E for Additives

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(d) table sugar to be replaced with honey;

(e) wholemeal bread to be substituted for white bread;

(f) brown rice to replace white rice;

(g) processed foods to be replaced with fresh, when available at similar prices;

(h) snack foods high in sugar, fat or refined carbohydrates to be replaced by fresh fruit and vegetables, plus a variety of nuts, cheeses and wholegrain biscuits;

(i) preservatives, especially BHA (E320) and BHT (E321), and artificially coloured or flavoured foods to be avoided where possible.

In this special group of children the results may not necessarily be generally applicable but they will be of great importance. Further studies need to be done.

9. Hyperactivity in Children (#ulink_e8b31807-0960-5b73-a1ff-b2c6a0e89bc7)

A lot of cynicism has been generated about the whole idea of hyperactivity in children. ‘There are no hyperactive children, only hyperactive parents’ is a frequent retort. The evidence is mounting, although with some reservations, that a good deal of so called hyperactivity is, in fact, due to an unstable environment, but that a good deal is due to food. Dr Egger at Great Ormond Street Hospital showed in his series of cases that there were no children who had an adverse effect from additives only. They were always affected by a food as well.

Dr Ben Feingold MD began his work and observations in 1965 on the link between certain foods and additives and the effect on some individuals’ behaviour and their ability to learn. He proposed a diet which cut down on certain additives and eliminated certain foods. Scientific workers are still uncertain as to the validity of the whole of Dr Feingold’s ideas, but there is no doubt that a vast number of hyperactive children, and also asthmatics and those suffering from eczema, have benefitted immeasurably from a sensible and careful adaptation of this diet.

Hyperactive children bring much strain and exhaustion to parents who have to manage offspring who only sleep a few hours; are excitable and impulsive; are very fidgety; have a short attention span; are compulsively aggressive; can hurt themselves and are sometimes very anti-social. All these traits are beyond the control of the children, who may well also suffer from a lack of co-ordination of the muscles. They collide with objects when trying such simple sports as cycling and swimming. Their finer senses, such as their eyes and hands, do not seem to operate together. They have difficulty with buttoning and tieing, writing, drawing and speaking—sometimes they are dyslexic.

As they grow older they become even more active and can easily hurt. Difficulties are experienced with speech, balance and learning, even if the IQ is high. They suffer from excessive thirst and are often prone to respiratory difficulties.

It was to help such parents and children that the Hyperactive Children’s Support Group was formed in 1977. It is now a registered charity. The Secretary is Mrs Sally Bunday, 71 Whyke Lane, Chichester, West Sussex P019 2LD (please enclose an SAE if you would like details of membership). The Group recommends that parents try a diet based on the work of Ben Feingold. First, this means cutting out all food and drink containing synthetic colours or flavours, avoiding glutamates, nitrites, nitrates, BHA, BHT and benzoic acid. Second, for the first four to six weeks, foods containing natural salicylates (like aspirin chemically) should be avoided and then re-introduced one at a time to see if they cause problems. Such foods include almonds, apples, apricots, peaches, plums, prunes, oranges, tomatoes, tangerines, cucumbers, most soft fruits, cherries, grapes and raisins.

The additives that the HACSG recommends should be avoided are:

Plus another antioxidant preservative not used in the UK

Additives which are either dangerous to asthmatics or aspirin-sensitive people, and could reasonably be added to the HACSG listing, or should not be used in food intended for babies or young children are:

The medical profession still believes that more work is needed with larger trials, but in the meantime such diets are very valuable if you, having adopted them, then reduce the number of forbidden substances and foods so that the child concerned is left with as large a variety as possible, is not kept out of the main stream of childhood fun, and does not suffer from unnecessarily restrictive rules.

10. The Avoidable 57 Additives (#ulink_83ff1ecb-1369-50f6-8508-d369213ff40c)

Additives can hide the true nature of food. You can use polyphosphates (E450) to emulsify fat and to incorporate water, some 128 (Red 2G) to colour the fat so that it looks like meat, enhance the flavour with 621 (monosodium glutamate), so that the food has an addictive and chicken-like flavour. Add some BHA and BHT, E320 and E321, to make sure that the excessive quantities of fat do not go rancid, mix in some lean meat and salt, and surround the mixture with a pastry of white flour and lard, then you have a meat pie which contains very little lean fleshed meat and lots of the sort of saturated fat that our government advises us to eat only in moderation. The additives make sure that our senses do not detect the fat.

What are the most unnecessary or potentially worrying additives? That list only contains some 1 in 5 of those with numbers. These 57 different substances, with rather more chemical names, are:

Sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite, E250 and E251, are in this list because there is evidence that links them with producing carcinogenic nitrosamines. But the use of nitrates and nitrites in the preservation of cured meats is long established and prevents, among other things, the growth of the lethal botulinum.

The potassium salts of nitrates and nitrites, E249 and E252. are not included in the list, although they are also problematical, as it is recognized that chemical means to preserve meat are, at this time, necessary. They have the advantage of not adding to the amount of sodium in the diet.

What is included in any list of avoidable additives is a personal decision and the wise approach is to make your own list.

11. The Natural Opportunity for Profit (#ulink_06588d3b-74ad-5c6f-bb6e-6f212008e575)

The food revolution following the publication of E for Additives produced two conflicting results. The first was a whole lot of foods that were nutritionally better as well as being free from unnecessary and possibly harmful additives. The second was the use of such statements as ‘free from artificial colours’ and others, including the frequent use of the word ‘natural’ to give the impression that the food was just as if it had been taken from an old world farm and prepared specially for you with the care and consideration of a good home cook. These foods are taking a step along the right road but you have to be very discriminating indeed.

If a product says ‘no artificial colourings’, then that is all very well but what are the other ingredients? The overall concept of a healthy and balanced diet is far more important than any concern you may have for the odd E-additive unless you have a special sensitivity. It is the food we eat that makes us fit and healthy and the trick is to avoid being misled by advertising and pack presentation which makes you think that the absence of certain ingredients means that by default other good nutritional substances must be there. They may, but there again they may not.

The E-code has given us the freedom to make informed decisions about some of the foods we eat, but those decisions should not just be based on the additives but upon the whole nutritional concept of the food. On the other hand, food is also fun, and if you like to enjoy a few potato crisps, that is just fine. It is truly an advantage that you can now obtain them without BHA and BHT (E320 and E321), with natural flavours, and cooked in vegetable oil.

E does not stand for EVIL, but rather for EXPLANATION. Regrettably many consumers reject all foods with an E number whereas no-one need be concerned by four out of five of the Es.

This is causing yet another hype with manufacturers taking the legal option of spelling out the name of the additive in full instead of using the E number. They claim that this is because the consumer now understands additives better. The truth is that confusion has been created, the dreaded E symbol is absent. No E number equals OK to eat so a person who has become used to avoiding E102 because of an allergy problem now has to be aware that this additive is tartrazine. An asthmatic avoiding sulphates, E220–E227, has to learn eight different chemical names in addition to their numbers.

The law needs to be changed so that E numbers have to be listed as well as the optional chemical names or people will suffer.

The food industry has to make a profit in order to survive and to have the money available to develop new and interesting foods. It is our job to make sure that the promises on the packet are supported by the composition of the product; for by selecting for our personal use those products which are truly honest and nutritionally sensible and, not to be forgotten, taste good, we shall be supporting those manufacturers, and there are many of them, who truly understand the difference between nutritional hype and nutritional help.

12. The E Number Categories (#ulink_38088678-1c51-5641-b954-81a43689604f)