Benefits and risks of food additives?
This is a graph to show some recurrent allergies for people living in UK and how they compare with bad reactions with food. These are the reactions that happen when you have food additives also showing the reported reactions per 1000 people in the UK. You can see at the moment that there are a lot of reactions towards food.
The above graph I got it from this following website
The above website I personally think is reliable and trustworthy due to the fact that it is checked by the government and by reading the information you know that it is reliable.
Below, you can see the benefits and risks of food additives:
E-numbers and why they are used?
E-numbers are simply a systematic way of identifying different food additives. Before a food additive is given an E-number it must first be cleared by the European food safety authority. This shows that it can be used safely in foods. An E-number is only given to an additive that has passed all the safety checks.
European Union (EU) legislation requires most additives used in foods to be labeled clearly in the list of ingredients, either by name or by an E number. This allows you to avoid foods containing specific additives if you wish. Giving an additive an E number means that it has passed safety tests and has been approved for use here and in the rest of the EU.
I got this information from
I think it is a reliable website because it is checked by the government and also a food standard agency website.
Different types of food additives?
Below, this table will show the different types of food additives and what their cause is in the food. Each additive has a different cause, also it will show the E-numbers.
The two main food colourings
There are two major types of food colouring, ones extracted naturally or ones created synthetically. Natural food dyes are much more varied and abundant and include: Natural food dyes are much more varied and abundant and include:
- Caramel colouring, made from caramelized sugar, used in cola products and also in cosmetics.
- Annatto, a reddish-orange dye made from the seed of the Achiote.
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A green dye made from the chlorophyll of chlorella algae
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Cochineal, a red dye derived from the cochineal insect, Dactylopius coccus.
- Betanin, a deep reddish colour extracted from beets.
I got this information from This is reliable because I have got the same information on different websites.
Health risks of food colourings
All additives in the UK and Europe are controlled by law, and can only be used following stringent tests and approval by an independent committee of scientists and medical experts.
However, some scientists have linked additives - particularly tartrazine or E102 - to hyperactivity in children, allergies, asthma, migraines and even cancer.
The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) believes more research is needed before any firm link is established between additives and allergic reactions. But it does not rule out the possibility. Dr Schenker said that if people noticed a reaction they should simply cut the offending item out of their diet.
However, according to The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a US organisation that campaigns for food safety, many additives should be avoided for health grounds.
I got this information from This is a reliable website because it is a national website.
For and against food additives
There are a lot of for and against reasons and a lot of people give their views whether or not food additives are safe. But does the reasons for the for and against weigh up.
Reasons why food additives should not be banned
- They help increase shelf –life by protecting foods against deterioration e.g. preservatives are added to food to make them stop mould and bacteria.
- Colours are replaced to natural colour lost during processing or storage, they also add colour to make the food products look good.
- Flavourings are usually added in very small amounts, they give a particular taste or smell.
- Emulsifiers and stabilizers give food an even texture.
I got this information from the GCSE text book, this is reliable because it is written by the science teacher and checked by the exam board.
Reasons why food additives should be banned
- You can get allergies from food additives
- Children can get hyper-active
- Sweeteners are bad in diet drinks
- You can get cancer
No more blue smarties
Nestlé Smarties are a colorful sugar-coated chocolate confectionery popular all over the world. They have been manufactured since at least 1882 originally by H.I. Rowntree & Co
Smarties come in eight colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, pink and brown, although the blue variety was temporarily replaced by a white variety in some countries, while an alternative natural colouring dye of the blue colour was being researched.smarties have too many sugar and this makes children hyper-active.
I got this information from this is a reliable website because it is checked by the government.
Hyperactivity in children
It might be hard for your doctor to tell if your child has ADHD particularly if your child is not hyperactive. For this reason, your doctor may want you and your child to see someone who has a great deal of experience working with ADD/ADHD since there are many conditions that can look like ADD/ADHD. Many children with ADHD aren't hyperactive and those who are may not be hyperactive in the doctor's office. Information about your child's behaviour needs to be collected from different people who know your child including your child's teachers or anyone else who is familiar with your child's behaviour. Food additives make young children hyper-active these are the behaviours that happened.
I got this information from this is a reliable website because it is checked by the government.
Hyperactivity is a general term of describing behaviour difficulties these are the different difficulties:
Memory
Movement
Language
Emotional respond
Learning
Conclusion
Overall, I personally think that food additives should not be banned as there are a lot of benefits such as; it persuades customers to buy food which looks more attractive. On the other hand, there are risks to food additives as I have mentioned before and have used many sources to back it up; food additives can make children become hyperactive, also can give allergies. However, people may think I am wrong as they may have different viewpoints about this topic. In my viewpoint I would banned the sweeteners because they make children hyper-active and they have a bad effect for your body. The sources that I used have benefits for food additives and against food additives the benefits are to attract more people to buy food, risks are you can get allergies.
Bibliography
The sources I used were:
date found: 28/02/10
date found: 28/02/10
date found: 28/02/10
date found: 29/02/10
date found: 28/02/10
date found: 1/03/10
I also got some information from GCSE text books (science core) page 72 date found: 1/03/10.
I found these websites reliable because they are checked by the government and some of the information that I found was the same on different websites. I found some of the information from the GCSE text book, reliable because it was written by the science teachers and checked by the government.
