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Food Additives
Protect Your Family From Cancer-Causing Chemicals

There are more than 3000 different food additives that are purposefully added to our food supply. Some of them are known to cause cancer!

How is this possible?
Even though the Delaney Clause of the 1958 Food Additives Amendment states that any additives shown to cause cancer in humans or animals are not permitted to be added to our food, political pressure has caused the FDA to relax these standards and allow “small amounts” of cancer causing substances to be used in foods.

But that’s not the worst of it…
Not only are known carcinogens allowed in your food, but certain food additives can cause allergic reactions in some people. Other additives may be harmful to certain groups of people such as pregnant women, infants, people with high blood pressure and people with kidney problems.

There’s even more bad news…
Even if all of the food additives used in our foods were safe individually, rarely does any food have only one additive in it. Testing for additive safety has been done for individual additives, not for combinations of additives. Additives that are safe individually may be harmful in certain combinations. Nobody knows the effects of the many different additives used in the thousands of different combinations.

It’s enough to make you afraid to eat packaged foods of any kind.

How can you protect you and your family?
The good news is…food labels for packaged foods must list the ingredients. The not-so-good news is that finding the ingredients on the label and being able to read them can be a challenge. They’re often hidden under a flap of packaging material in very tiny print, barely readable without a magnifying glass.

And many of the ingredients have extremely long and complicated names like ethyl methyl phenylglycidate or ferric sodium pyrophosphate. Words that don’t mean anything to anyone unless they have a chemistry degree. So even if you pull out your magnifying glass and read the small print, it still wouldn’t do you any good.

Here’s something else to watch out for…“stealth” listing of the ingredients. Often the package has statements like "NATURAL FRUIT FLAVORS, with Real Fruit Juice," or ALL NATURAL INGREDIENTS and NO PRESERVATIVES ADDED. This does not mean there are no harmful additives in the product. There very well could be. By using these words, the manufacturer hopes you'll think these are healthy, natural products and buy them.

The easiest way to protect yourself and your family is to know how to read the labels and what it means as far as your health is concerned. You don’t need a college education to do that. Nor do you need to do hundreds of hours of research. All you need is…
FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper’s Guide To What’s Safe And What’s Not.

The “Rosetta Stone” of Food Label Gobbledygook
Just like the Rosetta Stone enabled historians to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics, FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper’s Guide To What’s Safe And What’s Not enables you to translate the mind-boggling, scientific chemical names of food additives into a simple rating system so that you know what’s safe and what isn’t. It’s small booklet that you can carry in a purse or pocket when you go to the grocery store. You can read the list of ingredients and compare each additive with the additives listed in this book—before you buy.

A Good Rule of Thumb
If the list of ingredients is long, there's probably a lot of chemical additives in the product. It’s best to avoid these foods because of the unknown health effects of combinations of food additives.

If the list of ingredients is short, it may or may not have harmful additives in it. Look it up in FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper’s Guide To What’s Safe And What’s Not before you decide to purchase it.

Ingredients are listed on the label in order of predominance by weight...the ingredient that weighs the most is listed first, the ingredient that weighs the least is listed last. If there’s a questionable additive on the list, the closer it is to the front of the list, the more you put yourself at risk.

Food Additive Safety Codes
The following codes indicate the safety of the additives in the table below. Many additives have more than one code used to describe their safety.

*	GRAS - Generally Recognized As Safe by the FDA.
§	FDA approved colorant
S	There is no known toxicity. The additive appears to be safe.
A	The additive may cause allergic reactions.
C	Caution is advised. The additive may be unsafe, poorly tested, or used in foods we eat too much of.
C1	Caution is advised for certain groups in the population, such as pregnant women, infants, persons with high blood pressure, kidney problems, etc.
X	The additive is unsafe or very poorly tested.

Some Common Food Additives

-	X	-	Acesulfame-K - "Sunette"; may cause low blood sugar attacks; causes cancer, elevated cholesterol in lab animals.
-	X	-	Acesulfame-potassium - same as acesulfame-K.
-	C	-	Animal or vegetable shortening - associated with heart disease, hardening of the arteries, elevated cholesterol levels.
-	X	A	Artificial color FD & C, U.S certified food color - contribute to hyperactivity in children; may contribute to learning and visual disorders, nerve damage; may be carcinogenic; see FD&C Colors.
-	X	A	Artificial flavoring - may cause reproductive disorders, developmental problems; not adequately tested.
-	X	-	Artificial sweeteners - associated with health problems; see specific sweetener.
-	X	-	Aspartame - may cause brain damage in phenylketonurics; may cause central nervous system disturbances, menstrual difficulties; may affect brain development in unborn fetus.
*	X	A	BHA - can cause liver and kidney damage, behavioral problems, infertility, weakened immune system, birth defects, cancer; should be avoided by infants, young children, pregnant women and those sensitive to aspirin.
*	X	A	BHT - see BHA; banned in England.
-	X	A	Brominated vegetable oil - linked to major organ system damage, birth defects, growth problems; considered unsafe by the FDA, can still lawfully be used unless further action is taken by the FDA .
*	X	-	Caffeine - psychoactive, addictive drug; may cause fertility problems, birth defects, heart disease, depression, nervousness, behavioral changes, insomnia, etc.
§	X	-	FD&C Colors – colors considered safe by the FDA for use in food, drugs and cosmetics; most of the colors are derived from coal tar and must be certified by the FDA not to contain more than 10ppm of lead and arsenic; certification does not address any harmful effects these colors may have on the body; most coal tar colors are potential carcinogens, may contain carcinogenic contaminants, and cause allergic reactions.
-	X	-	Free glutamates - may cause brain damage, especially in children; always found in autolyzed yeast, calcium caseinate, enzymes, flavors & flavorings, gelatin, glutamate, glutamic acid, hydrolyzed protein, hydrolyzed soy protein, plant protein extract, protease, protease enzymes, sodium caseinate, textured protein, yeast extract, yeast food and yeast nutrient; may be in barley malt, boullion, broth, carrageenan, malt extract, malt flavoring, maltodextrin, natural flavors, natural chicken flavoring, natural beef flavoring, natural pork flavoring, pectin, seasonings, soy protein, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, soy sauce, soy sauce extract, stock, whey protein, whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate, anything that is enzyme modified, fermented, protein fortified or ultrapasteurized and foods that advertise NO MSG; see MSG.
-	X	A	Hydrogenated vegetable oil - associated with heart disease, breast and colon cancer, atherosclerosis, elevated cholesterol.
-	X	A	Hydrolyzed vegetable protein - may cause brain and nervous system damage in infants; high salt content; may be corn, soy, or wheat based. Contains free glutamates.
*	X	A	MSG - may cause headaches, itching, nausea, brain, nervous system, reproductive disorders, high blood pressure; pregnant, lactating mothers, infants, small children should avoid; allergic reactions common; may be hidden in infant formula, low fat milk, candy, chewing gum, drinks, over-the-counter medications, especially children’s, binders and fillers for nutritional supplements, prescription and non-prescription drugs, IV fluids given in hospitals, chicken pox vaccine; it is being sprayed on growing fruits and vegetables as a growth enhancer; it is proposed for use on organic crops.
-	X	A	Natural flavors - may be chemically extracted and processed and in combination with other food additives not required to be listed on the label; may contain free glutamates; see MSG.
-	X	-	Nitrates - form powerful cancer-causing agents in stomach; can cause death; considered dangerous by FDA but not banned because they prevent botulism.
-	X	-	Nitrites - may cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness; see nitrates.

These are only a few of the thousands of food additives commonly added to our food. For a more complete listing, get a copy of FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper's Guide to What's Safe & What's Not, a handy pocket sized book which classifies over 1000 commonly used food additives as seen above. In just seconds, the average person can find out if an additive in the food they're buying is harmful. It's clear, concise and easy to use.

If healthy eating is important to you and you don’t know if the food additives listed on the labels of the foods you buy are safe for you, you need this book. Make it your constant grocery shopping companion and you'll never again wonder about the safety of the ingredients listed on the package. You'll know.

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Food Additives Protect Your Family From Cancer-Causing Chemicals

Food Additives
Protect Your Family From Cancer-Causing Chemicals