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

[Indadhanu]

Serious question (though I already know the answer is "The almighty dollar"), and a bit of a vent.


If all these additives and preservatives are so bad, why are they allowed to add them to 'food' and sell it?


BTW, no debate from me that additives are bad. My question comes from my view of "these additives are VERY bad, why are they allowed to sell it" not "if they are allowed to sell it then it can't be THAT bad".


Both Jazz and myself are intolerant and react badly to most additives/preservatives, and the most dreadful ones for us both is MSG 621 (found in most salted snacks, and ), CP 282 (a commercial bread preseravtive), and Annatto 160b (added to a lot of flavoured cereals, and dairy products like butter and cheese). As a result we mostly eat homemade and 'raw', making things from scratch. Even something as simple as a sandwich made with commercial bread with 282 and butter with 160b, can make us both ill. My most severe reaction is arthritis triggered by addititves.


I had a lazy day the other day, and recently searched down the "sauces" aisle for something quick and easy (I don't venture down there as just looking at some of those ingredients makes me sick LOL), and realised that the cooking may be quick and easy, but for Jazz and myself the process of it leaving our bodies would be anything but. I ended up just sucking it up and making something. Even take away isn't an option for us unless its grilled chicken or fish, and chips, with no salt Even then, if the oil they cook in is dodgey, its more trouble than its worth, and better of just making 'homemade takeaway'. You wouldn't believe what Hungry Jack's chips or McDonalds chicken nuggets do to Jazz, it you saw it first hand you'd never feed them to your kids again, the mind boggles at what they actually put on/in them...

There have been so many studies out there, so many links, how on earth can they still be allowed to sell this crud? Additives, preservatives etc... Does anyone know? Why can't/won't they ban them? Seriously? Why?

[Bathsheba]

I assume because the scientists that are paid to do the research regarding safety have a vested interest in proving that it's fit for human consumption. I am amazed that Australia lags so far behind most Western European countries when it comes to additives... it's like we are this massive dumping ground. There is also the Care Factor. Most people simply don't care unless it makes them sick... very sad, I know Don't worry, you aren't missing out on much when it comes to most takeaway... it all makes you feel crap after eating it if you actually stop to take any notice of how you feel afterwards. My kids always chose sushi handrolls over nuggets if given the choice. Causes a bit of a problem on long road trips.... lucky we don't do too many of them anmore.

[Rach75]

I know what you mean thankfully it just preservative 223 we have to avoid, but thats means no cordials most juices are out, and cheerios kabana a lot of deli meats ... bu ton the plus side means jack eats a lot better stuff and drinks more water... mind you the one soft drink that doesn't contain presevatives is coke the mind boggles

[AliBaby]

Hey Leash I hope its okay to ask this (and I hope this isnt a silly question) but how do you know what preservative your child has a reaction too? Is there some sort of test that can be done? Do they come up with an allergic reaction and then do you have to pin point which additive in the food they are allergic to?

Its awful to hear how Jazz and yourself have been affected by food additives.

I dont understand why they arent banned. Seems crazy when it can make people so sick.

[Inanna]

I ask myself this question often leasha...

I think it's because most people don't really care what's in their food so long as it's cheap first and foremost, easy secondly & thirdly tastes good... Generally the crappier the food the cheaper the food. So, sauces with corn oil (most commercial ones) it's cheaper to buy a jar of sauce than it is to make one... So, people buy it. This means that availability must be kept up. Which means it's produced again and agian.

Bath is correct Australia is so far behind many other countries that disallow many of the additives we allow in this country...

[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!

[Rach75]

Hey Leash I hope its okay to ask this (and I hope this isnt a silly question) but how do you know what preservative your child has a reaction too? Is there some sort of test that can be done? Do they come up with an allergic reaction and then do you have to pin point which additive in the food they are allergic to?

Its awful to hear how Jazz and yourself have been affected by food additives.

I dont understand why they arent banned. Seems crazy when it can make people so sick.

hope you dont mind me answering this as well, with Jack I had this month of OMG shocking wanting to shoot myself behavior from him, a friends said had he been eating or drinking anything new in the previous month well he had been having a weak cordial which was new thing, it had 2 preservatives 211 and 223, so we eliminated everything that had both, we knew from him being given a cheerio at 18mths his body didn't liek them he was hypo for 2 nights after 1 cheerio... so he hadn't had those, anyway after we stopped cordial and majority of juices not that he was having much but enough...he returned to normal Jack behaviour...

anyway we discovered cheerios have pres 223..so we started letting him have some juice that had 211 he was fine then gave him a cordial and OMG.... so we knew pres 223 was like I suppose how people used to refer to red food with hyperactivity

[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?

[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

[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.

[Pandora]

I assume because the scientists that are paid to do the research regarding safety have a vested interest in proving that it's fit for human consumption.

One product in particular resulted in staff changes at the US Food and Drug Administration in order to get it approved for use there.

Some of the things that are declared fit for human consumption, but can have serious impacts on the health of certain subset of the community are unbelievable!

[Indadhanu]

Ali - well I know myself when I did an elimatination diet (of sorts, wasn't a 'real' one, I just did it myself to work out what the heck was going on) that I have intolerances to those three plus a few others, and when Jazz turned one we widened her food range to some 'naughty' foods and oh goodness it was terrible for us all! Luckily we did it slowly, one at a time, so have been able to pretty much pinpoint what sends her off the rails. We only do 'raw'/from scratch at home anyway, so anything new is usually processed. And then we work out what is in the food that she could react to, and we link it up to other foods, we found a pattern between some sets of numbers. We have a 'food log' with daily food, mood behaviour sleep etc.

BW - I find my body seems to react worse when I have either 621, 282, or 160b. But it doesn't really matter, if I have a lot of different ones in a short space of time, the same things happen. If I even eat a small bowl of flavoured chips (621) I will be paying for it for the next week. But if I eat a little bit of another additive (not 621, 282, 160b) it's not nearly as bad, but if I eat a lot of the 'others' then its the same as a small bowl of chips.
At first I just get a 'hangover' - headache, dizziness, irritability, nausea, blurred vision, sudden tiredness, hot flushes, ringing in my ears.
And then over the next few days theres the 'evidence' of eating crap, of it leaving my body- acne, and sometimes constipation or diarrhea.
If I eat too much, like if I go silly over Christmas - New Year, eat food I don't normally eat, it's like a toxic build-up. All my joints swell, including the cartilage between my ribs and sternum making it really painful to breathe, and it takes a while to get it back on track. When I get the arthritis symptoms I also get clumsy and accident prone.
If I eat a lot over the course of a week or a few weeks (if I get lazy with cooking) I find I get really REALLY severe depression symptoms as well.