If it's so bad, why are they allowed to sell it...?

[Winter]

I swear I'm allergic to the sulphur preservative in wine. I know, not exactly a health food but I really like wine and 2 glasses means a headache & nausea the next day.

I guess the answer is that the vast majority of people don't have side effects (or side effects that are easily linked back to the additive) and no studies definitely, conclusively say they are a no-no, so they are deemed to be ok. Doesn't mean that they are, just that noone has proved it yet. When you think about funding for research, who is going to cough up to have a study show these cheicals are not good for us? Like Bath said, vested interests...

Hard work for you, but from scratch sounds really yummy to me!

[Bathsheba]

Oh and rest assured Leasha... when i think back over my childhood the absolute YUMMIEST take-away meal I can remember was a salad roll with tahini sauce bought from a hippie cafe in Margaret River (WA) in 1983 I had never tasted tahini before... I think mum had to ask what it was... but I have never had a yummier roll. I was about 13.

[Lolli]

Mmmm tahini....

Leash, i think the simple answer is the almighty dollar$. It's corporate companies, and little guys trying to compete, and cash strapped and time poor families who put their trust in what's on the supermarket shelves.

I'm lucky in that none of have a bad reaction to preservatives or additives, but I'm shocked at how often they are in everything. I've using jar and sauces since dd was born, and I'm trying to get back to cooking from scratch, just because of all the cr*p that's in them.

[amberj]

For those asking how to work out if you or your child is affected by preservatives and additives, the best way is to do an elimination and challenge diet- cut them all out for a few weeks, then trial them one at a time for a few days to see if you have any reaction. You can try it the opposite way- cut out one at a time to see if you or your children feel/ behave any "better", but I think this is more confusing because you're never quite sure what you're reacting to.

The RPA Hospital has a great elimination/challenge diet that I am working myself up to try, to see if my chronic health issues are diet related.

Note that while artificial preservatives/ additives are undoubtedly bad, there are natural components of many foods that are similar in nature to the additives and which sensitive people can react to as well. The RPA diet actually eliminates those as well so you can really get a good picture of what, if anything, you react to. The book "Fed Up" by Sue Dengate is a great resource, or check out her website for more info.

Its so scary what they put in our food!!!

[MantaRay]

I ask myself that a lot Leash (I'd ask others but no-one will listen ). I also wonder how companies are allowed to advertise the way they do. I saw an ad for LCM's last night - a product that the Parents' Jury found was amongst the top 3 unhealthy lunch box snacks - and the ad was promoting them as healthy "with the goodness of rice" (white rice mind you, chock full of sugar and salt). How can they be allowed to mislead people like that, especially when the government is supposedly serious about tackling children's health?

[Bathsheba]

LCM's oh my... has anyone actually tasted one of those??? *gag* I bought a box once for my DD when she was about 4... had a taste and thought "WTF this tastes like plastic sugar!" I prompty threw the box out and I rarely waste food... but that wasn't food. I swear in each bubble of rice was a puff of toxic plastic gas... it reminded me of gap filler.

[butterfly_warrior]

Leash, you've got me intrigued... do you know which numbers trigger the arthritis? I'm pretty sure mine's from a funky immune system, but I can't help being curious now.

BW