1. BHA and BHT
BHA and BHT are antioxidants, mainly used to stabilize fats and oils in package foods. But they aren't the good kind of antioxidants...at least not for your body. Food manufacturers use these compounds because oxygen reacts preferentially with BHA or BHT, rather than oxidizing fats or oils, thereby protecting the food from spoilage. As a result, the food can last longer on the shelf.
BHA and BHT are fat-soluble which should set off some alarm bells since any compound (good or bad) that is fat soluble will accumulate in the fat stores within the body. If this accumulation persists over time, toxicity results and serious health problems can arise.
In addition to preserving foods, BHA and BHT are also used to preserve fats and oils in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
What Foods Contain BHA and BHT?
BHA is generally used to keep fats from becoming rancid; however, it is also used as a yeast de-foaming agent. BHA is mainly found in butter, meats, cereals, chewing gum, baked goods, snack foods, dehydrated potatoes, and beer. It is also found in animal feed, food packaging, cosmetics, rubber products, and petroleum products.
BHT also prevents oxidative rancidity of fats. It's main role is to preserve food odor, color, and flavor. Many packaging materials incorporate BHT. You'll often see "BHT added to preserve freshness" in the ingredient list of many common packaged foods such as shortening, cereals, and other foods containing fats and oils.
Are BHA and BHT Safe?
Of course not! If they were, they probably wouldn't be included in this list of harmful food additives, would they now? Both BHA and BHT have undergone the additive application and review process required by the US Food and Drug Administration. However, the same chemical properties that make BHA and BHT desired preservatives also implicate them in many negative health side effects.
BHA, especially, is known to have serious detrimental effects in the human body. Both BHA and BHT have been shown to contribute to cancer and tumour growth.
According to a German study "...Specific toxic effects to the lung have only been observed with BHT. However, BHA induces in animals tumours of the forestomach, which are dose dependent, whereas BHT induces liver tumours in long-term experiments.... all published findings agree with the fact that BHA and BHT are tumour promoters."
There is also evidence that many people have difficulty metabolizing BHA and BHT, resulting in health issues such as:
o liver and kidney damage,
o behavioral problems,
o infertility,
o weakened immune system,
o birth defects,
o cancer (IARC Group 2B)
BHA should definitely be should definitely be avoided by infants, young children, pregnant women and those sensitive to aspirin..
There is less extensive human data on BHT; however, studies show cancer-causing effects in animals. For example, according to the Crisp Data Base National Institutes Of Health 1999:
"...The food additive, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), encourages the development of tumors from previously initiated cells...in mice..."
The IARC classes BHT as a Group 3 food additive and interestingly enough, it is banned in England. Why not anywhere else???
So the bottom line is to avoid these harmful food additives. Just another reason to eat more natural whole foods.
2. Sodium Nitrite
As a food additive, the lethal sodium nitrite serves a dual purpose in the food industry since it both alters the color of preserved fish and meats and also prevents growth of Clostridium botulinum, the bacteria which causes botulism.
Thus, food manufacturers mainly use sodium nitrite because of its "beautifying" effect on meat, turning it from an ugly brown to an attractive glowing red! Sodium nitrite is most commonly used in processed meats, such as bacon, ham, hot dogs, bologna, liver pate, and many more.
In Europe, sodium nitrite has the E number E250.
While this chemical will prevent the growth of bacteria, it has been well documented to be highly toxic for humans (and other animals).
Various dangers of ingesting this food additive have been suggested and researched by scientists. A principal concern is the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines by the reaction of sodium nitrite with amino acids in the presence of an acidic environment such as the human stomach.
Numerous studies have found a link between high processed meat consumption and colon cancer, due to the presence of sodium nitrite. A large review of the literature (comprising 17 studies) dramatically revealed that processed meat intake (including sausages, meat burgers, ham, bacon, salami, nitrite-treated meat and meat products) increases the risk of colorectal cancer by a whopping 49%!
Recent studies have also found a link between frequent ingestion of proceesed meats cured with nitrites and the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) form of lung disease as well as the onset of severe migraine headaches.
If you haven't been able to tell by now, the presence of sodium nitrite in food is controversial due to the development of cancer-causing nitrosamines, which arise when the cured or processed meat is cooked at high temperatures, as well as, when it is presented to an acidic environment like our stomach.
These nitrosamines are produced when nitrites and secondary amines (usually proteins) react in a strongly acidic environment (such as our stomach) or at high temperatures, as in frying. Heating foods, especially frying them in rancid oils, is by far one of the most dangerous things you can do to your foods and to your body. And it follows that such cooking practices may be significantly linked to thousands of cases of colon cancer per year across the world.
Considering their carcinogenic capability, it's amazing that nitrosamines are still found in so many types of foods, especially beer, fish (and fish byproducts), processed and cured meat, and cheese products preserved with nitrite pickling salt. However, since nitrosamines are not actually considered a food additive per se (just the by-product of one), the regulation of this chemical has been lax, to say the least.
But there is hope - if you want to call it that. Recently, the U.S. government established limits on the amount of nitrites used in meat products in order to decrease cancer risk in the population. Rules have also been established forcing food manufacturers to add ascorbic acid or related compounds to meat, because they tend to inhibit nitrosamine formation.
Regardless of governmental efforts, the fact still remains that a carcinogenic additive is in our food supply. How can there be a safe or acceptable level of any compound that causes cancer? It only makes sense that, over time, any additive like sodium nitrite will accumulate in the body and wreak havoc when it reaches a threshold amount.
Oh...I just about forgot to mention that other epidemiological data also suggests that nitrosamines (via sodium nitrite) in preserved foods cause stomach cancer! As if colon and colorectal cancer were not enough.
It's no surprise then that the International Agency for Research on Cancer has labeled sodium nitrite as Group 2A food additive, meaning that it is "probably carcinogenic to humans".
3. Sulfites
If you're like me - someone who is allergy prone and has asthma - then you will want to pay close attention to this commonly used food additive.
Sulfites, also labeled as sulfur dioxide, sodium bisulfite, potassium bisulfite, potassium metabisulfite, sodium metabisulfite, or sodium sulfite, are preservatives used to prevent discoloration and bacterial growth.
Sulfites are commonly used to prevent discoloration in dried fruit, some "fresh" shrimp, and some potatoes. They are also abundantly found in wines and many beers. Other examples of foods that may contain sulfites include: baked goods, soup mixes, jams, canned vegetables, pickled foods, gravies, dried fruit, potato chips, trail mixes, beer and wine, vegetable juices, sparkling grape juice, apple cider, bottled lemon juice and lime juice, tea, many condiments, molasses, fresh or frozen shrimp, maraschino cherries, and dehydrated, pre-cut or peeled potatoes.
Dried Apricots - Brown or Orange?
One of the more deceiving tactics used by food manufacturers is the use of sulfites in dried fruit to preserve a "more attractive colour". For instance, organic dried apricots (which don't contain sulfites) have a deep brown colour. However, non-organic dried apricots (which contain sulfites) remain the yellow-orange colour most of us associate with fresh apricots.
Although the non-organic dried apricots are not nearly as healthy for us, they tend to be better sellers simply because they look more attractive to consumers. Remember, food labeling and packaging comes down to what's going to sell the most - regardless of its health effects! So choose organic dried fruit whenever possible.
The issue with sulfites is that they can trigger mild to severe allergic reaction in about 1% of the population. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that one out of a hundred people is sulfite-sensitive, and that 5% of those who have asthma, like myself, are also at risk of suffering an adverse reaction to the substance. As with food sensitivity, you can develop sensitivity to sulfites at any time in life, and the cause of sensitivity is unknown.
I can speak from personal experience that consuming foods that have sulfites instantly worsens my asthma, causes my face to go flush, and creates irritability. For that reason, I have limited my wine consumption (and other sulfite-infested foods) to virtually never drinking it, except for on special occasions. Can you relate?
Deadly Reactions Leading to Legislation
To non-sensitive individuals, sulfites are generally safe. But if you think you may be sensitive, avoid all forms of this additive, because it caused at least twelve identifiable deaths in the 1980s and probably many, many more in the preceding decades. Deaths and less severe reactions were linked most commonly to restaurants foods. Sulfite levels in the lettuce and potatoes served at restaurants were often extremely high, because workers would allow the vegetable to sit in a sulfite solution for far too long a time.
From 1980 to 1999, the FDA received 1,132 reports of bad reactions to sulfites. More than 90 percent of them occurred in restaurants or other places outside the home. But the number of reported reactions has averaged only about ten a year since 1996, and no deaths have been recorded since 1990. That steep decline was mainly due to the waged a four-year campaign to get the FDA to ban sulfites from food by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), starting in 1982.
The tricky thing is that, by law, adverse reactions to drugs must be reported to the FDA by doctors or pharmaceutical companies, yet with sulfites and other food ingredients, reporting is voluntary, making it difficult to say just how many people may be at risk.
In 1986, as a result of pressure from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a congressional hearing, and media attention, the FDA banned the most dangerous uses of sulfites and required that wine labels list sulfite, when used. Furthermore, the FDA banned the use of sulfites on fruits and vegetables that are eaten raw, such as lettuce or apples. Regulations now also require manufacturers who use sulfites in their processed products to list the compounds on their product labels.
But the FDA has yet to act on CSPI's request to require restaurants to disclose which of their foods contain sulfites.
Complicating matters, scientists have not pinpointed the smallest concentration of sulfites needed to provoke a reaction in sensitive or allergic persons. The FDA requires food manufacturers and processors to disclose the presence of sulfiting agents in concentrations of at least 10 parts per million (that's 1 part sulfite to 100,000 parts of food-the equivalent of a drop of water in a bathtub), but the threshold may be even lower.
But how much of a poison should be allowed in the body? In mind, none!
Doctors believe that asthmatics develop difficulty breathing by inhaling sulfite fumes from treated foods. In a severe reaction, an overwhelming degree of bronchial constriction occurs, causing breathing to stop. This can lead to lack of oxygen reaching the brain, heart, and other organs and tissues and, possibly, a fatal heart rhythm irregularity. Yet it is not known which comes first, the asthma or the sulfite sensitivity.
Avoiding foods that contain or are likely to contain sulfites is the only way to prevent a reaction. If you are sensitive to sulfites, be sure to read the labels on all food items. When eating out, ask the chef or server if sulfites are used or added to food before or during preparation. If they don't know, then ask to see the packaging of any foods that are not fresh.