'Artificial colourings as harmful as leaded petrol for children'

'Artificial colourings as harmful as leaded petrol for children'

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"Artificial colourings could be removed from hundreds of food products after researchers found that they may be almost as harmful to children's development as leaded petrol.

The additives, found in a host of sweets and soft drinks, have been linked to behavioural problems. But a team at Southampton University, carrying out a £750,000 study for the Food Standards Agency, (FSA) suggested seven colourings, including tartrazine and sunset yellow, could also affect children's intelligence by up to five IQ points.

The board of the FSA, the industry's governing body, will meet on Thursday to consider recommendations from its officials that manufacturers should voluntarily remove six of the E numbers from their products while further research is carried out on the seventh, sodium benzoate. They would be urged to use natural replacements.

The Southampton study was published in September but the FSA ignored calls for swift action after the Committee on Toxicology said additives had only a moderate effect on some children.

Claims that the colourings were virtually as damaging as lead emerged when the leader of the research, Professor Jim Stevenson, wrote to the FSA demanding immediate action."

"The additives linked to hyperactive behaviour are:

• Tartrazine (E102): Yellow food colouring found in mushy peas and candy floss, banned from all foods and drinks for under-threes.

• Quinoline yellow (E104): Food colouring found in squash, flu capsules

• Sunset yellow (E110): Orange yellow colouring found in bubble gum and jelly babies.

• Carmoisine (E122): Red food colouring found in throat lozenges

• Ponceau 4R (E124): Red food colouring found in pear drops and bombay mix

• Allura red (E129): Red food colouring found in fruit jelly sweets and lollipops.

• Sodium benzoate (E211): Artificial preservative found in squash, fizzy drinks and cough syrup"

Further fears over E211 and other E-numbers as evidence accumulates about food additives.

E211 Revealed: Evidence highlights new fear over drinks additive - Independent on Sunday

It's best to read the whole, detailed article, but here is an extract:

"The Independent on Sunday's revelations focus on another potential side-effect of soft drinks and one that may have much longer-term implications.

The substance is known as E211, or sodium benzoate, and the findings of Professor Peter Piper, from Sheffield University, represent another challenge to the already blemished reputation of food additives.

New studies have emerged over the past few years that call into question whether E-numbers approved for use in Europe are as harmless as regulators and the food industry suggest.

The most famous of them all is probably E621 - monosodium glutamate, the "flavour enhancer" found in many takeaways and pasties.

In all, the EU sanctions 395 additives: 71 thickeners and emulsifiers, 64 colours, 54 preservatives, 54 antioxidants, 54 anti-caking agents and acidity regulators, 52 miscellaneous, 27 additional chemicals, and 19 flavour enhancers.

Some additives are just innocuous everyday things such as E601 (vitamin B2) and E901 (beeswax), but others have properties that alarm university professors.

Perhaps the most controversial are the "azo dyes", a series of vivid yellow and orange colourings that give a lurid colour to fruit squash, fizzy drinks, sweets, jelly, cakes and other foods often eaten by children. The best-known azo dyes are sunset yellow (E110), quinoline (E104), and tartrazine (E102).

Professor Piper's research touches on a common preservative, sodium benzoate, which is found in everything from Fanta to barbecue sauce.

For some time, there have been fears about the ability of sodium benzoate to form benzene (a carcinogenic chemical) when it reacts with another preservative in soft drinks, ascorbic acid (vitamin C)."

Do your health a big favour! - Stop eating salt - or at any rate, cut down on it seriously.

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Fanta, Pepsi Max and some other soft drinks may be damaging your health because they contain E211 (sodium benzoate).

Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health - Independent on Sunday

Extract:

"A new health scare erupted over soft drinks last night amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.

The problem - more usually associated with ageing and alcohol abuse - can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.

The findings could have serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who consume fizzy drinks. They will also intensify the controversy about food additives, which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.

Concerns centre on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a preservative used for decades by the £74bn global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. It is also added to pickles and sauces.

Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. A Food Standards Agency survey of benzene in drinks last year found high levels in four brands which were removed from sale.

Now, an expert in ageing at Sheffield University, who has been working on sodium benzoate since publishing a research paper in 1999, has decided to speak out about another danger. Professor Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, tested the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his laboratory. What he found alarmed him: the benzoate was damaging an important area of DNA in the "power station" of cells known as the mitochondria.

He told The Independent on Sunday: "These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether."

As far as cirrhosis of the liver and many other degenerative diseases are concerned, the best way to reduce the risk of developing them is to stop eating salt and salty food. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Food additives that could be damaging your children

Warning over food additives - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Parents are being advised to cut several food additives commonly found in sweets and soft drinks from their children’s diets until the publication of a new study which is expected to link the “E numbers” to behavioural problems.

The latest study, conducted for the Food Standards Agency (FSA), is thought likely to back up earlier research which raised doubts about the safety of some food colourings and a widely-used preservative. "

"A source at the university told the food industry magazine The Grocer last week that their findings supported those of another FSA study seven years ago, which linked the additives to problems such as hyperactivity, lack of concentration, temper tantrums and allergic reactions. "

"The colours, tested on three year olds and eight-to-nine year olds, were tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), quinoline yellow (E104) and allura red AC (E129). The preservative tested was sodium benzoate (E211), which is found in many sweets, drinks and processed foods in the UK.

The additives are all approved for use by the EU, although some of the colours are banned in the US and Scandinavian countries.

The Hyperactive Children’s Support Group (HACSG), a charity which advocates a dietary approach to the problem of hyperactivity, has long recommended that some of them should be completely withdrawn from children’s diets. "

You can further protect your children's health by minimising their intake of salt. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)