Which Additives Are Harmful or Helpful?

This day and time there are very few foods that actually reach the grocery stores free from additives. The additives I am speaking of are including preservatives to prevent foods from spoilage, vitamins and minerals, either to replace nutrients that have been lost throughout the food processing stages or to increase nutritional value.

There are other reasons for additives such as coloring for hot dogs to oranges, as well as flavoring to improve taste of certain foods.

Generally speaking in America alone food processors use on average 2,800 additives which by the way are approved by the FDA. Tons and tons of people are still asking about the safety of these additives and the only reply given to us as a public is that there is little evidence that constitutes a major health risk for most people.

Just to interrupt that thought for a moment who gets to weigh out the health risks for MOST people in the first place? What if one of them happened to be one of those people that just by chance had a health issue because of a food additive. Then I suppose things would change. Anyway back to topic.

How ever on a good note, most Americans do get to enjoy history's safest and most abundant assortment of food. The absolutely most common food additives are sugars, corn syrup, and salt. They are all used to enhance flavor and to retard spoilage.

Many other additives offer their own unique health benefits; these include calcium as well as ascorbic acid (vitamin c) vitamin e, beta carotene, and other antioxidants that prevents fats from turning rancid and also may also may protect against cancer, heart disease, as well as other diseases.

The only drawbacks I can see from these additives are a few people may be susceptible to adverse reactions or suffer from an allergic reaction. A very good benefit that may out way the bad is it prevents spoilage and rancidity, enhances flavor and appearance, finally it also boosts your nutritional content.

Sources sited: American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.