Food Additives

[lovesugar]

What do we know agout food additives? Does anyone know of any particualr ones that we should keep away from? I know they are all bad but with reading labels these days, you need a university degree to understand them all.

 

[rygon]

I dont know how it is in aus but in uk all additives are given an E number. Just because its an additive it doesnt mean its bad, or even unnatural.
There was a tv prog on the other week about them and the presenter trying to OD on them. Doc was more worried about sugar and fat content.
Personally, i keep away from any microwave meals, make all my meals from scratch (cept for the few takeaways i have) so i know most that goes in it.
Anything that doesnt agree with you, keep away from those, and thats about as much as i worry about foods

 

[Astra]

I can't eat mono sodium glutomate (in chinese food) it makes me violently ill for days! like a hangover, without the booze up the night before!

 

[Rebecca85]

I can suffer with hyperactivity associated with certain colourings and flavourings, but I doubt that is Crohn's related! I guess the less artificial additives the better, but I haven't heard of any in particular that are bad for Crohn's.

 

[kenny]

I eat whole foods prepared at home as often as possible. That pretty much takes care of additives. Any packaged food is always a crap-shoot so to speak for me

 

[vonfunk]

Sorbitol.

It's an artificial sweetener used in a lot of sugarless gum. it's used ass a laxative in some places.

 

[lovesugar]

Astra I agee, definitely MSG, it is a killer for me too. It is really hard to stay away from things that don't have some form of additive in them these days...thanks you guys

 

[ssv]

Hi lovesugar,

I found this site which tells you what all the additive codes are http://nac.allergyforum.com/additives/index.html

Then I just google the name of the additive and see if I want to eat it or not. Its surprising some of the rubbish that is in food.
Your safest option are as others have said, cook all your food from scratch. Then you know mostly what you are getting.
Be warned that there are also a lot of little tricks that food manufacturers do to get around listing what they are actually putting in food. For instance to get around using MSG on the label, it could still be in the food in the form of yeast extract, E620 through to E625 etc etc.
Then there are certain Australian supermarkets that add food coloring to their meat products so they look prettier.

I hope that helps

Regards

 

[jazmac]

I live in Aus and I have a little book I try and take with me when I go shopping. It's called "The Chemical Maze shopping companion" Your guide to food additives and cosmetic ingredients. Author is Bill Statham. It's only about $15 but very helpful