Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
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 Another food additive that has been shown to increase free-radical production is monosodium glutamate or MSG. This additive, used in the majority of processed foods, often in disguised names, has been shown to significantly increase free-radical production, not just in the brain but in many other tissues as well. What makes it particularly dangerous is that this increase in free-radical production persists for prolonged periods of time following even a single dose of MSG an especially dangerous condition for a baby's developing brain, and in the elderly brain as well. |
Mike Adams
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 When MSG is combined with other excitotoxins - namely, aspartame - the destructive results can be compounded:
Unfortunately, MSG is not the only taste enhancing food additive known to cause damage to the nervous system. In fact, there is a whole class of chemicals that can produce very similar damage - they all share one important property. When neurons are exposed to these substances, they become very excited and fire their impulses very rapidly until they reach a state of extreme exhaustion. Several hours later these neurons suddenly die, as if the cells were excited to death. |
| One can only wonder if the large number of people having difficulty with obesity in the United States is related to early exposure to food additive excitotoxins since this obesity is one of the most consistent features of the syndrome. One characteristic of the obesity induced by excitotoxins is that it doesn't appear to depend on food intake. This could explain why some people cannot diet away their obesity. It is ironic that so many people drink soft drinks sweetened with NutraSweet® when aspartate can produce the exact same lesions as glutamate, resulting in gross obesity. |
Jonny Bowden, M.A., C.N.S.
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 Stevia is an herb sold as a food additive, which has basically no downside except a somewhat weird aftertaste that some people don't mind at all. You can get it at any health food store.
Note that the only ones you can cook with are Sweet'n Low, Sugar Twin, Sunette, and Splenda.
Is Fructose Okay?
No. Fructose doesn't raise blood sugar a lot, so it used to be thought of as the perfect sweetener for diabetics. Bad idea. Even though it doesn't raise blood sugar very fast, it induces insulin resistance in both animals and humans. |
by Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D.
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| This council has concluded that "until there is firm evidence of its [saccharin's] carcinogenicity in humans, saccharin should continue to be available as a food additive." However, if saccharin poses no benefit to health, as studies have shown, and there is a cloud of doubt that hangs over its safety, why should it be used?
Aspartame is composed of aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. Aspartame was approved for food use by the FDA in 1981, despite the final recommendation of the FDA Advisory Panel on aspartame that no approval be granted until safety issues could be resolved. |
Mike Adams
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| Reif-Lehrer became especially concerned in 1976 when she encountered three children whose serious symptoms were traced to this food additive. The first case involved a child who developed "shudder" attacks at the age of six months when he was started on adult foods. The attacks continued and the child was thought to have a form of epilepsy. Yet the medications ordinarily used for seizures were ineffective in his case. These symptoms of "shudder-shiver" were finally traced to MSG in the child's diet. The symptoms soon stopped after the diet was changed. |
Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
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| This is also demonstrated in the experiments using carrageenan, a very powerful inflammatory substance and food additive (used as a thickener). When even small amounts of carrageenan are injected near developing tumors in animals, tumor growth, and eventual metastasis, increases dramatically.257 Carrageenan is usually found in baked goods, some breads, and ice cream. |
| The use of MSG as a food additive can be traced to Asian antiquity, when cooks used a variety of seaweed called sea tangle to make a starch used in traditional recipes. The connection between the flavor improvement produced by the seaweed and glutamate (which had been isolated as early as 1866) was discovered in 1908 at a Tokyo university. The Japanese began production immediately, and by the 1940s, MSG was being produced in North America from corn and wheat gluten.
The MSG added to food these days is produced by fermenting sugar beet molasses. |
Mike Adams
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| John Olney and his efforts to warn the FDA about the potential dangers of this food additive:
When Dr. John Olney discovered the harmful effects of food borne MSG on the brains of developing animals he attempted to alert the FDA concerning this danger. He assumed that they would welcome his information with open arms and open minds. But he was soon to learn that government protected industries can be formidable foes. Dr. Olney stated that soon after he had published the results of his experimental findings on the toxicity of MSG in 1969 he came under tremendous fire from various directions. |
Bruce Fife and Jon J. Kabara
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 Hydrogenated oil is a product of technology and may be the most destructive food additive currently in common use. If you eat margarine, shortening, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils (common food additives), then you are consuming trans fatty acids.
Many of the foods you buy in the store and in restaurants are prepared with or cooked in hydrogenated oil. Fried foods sold in grocery stores and restaurants are usually cooked in hydrogenated oil. Many frozen, processed foods are cooked or prepared in hydrogenated oils. |
Neal D. Barnard and Bryanna Clark Grogan
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 It is sold as a dietary supplement (its use as a commercial food additive has not yet been approved).
Sucralose (Splenda) is a calorie-free sweetener made from cane sugar to which chlorine has been chemically added, greatly increasing the sweetness of the final product. Sugar alcohols, such as mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol, are low-calorie sweeteners sometimes used in candies, chewing gum, and desserts. They have about half the calories of table sugar. There are, of course, other artificial sweeteners. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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 Xylitol is recognized as a safe food additive by the U.S. government.7 Large amounts (30 to 40 grams) taken all at once can produce diarrhea and intestinal gas. fective.6 Trials using forms other than zinc gluconate, zinc gluconate-glycine, or zinc acetate have failed, as have trials that use insufficient amounts of zinc.7 Therefore, until more is known, people should only use zinc gluconate, zinc gluconate-glycine, or zinc acetate.
Zinc reduces the body's ability to utilize the essential mineral copper (page 499). |
Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
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 Even low doses of a Japanese soy-based "natural food additive" called daiichi caused calcification and necrosis of the renal papillae, which are the pointy tips of the pyramidal structures of the brown, inner region of the kidney known as the medulla.81
SCI-PHY
The soy industry has heavily publicized the most promising of the phytate studies, and although the phytates in wheat, rice or other beans would do as well, has urged consumers to eat lots of soy foods. |
Muhammed Majeed, Ph.D. Vladimir Badmaev, M.D., Ph.D. Uma Shivakumar, Ph.D. R. Rajendran, M.S.
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| Turmeric, which belongs to a group of aromatic spices, was originally used as a food additive in curries to improve the storage conditions, palatability, and presentation of food. Long before the time of cheaper synthetic food preservatives, spices like turmeric played a vital role as food additives and were valued more than gold and precious stones.
In Ayurveda, turmeric has been used internally as a stomachic, tonic and blood purifier, and externally in the prevention and treatment of skin diseases.1'2345 Half to one gram, twice a day, was given for flatulence and dyspepsia. |
Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
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 It is found in nature and is a legal food additive in most countries. Dutch scientists found seven patients who had gold-colored specks in their eyes, yet none of them had taken canthaxanthin-containing drugs. Leiden scientists speculated that canthaxanthin used as a food additive could have caused these spots. Some people might therefore have a "high individual tendency" to develop such crystal deposits (18).
1. Gupta AK, et al. Canthaxanthin. Int J Dermatol.l985;24:528-32.
2. Bendich A and Shapiro SS. Effect of beta-carotene and canthaxanthin on the immune responses of the rat. J Nutr. |
Jeffrey M. Smith
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 Druker says that this preferential treatment violates the FDA's own regulations, which state that tests on new foods (such as those produced through genetic engineering) "require the same quantity and quality of scientific evidence as is required to obtain approval of the substance as a food additive."29
Mixed Agendas, Problems with Personnel
The approval of GM foods is better appreciated in light of the perennial challenges faced by the FDA. The agency regulates 35 percent of the gross national product, but its budget and resources are tiny by comparison. |
Sheldon Saul Hendler
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 Lecithin is a widely used food additive found in ice cream, margarine and mayonnaise, among others. It is the bridge that joins water to the fats in these products and thus helps maintain their consistency. This is because phospholipids have the ability to associate with both water and lipids which are not soluble in water. Lecithin is one of the few truly nutritious agents used as a food additive. It is also a protector against oxidant damage.
Phosphatidylcholine in food is our major source for the nutrient choline. Choline is extremely important for human health. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 MSG
MSG is a food additive that enhances flavors in food while having virtually no flavor of its own. How it adds flavor to other foods is not fully understood, but people do experience a more intense flavor from food containing MSG. Many scientists believe that MSG stimulates glutamate receptors in the tongue to augment meatlike flavors. It is a simple, inexpensive way for the food industry to enhance flavors, mask unwanted tastes, and hide undesirable flavors in foods.
MSG is the sodium salt of the amino acid glutamic acid and a form of glutamate. |
Committee on Comparative Toxicity of Naturally Occurring Carcinogens
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 Depending upon circumstances of processing or packaging, the same chemical can be a direct, indirect, or nonintentional food additive.
Direct, or intentional, food additives are chemicals or compounds, natural or synthetic, added deliberately to make some change in the food product, e.g., to add color, to preserve, or to provide a nutritional supplement (see Table 3-1).
Indirect additives are chemicals or compounds present but not added deliberately to change a product. Pesticides can be classified based on their use. |
David Hoffman, FNIMH, AHG
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 Gum arabic, a common food additive, is composed of highly branched arabinogalactan. Arabinogalactans are also found in medicinal plants, such as Echinacea spp., and in the medicinal mushroom Gano-derma lucidum. Arabinogalactans are thought to contribute to the immune-enhancing activities of such herbs.
Larch arabinogalactan is a mixture of several different arabinogalactans mainly derived from the wood of the western larch (Larix occidentals) but also present in other species of larch. |
Peter Pringle
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 But Calgene's regulatory staff balked; food additive petitions took three years to get approved, and Calgene was in a hurry.27 It asked for an advisory opinion, a more general request in which the marker gene could be referred to as a "processing aid." This was normally a faster route to approval, and none of the safety data had to be published—or included on food labels.
Looking at the possibility that the nptll gene could become harmful once it reached the human gut, the FDA wanted to know how many nptll genes would be in the Calgene tomato when it arrived in food stores. |
Robert W. Hill, Ph.D. and Eduardo Castro, M.D.
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 We do not believe that food additive exposure is the cause of ADD, but there is a significant percentage of children in whom food additives are detrimental and can produce a range of problems that may mimic or worsen ADD. The numerous non-profit Feingold-based organizations and parent support groups that robustly continue to propound his ideas give one indication of the usefulness his approach has had in the lives of many children.
Dr. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 2Michael T. Murray, ND
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| Successful treatment of urticaria due to food additive with sodium cromoglycate and an exclusion diet. In: Pepys J, Edwards RH, eds. The mast cell, its role in health and disease. Tunbridge Wells, UK: Pitman Medical. 1979
26. Meynadier J, Guilhou J, Meynadier J et al. Chronic urticaria. Ann Derm Venereol 1979; 106: 153-158
27. Lindemayr H, Schmidt J. Intolerance to acetylsalicylic acid and food additives in patients suffering from chronic urticaria. Wien Klin Wochenschr 1979; 91: 817-822
28. Mikkelsen H, Larsen JC, Tarding F. |
Peter Pringle
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| The greens wanted the new foods treated as though they contained a food additive, meaning that each new product would have to undergo a separate test, causing extra expenses and delays. They also argued that consumers deserved to know what they were getting and that the new product should be labeled. The prospect of required labeling was a nightmare to food processors trying to protect their brands from anything that might raise consumer worries about GM foods. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 2Michael T. Murray, ND
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| There are, however, much more consistent results in double-blind studies that examined the relationship between food and food additive allergies and behav-jor 19,20,32,33 ^Yhjjg artificial colorings and preservatives are the most common provoking substances in two of these studies, no child was sensitive to these alone.19,20 This suggests that, since food sensitivities provoke psychological symptoms, elimination of just food additives from the diet is inadequate. |
Patrick Quillin, PhD,RD,CNS
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 Animals fed one food additive showed no harmful effects. Animals fed two of the food additives exhibited balding scruffy fur, diarrhea, and retarded weight gain. Animals fed all three additives all died within 2 weeks.8 The take-home lesson is that poisons probably amplify each other's toxicity in logarithmic fashion. Given the cavalier spirit with which Americans have nonchalantly discarded and intentionally added toxins to our air, food and water supply; synergistic toxicity gives me an uneasy feeling about the future health of our nation. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 1Michael T. Murray, ND
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| While an extremist might argue that no food additive is safe, many food additives fulfill important functions in the modern day food supply. Some compounds approved as additives are natural in origin and possess health-promoting properties, while others are synthetic compounds with known cancer-causing effects. Obviously, the most sensible approach is to focus on whole, natural foods and avoid foods which are highly processed.
Coloring agents
The total annual consumption of food colors in the US is approximately 100 million pounds for the entire population. |
Sheldon Saul Hendler
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| To avoid further confusion (I hope), I will use the term phosphatidylcholine when I mean pure lecithin, and lecithin when I refer to the typical product sold in health food stores and used as a food additive. This lecithin, as mentioned above, usually contains 10 to 20 percent of the real thing: phosphatidylcholine.
Lecithin is a widely used food additive found in ice cream, margarine and mayonnaise, among others. It is the bridge that joins water to the fats in these products and thus helps maintain their consistency. |
Muhammed Majeed, Ph.D. Vladimir Badmaev, M.D., Ph.D. Uma Shivakumar, Ph.D. R. Rajendran, M.S.
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| Curcuminoids — Toxicology and Safety
For centuries, turmeric has been used as a food additive, medicinal agent, cosmetic and fabric dye, without harboring known side effects. This record of safety has been one of the deciding factors that allowed the FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives to approve curcuminoids as natural food coloring substance.105106 Turmeric is listed by the U.S. FDA as an herb generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for its intended use as a spice, seasoning and flavoring agent (21 CFR 100.0, 182.10, 182.20).
1. |
Brenda Davis and Tom Barnard
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 Indeed, it has been labeled an "unsafe food additive," and a search-and-seizure campaign and full-fledged "import alert" have been issued against it. Although since 1994 stevia can be legally marketed as a dietary supplement, any reference to its use as a sweetener is strictly prohibited. Why? There are two schools of thought on this issue. The first is that there is not sufficient evidence supporting stevia's safety to approve it for widespread use. This is the view currently held by the FDA, Health Canada, and CSPI. |
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