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WE EAT IT THINKING IT’S HEALTHY, BUT THE CONTENTS ARE SHOCKING! ADDITIVES IN FOOD.
The risks posed by additives in foods are issues that many people lack or know incorrectly. Even the foods we consume thinking are healthy have more than one additive. Turkey Medicals member and hospital department, Food Engineer warned against the hidden danger even in bananas.
Substances added to maintain or improve the safety, freshness, taste, texture or appearance of food are known as food additives. Although it is believed that food additives entered our lives with modernization and industrialization, in fact, their history goes back thousands of years.
Since ancient times, people have used food additives to flavor dishes, improve their quality and prevent their deterioration. For example, the Egyptians used dyes and flavors, the Romans used chemicals such as potassium nitrate and spices as preservatives. Our ancestors used salt to preserve meat and fish, added herbs and spices to improve the taste of food, and fruits could be stored for a long time by canning.
So what are the most common food additives we encounter today? How are additives used in which foods in order to improve the taste, change the consistency of the product or extend its life? What foods that we consume healthily or eat without noticing have additives in them?
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FOOD ADDITIVES ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 CATEGORIES
Technological additives food only when there is a need, consumers trust, and maintain the nutritional quality of foods should be used when emphasizing that serves to function as improving the stability of food or food engineer, “food additives, plants, animals or minerals can be obtained from, or may be synthetic. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Authority group food additives into 3 broad categories according to their functions,” she said and listed them as follows:
Flavorings: These substances, which are added to foods to improve their aroma or taste, make up the largest part of the additives used in foods. There are hundreds of its varieties, which are used in a wide range of foods, from confectionery and soft drinks to cereals, cakes and yogurt. Natural decongestants include mixtures of nuts, fruits and spices, as well as those obtained from vegetables. There are also those that are identical to nature or artificial.
Enzyme preparations: they are most often used in bakery (to improve the dough), juice production (to increase yields), wine and beer making (to improve fermentation) and cheese making (to improve clot formation).
Other additives: They are used for various reasons such as protection, coloring and flavoring. They are added during the preparation of food, its packaging, transportation or storage, and eventually become a component of food.
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PRESERVATIVES PREVENT FOOD FROM SPOILING
Stating that preservatives can slow down the deterioration caused by mold, air, bacteria or yeast, emphasizes that, more importantly, preservatives help to control the risks that can cause foodborne diseases, including life-threatening botulism.
“Colorants are used to improve the colors lost during production or to make Turkish foods look more attractive. For example, the color of butter varies depending on the production season, what the animal is fed with, but the use of colorants in production is allowed to meet the consumer’s expectation of color,” she says.
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EVEN UNPROCESSED FOODS CONTAIN ADDITIVES
Stating that the food additives used to improve the taste, change the consistency of the product or extend the life of the product are not used randomly, is said, “Food additives have important roles determined by the international scientific community. These foods are harmful to our health microbes and oxidation (oxidation in foods, one of the major distortions and unwanted taste-in addition to the smell, causes the formation of harmful compounds for human health) and retain the nutritional value of food sensory properties (taste, smell, color, texture) to protect and study a wide range of development ranging from” in the form of comments.
Continuing to list the benefits of food additives, she notes that they also have functions such as standard composition, long shelf life, product diversity and strengthening with dietary fibers, vitamins and minerals. He also says that we encounter food additives in most foods, but there are fewer food additives that are allowed to be used in unprocessed foods, for example, water, fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh meat.
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ARE FOOD ADDITIVES HARMFUL?
Food additives, as it is not hazardous when used in accordance to the legal regulations, indicating that it is useful “food additives of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (who), Joint United Committee of experts on food additives (JECFA) is managed by. In addition to the rules established by the JECFA, the use of the relevant food additive is also allowed if the international food and health authorities such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have a consensus. The legal regulations in our country are compatible with the EU,” she explains.
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THE ABSENCE OF ADDITIVES IS A DANGER!
To give an example of the words of Paracelsus, known as the founder of modern medicine, “Every substance is poison, it is the dose that distinguishes medicine from poison”, emphasized the importance of “dose” in the conditions of use of additives. was explained the stages according to which additives are determined as follows:
“First of all, the value that will not affect any organ or physiological system is determined when consumed every day for life in the most sensitive experimental animal for the additive under study. This value is divided by the safety factor in order to find the level at which its use as a food additive will be allowed. The safety factor is applied at least 100, if there is uncertainty, this is further increased. That is, the permissible level of use of the food additive, which meets all safety conditions, is 1 in 100 of the dose, without which no negative effects are observed even in the most sensitive case. In addition, regardless of the dose, no cancer-causing and/or genotoxic (gene-damaging) food additives are approved for use,” she said.
“If we remove food additives from our lives today, we may face an increase in chronic diseases, epidemics, famine and nutritional deficiencies, is warned, ”Food additives are safe for a healthy individual if consumed in accordance with regulations and at the recommended dose,” she said.
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IT CAN BE SEEN FROM THIS CODE ON THE LABEL!
The use of food additives is allowed in accordance with the requirement of many foods, including fresh fruits, vegetables, meats. Emphasizing that we need to improve our food literacy in order to see these things, says that the E codes on the labels should be taken into account in order to understand the safety of additives in foods.
“The E codes on the labels are the international nomenclature given to food additives that have been determined to be safe to use by going through scientific processes. There are many superstitions regarding the E codes, whereas many natural foods also contain naturally occurring substances that have been approved as food additives. For example, apples are riboflavin (E 101), carotenes (E 160a), anthocyanins (E 163), acetic acid (e 260), ascorbic acid (E 300), citric acid (e 330), tartaric acid ( 334 e) acid equivalent (E 363), glutamic acid (e 620), and L-cysteine (E 920) is close to” outlined in the form.
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EVEN IN A BANANA
Stating that everything in nature is made up of chemicals, explained that if the list of ingredients of a banana, such as foods produced in plants, were to be published, the image we would encounter would be as follows:
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WHY DO WE NEED FOOD ADDITIVES?
Listed the reasons why food additives, which we all know as harmful, are needed as follows:
– Preventing the development of disease-causing microorganisms in food,
– Maintaining the nutritional value of food,
– Special production for people with specific dietary needs,
– Increasing the nutritional value by strengthening it with substances that will have a positive effect on health, such as fiber, vitamins, minerals,
– A longer shelf life,
– Prevention of food waste,
– To improve the textural properties, taste, color of food,
– Providing food diversity,
– Prevent unwanted reactions such as oxidation that pose a health risk,
– Technological necessity during the processing of food.
– Packaged foods increase the risk of cancer.
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NUTS, BUTTER, TOMATO PASTE AND HERBAL MIXTURES
Food Engineer in Antalya, emphasized that we should never enter open, uncontrolled and unpacked products into our home in order to be able to choose according to both food safety and the list of ingredients and said:
Of course, I’m not talking about fruits and vegetables on the sunday market, but again, open nuts, butter, tomato paste, plant mixtures in the markets are risky. They contain question marks such as how and when they were produced, how they were stored, and what was in them.”
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Turkey's world-renowned organ transplant specialist. Dr. Demirbaş has 104 international publications and 102 national publications.
Physician's Resume:
Born on August 7, 1963 in Çorum, Prof. Dr. Alper Demirbaş has been continuing his work as the President of MedicalPark Antalya Hospital Organ Transplantation Center since 2008.
Prof. who performed the first tissue incompatible kidney transplant in Turkey, the first blood type incompatible kidney transplant, the first kidney-pancreas transplant program and the first cadaveric donor and live donor liver transplant in Antalya. Dr. As of August 2016, Alper Demirbaş has performed 4900 kidney transplants, 500 liver transplants and 95 pancreas transplants.
In addition to being the chairman of 6 national congresses, he has also been an invited speaker at 12 international and 65 national scientific congresses. Dr. Alper Demirbaş was married and the father of 1 girl and 1 boy.
Awards:
Eczacibasi Medical Award of 2002, Akdeniz University Service Award of 2005, Izder Medical Man of the Year Award of 2006, BÖHAK Medical Man of the Year Award of 2007, Sabah Mediterranean Newspaper Scientist of the Year Award of 2007, ANTIKAD Scientist of the Year Award of 2009, Social Ethics Association Award of 2010, Işık University Medical Man of the Year Award of 2015, VTV Antalya's Brand Value Award of 2015.
Certificates:
Doctor of Medicine Degree Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Ankara, General Surgeon Ministry of Health Turkey EKFMG (0-477-343-8), University of Miami School of Medicine Member of Multiple Organ Transplant, ASTS Multiorgan Transplant Scholarship. Lecturer at Kyoto University. Lecturer at University of Essen, Research assistant at the University of Cambridge .
Professional Members:
American Society of Transplant Surgeons, American Transplantation Society Nominated, Middle East and Southern Africa Council Transplantation Society 2007, International Liver Transplantation Association, Turkish Transplantation Association, Turkish Society of Surgery, Turkish Hepatobiliary Surgery Association.
Disclaimer:
Our website contents consist of articles approved by our Web and Medical Editorial Board with the contributions of our physicians. Our contents are prepared only for informational purposes for public benefit. Be sure to consult your doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
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