Huge grass-roots movement against food additives

Many people talk about artificial additives in our food, drinks and medicines. Parents and carers will often express frustration. Larger organisations have also taken the matter on board.

In fact there is a huge groundswell of support out there from many individuals and organisations who are keen to tackle the issue of artificial additives in our food.

Check out the following key groups:

• The Parents' Jury is very active and includes an online network of parents, grandparents and guardians who are campaigning to ensure our children have healthy food and lifestyles. The team is also putting together a manifesto for the 2013 Federal Election which includes a number of issues relating to healthy food choices and the use of additives.

• The Food Intolerance Network is speerheaded by Sue Dengate who is also the best-selling author of the book Fed Up. The Network focuses on food intolerances and offers advice on how to eliminate additives and other chemicals from our diet. Sue developed the Failsafe diet which is now used by families across Australia and internationally. She has also written a useful summary about artificial colours in the UK and Australia - read the link here.

• The Trusted Trolley aims to help families become more aware of food additives when they shop. The team provides advice on how to avoid additives and preservatives at the supermarket, particularly when shopping for young children.

These three organisations alone have a huge online following, including thousands of Facebook followers.

But there are also many other general parenting groups, websites and blogs which discuss the issue of artificial food additives and also promote a range of healthy food issues. A snapshot is as follows:

• The parenting website, Kidspot Australia, has tackled the issue here
• Nutrition expert and author Catherine Saxelby has written about the issue here.
• Let's Live Additive Free has a website and blog here.

Aldi and other supermarkets have also been phasing out artificial colours and preservatives from their own branded products - see the report here. Sadly, however, many of the major manufacturers have not yet changed their ingredients.

The network of physical and online parenting groups is huge and continues to grow. Many of them keep in touch with each other via Twitter, Facebook and other forums.

Meanwhile many individual parents and guardians face the constant struggle every day to avoid artificial colours and preservatives in their children's food, drinks and medicines.

So why, then, do we still have excessive amounts of additives in so many of our supermarket and speciality foods?

Surely it is time for a change. The groundswell of support is out there so let's take this to the next level and put pressure on our politicians and manufacturers to clean up our food once and for all.

Additives in juice drinks

Many children start to drink fruit juices and juice-type drinks when they are still young. But are these drinks really what they seem?

Fortunately the main fruit juice brands seem to have reduced their dependence on food additives in recent years and have cleaned up their ingredients rather well. Brands like Berri, Just Juice and Golden Circle are all free of artificial colours and E211 preservative.

However other popular brands like the Schweppes Pop Tops range contain both artificial colours and E211, a shocking combination that can lead to significant hyperactivity in some children. The Pop Tops are popular because of their handy size and easy-to-open pop-up lids. They are ideal for children to use without spilling.

Similarly a number of juice drinks in takeaway outlets are also popular - you know the ones with pictures of Spiderman, Dora or Thomas on the front and the ones our children always nag us to have because the pictures look so good. Sadly, however, these also contain artificial colours in them and they can quickly send some children into a hyperactive frenzy.

I remember my own son having some of these drinks during shopping trips in the past. One minute he was fine and then, soon after consuming one of these drinks, he became so hyper, unruly and badly behaved I simply had to abandon my shopping plans and just go home.

The worst thing is that the branding and marketing of these products is so good that parents and children alike are regularly conned into buying them. It is not until we work out the ingredients inside them (apart from all the sugar, of course) that we toughen up and say 'no'.

I would also have hoped that a company like Schweppes would be more responsible with their ingredients. But sadly not.

Cordial drinks also need a cautionary approach.

Most of the Cottees range of cordials (except Pine Lime) are free from artificial colours and E211.

The Golden Circle range (except lime cordial) can also boast on most of its labels that drinks have 'no artificial colours' included in them. However looking at the small print on the back of the bottles reveal they still contains E211 in their ingredients - so they are really not as safe as they try to claim.

Another difficulty is that the ingredient labels on many of these products are so small that you often need a magnifying glass to find them and read them.

But clearly it is vital that we all make the effort to check out the ingredients before giving these drinks to our kids.  Then, if we stop buying those brands with unnecessary additives, we might gradually start seeing companies adjusting to consumer demands.

We can only hope .....!

What is E211?

We talk about artificial colours in our food and drink and we also talk about preservative 211. But what exactly is E211?

Well, it is a chemical preservative used in food, drinks and medicines and is otherwise known as sodium benzoate. A UK study has linked it to hyperactivity in children, especially when combined with artificial colours.

In chemistry terms it is the sodium salt of benzoic acid and can be produced by reacting sodium hydroxide with benzoic acid. 


• Benzoic acid is often used as a food preservative to inhibit the growth of mould
• Sodium hydroxide is also known as caustic soda and is found in many strong and industrial cleaning products

Sodium benzoate is also used in cosmetics and toiletries such as body wash.

It is also used in fireworks as a fast-burning rocket fuel to help produce that famous whistling sound.

Sodium benzoate is clearly, therefore, a very powerful substance.

So, do we really need sodium benzoate in our food? 

Personally my view is a resounding "No." However, many food manufacturers seem to disagree (or not care) as this E211 preservative can be found in numerous products such as sauces, dips, confectionery, fruit juices, fizzy drinks and some medicines. I even found it in a pre-made Christmas cake.

But clearly it is not a necessary additive as many other products seem to do very well without it. Take the most obvious example, the content of fizzy drinks (not that I am advocating fizzy drinks for young children, of course). Some varieties have them and some do not.

It is fascinating to see that Coca-Cola and Pepsi do not have it in their standard cola products. However they do have it in their variants such as Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Pepsi Max. It is also present in Solo (by Schweppes), Sprite (by Coca-Cola) and others. On the other hand, it is not present in Fanta and Lift drinks (both Coca-Cola products).

Interestingly also, Schweppes lemonade is free from E211 if you buy it in a bottle format, but it does contain E211 if you buy it in the canned format.

The flavoured mineral water drinks, with ranges offered by Schweppes and Deep Spring, also contain E211. The new LOL brand of drinks do not.

As for medicines - there are so many cough mixtures which contain E211, as well as children's Panadol, children's Claratyne and others. Yet children's Nurofen and Bisolven cough mixture do not have this preservative.

Clearly my conclusion therefore has to be that this highly questionable preservative is not at all necessary for inclusion in our food. Why must our families be subjected to this additive when it is clearly not needed.

Keep using it in fireworks and cosmetics if you must. But please leave it out of our food, drinks and medicines.

Why avoid artificial food colours?

I talk a lot about the need to avoid artificial food colours and E211 preservative. I hear of other parents who say the same thing.

But why is it so important? Why do we need to make it such a big issue?

Well, it's simple - these artificial food additives affect the way our children live, grow and learn. And to me, that is critical.

The additives in our food have a profound effect on some children, including my son. Even small amounts can send them off to a faraway place where hyperactivity reigns supreme and common sense virtually disappears.

In my son's case, having a dose of these food additives is like putting him on some form of 'party drug' (or so I would imagine). He often jumps around untamed, doesn't listen or think and has no sense of focus or reason.

Many children are active and busy, my son included. But the impact of artificial food colours is so much greater than simply having a busy child. In our case it a major issue because my son seems to move into another realm where he is often difficult to reach. His behaviour goes down hill and his focus is out the window.

And then, when the additive effects finally wear off, he will often collapse in a crumpled heap of tears or tiredness, seemingly unaware of the exhausting trail he has left behind.

My son went through a bad phase in kindergarten a few years ago (before we really got on top of his eating habits). At one point his teacher said to me: "I can always tell when your son is going to have a bad day because I can see it in his eyes when he comes into class."

I've never forgotten that comment, and in hindsight it was so true. His eyes do change when he is on these food additives. They are wider and wilder, they do not focus, and they do not seem to see things quite the same as we do.

The impact of food colours and E211 in those days was significant. He would lose concentration and had no sense of reason, which meant he was always in some sort of trouble. He also became unruly and dysfunctional in class, and he stopped being invited to other children's birthday parties.

More importantly, he did not learn effectively and slipped backwards in class. This was not because he was academically incapable, he is actually quite smart young lad, but it was because he was living in a kind of drug-infused (additive-infused) fog which prevented him for thinking clearly and learning effectively.

Since managing his diet more closely, however, and eliminating all artificial colours and 211 preservative from his food, my son has been much more productive. He is still busy and active but he listens more, he can focus well and he is keen to learn new things.

To me this is a critical factor in why we need to eliminate these negative additives from our food. Yes, it is always good to eat fresher, healthier and additive free, but more importantly we also need to stop inhibiting our children's ability to learn and develop on a social, emotional and academic level.

If we want productive, happy and functioning children who are willing and able to learn and develop, then lets give them a good start and eliminate all those artificial colours and unnecessary preservatives that simply get in the way.

Our modern world is challenging enough. Let's not make it any harder for our children to learn and explore it and establish their own roles within it.

EU food labelling

Wow! If only we had the same labelling laws in Australia as they do in Europe.

Following studies and new regulations, food manufactures in the EU now have to put warning labels on food and drink (non-alcoholic) that contains any of the "Southampton Six" artificial colours.

These six colours are Tartrazine (102), Quinoline yellow (104), Sunset yellow (110), Azorubine / Carmoisine (122), Ponceau 4R (124) and Allura red (129).

From July 2010, the labels must be clearly legible and must carry the warning words "May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children".

The EU, or European Union, has 27 member countries. These include Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Sweden and others.

In Britain the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is also encouraging manufacturers to find alternative ingredients to these artificial colours. Many manufacturers and retailers have therefore been removing these colours from their products voluntarily.

In addition, the British FSA is publishing lists on its website of those food product ranges that do not contain the six critical artificial colours. This is clearly a public 'pat on the back' for companies which produce foods responsibly.

Sadly the equivalent body in Australia, known as Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), does not take the same view or approach as the British and European authorities and does not even appear to acknowledge the impacts that these food additives can have.

More's the pity for many children and families in Australia who feel the challenging impacts of these additives in their food and drinks. Avoiding such products is not always as easy as it sounds.

 

Hyperactivity in kids' medicines

When our children are sick we generally reach for a trusted brand in the medicine cabinet.

But which brands do we really trust?

A number of over-the-counter medicines are available for things like coughs, colds, temperatures, pain relief, hayfever, etc. Many also offer specially-formulated children's versions.

But did you know that many over-the-counter children's medicines contain artificial colours which can cause hyperactivity in some children? Many more also contain the preservative E211, sodium benzoate, which can also cause severe hyperactivity.

The last time I checked, bottles of Children's Panadol offered two options - with or without artificial colours (... as if we need it with!). However all Children's Panadol bottles seem to contain E211 preservative, or sodium benzoate.

This is an appalling inclusion from a so-called trusted medical brand and is not something we expect to deal with when our children get sick.

As an alternative, Nurofen produces a children's version which does not contain artificial colours or E211 preservative (though it does have flavours). This is therefore the only children's pain killer we now allow in our house.

As for cough medicines, stay away from Robitussin if you want to avoid E211. This is identified on the back of the bottle as 'sodium benzoate'.

After we had a pretty wild ride with Robitussin recently (because I forgot to check the small print on the back!) we now use Bisolvon instead. It does not contain artificial colours or E211 and is therefore a much more useable medicine with no real side effects.

As for hayfever treatments - forget it!

I have searched high and low for a children's hayfever treatment which does not contain E211, sodium benzoate. So far I have not found a single one and have now just given up. Instead I give my son half an adult tablet of Claratyne which I figure will do the same job - without the terrible side effects.

I call on all the manufacturers of children's medicines to please be responsible with all your ingredients. If some products do not need these additives then why do we need them at all?

When and why is chocolate blue?

Many of us love chocolate and chocolate milk drinks. But what colour is this drink supposed to be?

Surely it is brown, you say.Chocolate milk is brown. But maybe it is actually blue!

Well, strange as it may seem, some chocolate milk manufacturers choose to add a 'Brilliant Blue' food colouring, known as 133, in our popular chocolate milk drinks.

Ridiculous as this sounds, it is sadly and madly true!

The next time you pick up a container of chocolate milk, check out the ingredients on the back of the bottle or carton. You may be surprised at the common inclusion of the artificial food colour known as Brilliant Blue (133). Sometimes you will also get an additional artificial colour known as Chocolate Brown HT (155). Go figure!

I picked up a bottle of Oak chocolate milk today and saw that it boasted loudly on the front that it had 'no added sugar' in its contents.

That might be so. But hidden on the back was the much smaller admission that it did contain the artificial colours 133 and 155 - otherwise known as Brilliant Blue and an extra dose of Brown HT.

Oak is not alone in its food additives for chocolate milk. Moove and other big brands are also shameless culprits. 

As always, though, my question is why? Why do these big companies think we need to have chocolate products with artificial blue additives? Does it improve the taste, texture or look of the milk? Probably not.

This is particularly pertinent when other brands rely on the natural cocoa content and therefore do not use any artificial colours in their chocolate drinks. These brands include Milo, CalciYum and the Coles-own product. Thank you to these guys for sensible alternatives.

So if some manufacturers can do it without any fuss, why can't the big names like Moove and Oak also do the right thing? We really don't need blue chocolate, or any extra brown stuff either.

Chocolate is just chocolate. Leave it alone. Don't mess with it. Keep it natural and leave the artificial colours out of it.

Blue chocolate indeed!