avoid fruit juices and breads containing large amounts of preservatives. Organic vegetables and other food items are always a safe choice. Planning healthy meals and replacing the packaged snacks with homemade snack foods can help in avoiding food additives to a great extent. But for doing so, one must have an idea of the harmful additives.

Food Additives that should be Avoided
Here are some examples of harmful food additives to avoid.

Artificial Food Colors

• Tartrazine
• Quinoline yellow
• Yellow 2G
• Sunset yellow
• Carmines
• Amaranth
• Azorubine
• Patent blue
• Indigo carmine
• Brilliant blue
• Red 2G
• Erythrosine
• Brilliant scarlet
• Allura red AC
• Acid brilliant green
• Fast green
• Brilliant black
• Kipper brown
• Chocolate brown HT

Artificial Food Sweeteners

• Aspartame
• Cyclamate
• Cyclamic acid
• Potassium acesulphame
• Saccharine
• Mannitol

Artificial Food Preservatives

• Benzoic acid
• Sodium benzoate
• Potassium benzoate
• Calcium benzoate
• Calcium sulfite
• Calcium hydrogen sulfite
• Sodium metabisulfite
• Potassium metabisulphite
• Potassium sulfite
• Potassium bisulfite
• Orthophenyl phenol
• Formic acid
• Hexamethylene tetramine
• Potassium nitrate
• Sodium nitrite
• Sodium nitrate
• Glacial acetic acid
• Butylated hydroxy-anisole
• Propyl p-hydroxybenozoate
• Sulfur dioxide
• Diphenyl
• Biphenyl
• Calcium propionate
• Potassium propionate
• Sodium propionate
• Ethyl para hydroxybenzoate

Artificial Flavor Enhancers

• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• Glutamic acid and all glutamates
• Disodium guanylate
• Disodium ribonucleotides 5
• Disodium inosinate 5

Synthetic Antioxidants

• Octyl gallate
• Propyl gallate
• Dodecyl gallate
• Butylated hydroxyanisole
• Tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ)
• Butylated hydroxytoluene
• Stannous chloride

Other Food Additives to be Avoided

• Carrageenan
• Acacia gum
• Polyoxyethylene stearate
• Polysorbate
• Gelatin
• Potassium ferrocyanide
• Potassium bromate
• Chlorine dioxide
• Magnesium sulfate
• Alginic acid

These were some examples of food additives to avoid. Now, that you are aware of the various types of harmful food additives, try and avoid consuming them as far as possible.