Thursday 10 April 2008

Banish E numbers...


It is extremely wise to avoid eating food with harmful food additives - E Numbers in them. Not all E Numbers are bad for you. On the new this morning I watch a case study that was suggesting a link between a Childs behaviour and IQ was effected by the intake of E numbers.

E numbers personally have effected me over the years, when I was younger I would become completely hyperactive after a packet of Smarties, Wine Gums or any sweets that included E numbers, I wouldn’t sleep, I would wake up screaming having had a nightmare. It is worrying to think that this is still effecting many children in the UK today and that nothing has been done to prevent the adding of artificial colours and flavouring to our food.

I believe that natural colours can be found in healthy food such a blueberries, which colour foods in a natural way however this brings the issue of cost… do companies cut costs by using inexpensive flavourings to sell cheap produce, or do the companies who use natural flavourings lose out by selling their products at a higher price due to better quality ingredients?

Personally I would rather spend more money on those products that use natural ingredients and wont even give products painted with colouring and additives a second look!


The Food Standards Agency have stopped short of recommending an outright ban on chemical additives found recently to have links with hyperactive behaviour in children, instead blaming the food industry for failing to respond quickly enough to consumer demand to remove E-numbers.

A few weeks ago it revised its guidance for consumers after research by Southampton University confirmed there are links between some E-numbers and hyperactivity in children.
Health specialists around the world are becoming increasingly convinced that the additives in processed foods are firmly linked to the dramatic rise in children's allergies.

However, despite mounting evidence, there has been very few restrictions placed on the food manufacturers in the UK and the USA. Some countries have displayed a more responsible attitude and, as you will see from the lists below, have banned certain substances. Particular attention has been paid to infants and children's products because their immature organs are less efficient at removing such toxins from their systems. Unfortunately, it makes frightening reading.

In the meantime, the watchdog will re-write its advice to parents, and has agreed to look at information about restaurant and take-away meals, which contain no labels about additive content.

Sunset yellow and carmoisine sound like romantic names for paint to brighten up a room, but they are better known as E110 and E122 and have been linked to hyperactivity in children.
These two, together with tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), quinoline yellow (E104) and allura red (E129) are all food colourings, which the E-number tells us are approved as safe by the European Union.

Children's sweets and cakes are full of them - Love Hearts and Haribo Micro Mix contain all of them except tartrazine, according to the Food Commission, while Morrisons assorted sponge cakes have three, in common with many ready-made children's party cakes.

So a word of advice avoid E numbers and artificial flavorings as one day we will wish we had sooner.

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