This blog entitled should I worry about food additives in my kid’s foods has been written by Katarina Martinez-Thomas, and reviewed by Charlotte Stirling-Reed.
I’ve written in detail about processed foods for kids, and I know it can seem overwhelming to parents. Something that is coming up more and more, is the effect of food additives and “additional” ingredients, such as preservatives, thickeners, emulsifiers and flavouring agents in many of the foods we regularly buy in the supermarket. In this blog, I hope to break down the facts around food additives in your kids’ foods and whether or not we should be avoiding them.
There is a lot of fear mongering online, and it can be quite hard to know what to believe and to make sense of all of the information we read online. In this blog, I want to break down some of the information around the ingredients in our foods, and what that means for our health and our kids’ health.
It’s important to note that in nutrition, nothing is ever black and white, and it’s ALWAYS important to consider the context and the bigger picture.
What ARE food additives?
Food additives don’t have any nutritional value, but are added to certain foods for a specific purpose. To give a bit more context into the various ingredients used in our foods, here is a bit of a breakdown of the different kinds of additives used in our foods.
Emulsifiers, thickeners, gelling agents and stabilisers – These are substances that are used to help two substances mix, that wouldn’t usually mix – e.g. oil and water. EUFIC has a detailed breakdown into different types of emulsifiers and their uses in many of our regular foods.
Preservatives – These can be used to slow the spread of bacteria, mould, air or yeast to help maintain the quality of a food. They also help to control contamination that can cause illness.
Colours – These are added to foods to help improve their appearance or to replace colouring that may have been lost during production or processing
Antioxidants – These prevent foods from being destroyed by the process of fat combining with oxygen
Flavouring agents – These are added to foods to modify the taste or smell
In the UK, all of these food additives are known as ‘E Numbers’ – meaning they can all be identified with a code beginning with the letter E. You can find a list of approved food additives here.
Food additives can be both from natural and artificial sources.
Examples of natural food additives include ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), colouring from beetroot juice or salt and sugar.
Examples of artificial food additives include artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or preservatives such as carrageenan.
Are food additives safe?
Food additives have been used in our food supply for many years, and can be important for keeping foods safe to eat as well as for minimising food waste. We have a LOT of people to feed in this world and so some form of processing – and increasing shelf life – is quite literally essential to feed our population.
In the UK, only certain approved food additives can be added to the foods we find on our supermarket shelves.
The ingredients which are approved for use in our food system are regulated by the Food Standards Agency. For foods that are traded internationally, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) is the international body responsible for evaluating the safety of food additives.
For an ingredient to be approved, these bodies will look at the evidence and research surrounding an individual ingredient, along with the levels at which the ingredient is likely to be present in the diet to assess the overall potential for impact to our health.
Following this research, an acceptable daily intake (ADI) is set, which is the amount of a substance which can be consumed daily, over the course of a lifetime, without experiencing negative health outcomes. Manufacturers are not permitted to exceed the ADI of food additives in any products.
EUFIC has a detailed breakdown of what an ADI is and how it is determined for use by ESFA, which regulates food additives in the EU*.
The document states that the ADI is set by establishing the level at which the “most sensitive experimental animal may experience an adverse effect, relative to human health” – this is known as the “No Observed Adverse Effect Level” (NOAEL). The NOAEL is then divided by a safety factor, which in most cases is 100 to allow for a substantial margin of safety.
This means that the levels of a substance which are permitted to be used in our food system, are far below the level at which any potential adverse effect may have ever been seen in research. This also accounts for consuming the substance at the ADI, over the course of an entire lifetime. So even if an individual were to be consuming a substance above the ADI on a particular day, any negative effects should be outweighed by consuming below the ADI on an average daily basis.
What are the concerns around food additives?
As the quantity of processed foods we consume has increased, and with it our cumulative intake of food additives, there has been growing concern over the effects of these substances on our health. Whilst ADI’s are set for individual substances, what isn’t clear, is the effect of consuming multiple different additives on a regular basis.
Research into the impact of food additives is ongoing, and it is important to keep up to date with changes to advice and guidance as any new research comes to light.
However, currently, much of the research we have on additives, is carried out in rodents or animals, which simply cannot be directly extrapolated to humans. The human evidence we do have is largely “observational”. This means that some studies may show “associations” of risk related to certain ingredients in foods, but it cannot be claimed that they are directly causing harmful effects. It’s also important to note that many “ultra processed foods” are foods that are high in salt, fat or sugar, which we already know to be detrimental to our health when consumed in large amounts. We should be reducing our intakes of these kinds of foods anyway. It’s difficult to separate the specific effects of food additives from the effects of consuming a large amount of salt, sugar and saturated fats or even their lack of beneficial nutrients.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be aware of new and emerging evidence, or suggest that there absolutely aren’t any potential risks from consuming large amounts of food additives. It simply means that we don’t need to be avoiding them completely, particularly when it can be impossible for many people to totally avoid them.
There are also instances when the benefits of including food with additives and other ingredients in our diets may outweigh potential risks. For instance, fortifying plant-based milks with additives like calcium, B vitamins, and iodine is often necessary to help some children meet their nutrient requirements. Therefore, the benefits of consuming these fortified plant-based milks may outweigh any potential negative effects from the additives included.
Food ‘Fear Mongering’ isn’t helpful either:
It’s also important to note that fear around foods, as well as overly restricting foods – either for ourselves or our children, has harmful effects too. Aiming to include as many whole, unprocessed foods in our diets as possible is a great way to ensure a varied and balanced diet. However, this doesn’t mean that processed foods can’t have a place in our diets as well.
Do food dyes cause hyperactivity in children?
There has been some research suggesting that certain food colouring used in some foods can cause increased hyperactivity in some children. According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), these are:
- Sunset yellow FCF (E110)
- Quinoline yellow (E104)
- Carmoisine (E122)
- Allura red (E129)
- Tartrazine (E102)
- Ponceau 4R (E124)
Foods that contain these colourings must carry a warning label that reads ‘May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.’
Another ingredient that’s NOT recommended for young children is Glycerol. This can be found in slushie drinks, as it gives the drink its “slush effect’ texture. Side effects of a high intake of glycerol include headaches and sickness. It’s recommended that children under the age of four do not have these drinks.
It’s also worth noting that food additives are NOT permitted in processed foods aimed specifically at infants and young children. This includes any foods that are designed specifically for medical purposes.
What can I do if I want to reduce the amount of additives in my family’s diet
So whilst we DON’T need to panic and worry about every ingredient in the foods we’re buying, it is understandable if you want to cut down on the processed foods your family is consuming and therefore reduce the overall amount of additives you’re consuming.
Here are some of my tips for helping to reduce processed foods as much as possible:
- Read food labels
- I have two blogs all about making sense of food labels for your kids which help to understand what to look out for on food labels. Reading the labels can be a good way to understand what’s in the foods you’re buying and comparing options to see if you can find alternatives that have lower levels of salt and sugar or those that have fewer additives in them.
- Cook from scratch when you can
- I totally understand that this isn’t always possible – and it doesn’t have to be. When you can, batch cooking and preparing meals and snacks ahead of time can make a huge difference, not only to the foods you offer your little ones, but also to your time and sanity! Check out my tips on how to meal plan for your family to help make your meal prep that bit easier!
- Remember not all processed foods are equal
- In my blog all about processed foods for kids, I explain a bit more about the grading system for processed foods. It’s not perfect, but it can be used as a tool to help you make choices about which foods to buy. Certain foods, such as wholemeal bread or baked beans, may be considered to be “ultra-processed.” These foods don’t need to be avoided as they provide beneficial nutrients such as fibre, which are all part of a healthy, balanced diet.
- Focus on what you can ADD
- I’m a BIG advocate for adding things into the diet, rather than focusing on all the things we shouldn’t be having. I’ve got a whole series about adding extra nutrients to kids’ breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. By adding in extra fruits, veggies, legumes, wholegrains, nuts and seeds where you can, you are naturally going to be adding in MORE whole, unprocessed foods and having LESS in the way of ultra-processed foods.
Take home message
- Food additives have been used for decades to help keep our food system safe, affordable and to reduce food waste
- As our diet has moved towards including more ultra-processed foods, and therefore more food additives, there has been some growing concern over the effect of food additives on our health
- Regulatory bodies are responsible for regularly monitoring the research and evidence surrounding approved food additives, and limits are set to ensure extremely low amounts of food additives are used in our foods
- In the context of a varied, balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, beans, pulses, legumes, eggs, meat and fish (if eaten), we do not need to be overly concerned about the additives present in some of the foods as long as they are consumed in small amounts
- Reading food labels, cooking from scratch and focusing on INcluding foods, rather than EXcluding foods, can all help to reduce your family’s overall intake of food additives
Further reading
These resource provide some additional helpful information on the role of food additives in our food system:
*Although the FSA is now responsible, much of our legislation is still largely similar to the EU regulations from when the UK was a part of the EU.