Are additives bad for your health?

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**Joseph Chance** (0:53)
Are additives bad for your health?
Thanks for asking. According to The Sun, scientists say that the average person in the UK now consumes more than 8 kilograms of chemical additives each year. Of course, with that being an average figure, it can shoot up even further for those who eat a lot of ultra-processed foods. If you've ever looked closely at ingredients lists on the packaging of food you buy in your supermarket, you'll have noticed the E numbers by which additives can be recognised. Each category has its assigned E numbers. For example, colours are in the 100s, preservatives in the 200s, and antioxidants in the 300s. Aren't additives bad? Actually, they're allowed as long as they meet certain requirements. The UK's Food Standards Agency says that a food additive is only approved if it has been tested and proved to be safe for its intended use.
There is a justifiable technological need to use it, and its use does not mislead the consumer.
In all, a total of 330 approved additives are listed on the agency's website food.gov.uk. What are they actually used for? They're pretty much omnipresent in everything we eat, and in particular in industrial items like cakes, ice cream, frozen desserts, sodas, candies and chewing gum. Believe it or not, you can even find them in toothpaste. As explained by the World Health Organization, additives are mostly used for technical purposes. That could mean improving safety, increasing food storage time, or modifying a food's sensory properties, i.e. enhancing its flavour, changing its colour or tweaking the texture.
Bear in mind that additives are never consumed as a food on their own. They're typically added as part of food processing. Hence, most minimally processed and unprocessed foods don't contain food additives. Why do additives get such a bad rap then? As we've established, almost everything we eat contains some kind of additive, and they serve a variety of practical uses. Some even occur naturally, like the colour beetroot, for example. But still, they should only be consumed in moderation, due to potential harmful effects on the body. Some additives in particular have been singled out as posing potential health risks. These include nitrates and nitrites, for example. They're found in cured meat, such as bacon and ham. While they help give those foods a salty, cured flavour and protect against food poisoning, they've also been associated with bowel, breast and prostate cancer. Monosodium glutamate, refined flour and refined sugar are all also additives which have been called out by nutritionists. That's where the concept of an additives acceptable daily intake comes in. It's called an ADI for short. Now, the UK's Food Standards Agency doesn't actually have information on specific ADIs per additive, but the European Food Safety Authority does, so it can be used for reference if you're curious. For example, its current standards include an ADI of 3.7 mg per kilogram of body weight per day for nitrates, and 0.07 mg for nitrites. There you have it.
Now you know whether additives are bad for your health. In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions and help you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines. Listen along and you will really know for sure.

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