In this new age of mankind, the world is filled with processed foods everywhere we look. Unfortunately, these are the polar opposite of what we need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Some foods contain ingredients that can ruin your health without you even noticing. In my opinion, people are not supposed to have more chemicals in their kitchen than in a science laboratory. I've always wondered how can we eat something we are not even sure of what it is made off without any problem or concern. Consuming foods heavy with additives can potentially harm your body and health, including mental health. A study funded by the government's Food Standard Agency (FSA) has understood to have drawn links to behavior problems in children such as temper tantrums and hyperactivity. There are also concerns about allergic reactions such as asthma and rashes.
First of all, additives are substances added to food to maintain, prolong or improve its safety, freshness, taste, texture or appearance. Some additives have been used for centuries to preserve meat, vinegar, sugar, herbs and sulfur dioxide for wine. However, there are many disadvantages in consuming food additives, because they can trigger allergic reactions and possibly lead to other serious health issues. Many allergic reactions are usually mild-skin irritation, intestinal upset, breathing problems, but they may be greatly under-reported. Food additives also have strong links with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.
There is an innumerable amount of food additives, but some of the names of those who resonate the most are artificial food colorings, high fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium and trans fats. First of all, artificial food coloring are chemical dyes used to color foods and drinks. They can be found in many types of processed foods, such as beverages and condiments. These are suspected of causing increased hyperactivity in children. Also, Yellow No.5 has been thought to worsen asthma symptoms. In the 1970s, the FDA famously banned Red Dye No.2 after some studies found that large doses caused cancer in rats.
Another commonly used additive is MSG, which looks like salt or sugar crystals. Glutamate doesn't have a flavor of its own, but enhances other flavors and impacts the savory taste. Monosodium glutamate can be commonly found in Chinese food, canned vegetables, soups, and processed meats. Many people claim to have had bad reactions when they eat food seasoned with MSG. In the late 1960s, people started talking about 'Chinese restaurant syndrome', alleging that food prepared with MSG at Chinese restaurants made them sick.
The final additive I’ll be addressing is sodium nitrite, which was used for curing meat. It’s usually found in preserved meat products, like sausages and canned meats. There is a theory that eating a lot of sodium nitrite might cause gastric cancer. There’s plenty of evidence that leads to sodium nitrite being the culprit of causing the famously know disease, cancer. Until the early 1930s, gastric cancer caused the most deaths of all cancers in the United States. After analyzing the statistics, more Americans began to use modern refrigeration and ate less cured meat since there were rumors going around about the curing process. Consequentially, the producers started to use less much less sodium nitrite in the curing process around that time as well. As these changes took place, deaths from gastric cancer also dropped dramatically, further supporting the theory of sodium nitrite, although it was not confirmed.
In the simplest way possible, the flavor enhancers' job is to make stale, flavorless and poor quality 'foods' taste nice. It is a colorless, odorless powder that is very cheap and easy for food manufacturers to replace real ingredients with. They are using food additives as masks on food to cover their real identities. Food producers all around the world try to produce food at an alarming rate but at the same time, try and use the most economic and poor-quality products possible, that's where food additives come in. Food industries are achieving their goal by sacrificing our health. It is a proven fact that MSG and other flavor enhancers are highly addictive substances. That's the main reason why people can't stop eating or drinking some products like Coca Cola. There is no way that flavor enhancers are not a massive contributing factor in the current 'obesity epidemic' that has taken our society by storm. Industries know about the current problem but money speaks volumes.
Some people might argue with the points stated above, they might say food additives are necessary in our society, and they are not completely wrong. Food additives have greatly helped the overall economy and trade with other nations, and others don’t do any harm. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we should blindly trust the food industry and their ways of preparing products because clearly the don’t have the cleanest track record. Food additives should be treated with caution because many don’t act up instantly, some of them react with long term use. In my opinion, people should start eating more naturally and grow some of the foods they eat on a regular basis if possible.
Food additives can be harmful to our health and we should avoid them as much as possible, if not completely. By reducing our consumption of these unhealthy foods, we make a huge impact on our health. It may not be visible now, but in the long run, we will be very happy to make these decisions. After all, the food industry can do whatever they want with their product, we are solely responsible for what goes inside our body, so next time we should be more careful about what we eat.