"A simple general rule about food additives, according to the Center For Science in the Public Interest:  is to avoid sodium nitrite, saccharin, caffeine, olestra, acesulfame K, and artificial coloring. Not only are they among the most questionable additives, but they are used primarily in foods of low nutritional value. You should add high fructose corn syrup and monosodium glutamate to that list, and if you read the links I've provided, you will see why.

Sodium Nitrite:

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05/18/2008

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This additive is found in almost all processed and smoked meats. Fortunately, there are a few brands that have come out recently that are free of nitrites and nitrates.  See our healthy foods in your grocery article.

Artificial Sweeteners:

Saccharine: Early studies with rodents clearly linked saccharine to cancers of the uterus, ovaries, and other organs.  The FDA in 1977 proposed it should be banned, but Congress intervened and instead a warning notice to be placed on foods with saccharine in it.  However, in 2000, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Services removed saccharine from its list of cancer causing chemicals, Congress removed the required warning notice. Hmmm...why do you suppose Congress has played such a significant role in this?  Could it be lobbyists for the companies who produce saccharine? 

Due to the problems with saccharine, aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) became the most widely used artificial sweetener. This product is just as bad. The Center For Science in the Public Interest advises: "The bottom line is that lifelong consumption of aspartame probably increases the risk of cancer.

People—especially young children—should not consume foods and beverages sweetened with aspartame, should switch to products sweetened with SUCRALOSE (Splenda)or should avoid all artificially sweetened foods. Two other artificial sweeteners, SACCHARIN and ACESULFAME-K, have also been linked to a risk of cancer."

One of the best sugar substitutes available that has no calories and no side effects is the all-natural stevia.  Read our article about it here.

High Fructose Corn Syrup:

According to Linda Forristal, CCP, MTA in her article The Murky World Of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

"The process for making the sweetener high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) out of corn was developed in the 1970s. Use of HFCS grew rapidly, from less than three million short tons in 1980 to almost 8 million short tons in 1995. During the late 1990s, use of sugar actually declined as it was eclipsed by HFCS. Today Americans consume more HFCS than sugar.

Furthermore, Bill Sanda, BS, MBA writes in his article The Double danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup:

"For many years, Dr. Meira Fields and her coworkers at the US Department of Agriculture investigated the harmful effects of dietary sugar on rats. They discovered that when male rats are fed a diet deficient in copper, with sucrose as the carbohydrate, they develop severe pathologies of vital organs. Liver, heart and testes exhibit extreme swelling, while the pancreas atrophies, invariably leading to death of the rats before maturity...When the rats were fed fructose, the fatal organ abnormalities occurred."

"These experiments should give us pause when we consider the great increase in the use of high fructose corn syrup during the past 30 years, particularly in soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages aimed at growing children, children increasingly likely to be copper deficient as modern parents no longer serve liver to their families. (Liver is by far the best source of copper in human diets.)"

Mr. Sanda continues his expose on high fructose corn syrup with excerpts from a book by Nancy Appleton, PhD, clinical nutritionist, who compiled a list of the harmful effects of fructose in her books Lick the Sugar Habit, Healthy Bones, Heal Yourself With Natural Foods, The Curse Of Louis Pasteur and Lick the Sugar Habit Sugar Counter.

I recommend you read the whole article at this link The Double danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup

Olestra: In 1968 Procter & Gamble researchers synthesized a fat substitute called sucrose polyester. Procter & Gamble named its product "olestra." Chemically, olestra is a sucrose (table sugar) molecule to which are esterified as many as eight fatty-acid residues.  Olestra molecules are so large and fatty that they cannot be metabolized by enzymes and bacteria in the gut and are neither absorbed nor digested.

For a complete list of all the reasons you should avoid this food additive, see what the experts say.

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG):

According to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services U. S. Food and Drug Administration FDA Backgrounder report done in 1995 titled FDA and Monosodium Glutamate (MSG): Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is used as a flavor enhancer in a variety of foods prepared at home, in restaurants, and by food processors.

Its use has become controversial in the past 30 years because of reports of adverse reactions in people who've eaten foods that contain MSG. Research on the role of glutamate--a group of chemicals that includes MSG--in the nervous system also has raised questions about the chemical's safety.

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), an independent body of scientists, completed a report, and among the report's key findings: An unknown percentage of the population may react to MSG and develop MSG symptom complex, a condition characterized by one or more of the following symptoms:

• burning sensation in the back of the neck, forearms and chest
• numbness in the back of the neck, radiating to the arms and back
• tingling, warmth and weakness in the face, temples, upper back, neck and arms
• facial pressure or tightness
• chest pain
• headache
• nausea
• rapid heartbeat
• bronchospasm (difficulty breathing) in MSG-intolerant people with asthma
• drowsiness
• weakness.
• In otherwise healthy MSG-intolerant people, the MSG symptom complex tends to occur within one hour after eating 3 grams or more of MSG on an empty stomach or without other food. A typical serving of glutamate-treated food contains less than 0.5 grams of MSG. A reaction is most likely if the MSG is eaten in a large quantity or in a liquid, such as a clear soup.
• Severe, poorly controlled asthma may be a predisposing medical condition for MSG symptom complex.

If you develop any of these symptoms after consumi

ng MSG, such as after a meal at a Chinese restaurant, you may want to visit this website: Battling the MSG Myth.

For more on food additives.