Should you avoid food additives? Here's what to know

Food additives play a critical role in the food industry. Additives include colorings, flavor enhancers and preservatives. There are many benefits of food additives, yet there are ongoing concerns among consumers about their safety.

How are food additives regulated?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates and approves all food additives. Before any food additive is approved, it must undergo extremely rigorous testing. The testing and evaluation of each proposed additive is carried out over many years, and on multiple species of animals.

Once a food additive is approved, the FDA sets an acceptable daily intake (ADI), and specifies the conditions under which the additive may be used.

The FDA continues to monitor the safety of food additives after they have been approved and used.

Are food additives harmful?

If any new evidence comes to light that an additive may be harmful, the FDA can ban its use.

In 1958 the FDA incorporated the Delaney Clause , which states, “No substance shall be added to foods that is known to cause cancer in animals or humans, at any dose, no matter how small.”

This created many problems. As a result, the FDA was forced to ban additives that it knew were safe and which had been consumed for decades without any known adverse effects.

One example is the artificial sweetener saccharin, used in Sweet & Low. A Canadian study in 1977 showed that laboratory animals developed bladder tumors when fed extremely high doses of saccharin. This amount was equivalent to an adult human being consuming 850 cans of saccharin-sweetened diet soda every day over an 80-year lifespan before the first sign of a tumor was seen.

As unrealistic as that is, it nevertheless forced the FDA to remove it from the market. Due to a large public outcry, the FDA finally allowed it back on the market, but with a warning label (which has now been removed.)

Subsequent studies failed to show any connection between the sweetener and cancer. It is widely accepted now that the Canadian study was flawed.

Many similar situations finally led to the repeal of the Delaney Clause. It was replaced by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. This act requires reasonable certainty that no harm will result from ingestion of, or exposure to, the additive. It sets a “negligible risk” standard of one in a million for all possible carcinogens.

What are some common food additives?

Examples of food additives that have been the subject of public concern include nitrates and Red Dye #3.

Sodium nitrate is added to deli meats, hot dogs, bacon, sausage, and ham.

Nitrates are added to prevent bacterial spoilage, particularly the species that produces botulism. The amount as tiny as a crystal of salt can kill an adult within an hour. No other preservative is known to do the job of nitrate. Due to the risk of botulism, the proposed ban was suspended by the FDA, but limits have been set on quantities that can be used.

To put this in perspective, nitrates occur naturally in the human body and in the foods we eat. It is present in human saliva, and in green leavy vegetables such as spinach, kale, and arugula.

Human saliva contains over three times the amount of nitrites allowed in cured meats. Raw spinach contains 200 times the amount allowed.

Red #3 is used in foods such as hard candies, chewing gum, certain beverages, baked goods, and cherries. In one study It was found to produce thyroid tumors in rats. This created fear among consumers, and as a result, many companies removed it from their products, even though it wasn’t banned by the FDA.

In 1976 the makers of M&Ms stopped producing red ones due to bad publicity surrounding Red #3. Red M&Ms were not reintroduced until 1987. They are now colored with Red #40.

The reason the FDA never banned Red #3 is because the amount used in the research study was equivalent to a human consuming 2000 one-pound of fruit cocktail every single day for 70 years before the first tumor developed.

Should I be concerned about food additives?

The risk is extremely negligible. What we should really be focused on and concerned about are the big three: salt, sugar, and fat. Study after study for many years have confirmed the negative health consequences resulting from excess consumption of these three.

But that’s the subject of another column.  Stay tuned!

Susie Bond is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist in private practice. Visit susiebondnutrition.com or email susiebondnutrition@gmail.com .

Susie's previous columns:

Nutrition for Today: Wild-caught seafood not necessarily better than farm-raised

Nutrition for Today: If you want to be healthy, you just need to follow these guidelines

Nutrition for Today: Want to be a part of the green smoothie trend? Here's what to know

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Should you avoid food additives? Here's what to know