Food additives exposed: The artificial dyes and chemicals to avoid | Marion Nestle

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Welcome to ZOE Science and Nutrition, where world leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health.
The food additives, they're everywhere, and there are thousands of them. In recent months, many of us have become alarmed about their impact on our health and the health of our children due to increasing news coverage on the topic. Now, the concerns around additives aren't new. Government agencies exist to evaluate their safety. But loopholes, shady incentives, and the use of outdated classifications are raising serious questions about these agencies' ability to protect us. Now, while the rest of us may have just begun to talk about this, that's not the case for today's guest. Marion Nestle has been on a mission to challenge the powers that be in the pursuit of better public health since the 1980s. A New York University professor and prolific author, her best-selling book, Food Politics, exposed the influence that food companies have on regulators and government policy. She's been discussing the potential risks of additives and colors for a long time, and today she equips us with the knowledge to make more informed choices for us and our families. Before we begin the episode, I want to highlight that Marion has practiced what she preaches since her 20s. You won't find her eating any additives or any processed foods. She flew in from New York to record today and really kept me on my toes before rushing off to give a lecture in front of a large audience in another city. And Marion is just about to celebrate her 90th birthday. I found her totally inspiring. Marion, thank you so much for joining me today.

**Marion Nestle** (1:51)
A pleasure to be here.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:53)
So we always like to kick off this show with a rapid-fire set of Q&A's from our listeners. And we have some very strict rules about this, Marion, which is you can say yes or no, or if you have to, a one-sentence answer. Are you willing to give it a go?

**Marion Nestle** (2:10)
Oh, why not?

**SPEAKER_1** (2:11)
All right. Marion, are the health effects of all new food additives tested before approval?

**Marion Nestle** (2:17)
Of course not.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:19)
Are there additives in our foods that are regarded as potentially carcinogenic?

**Marion Nestle** (2:24)
Some.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:25)
Are there substances in our food that don't show up on the ingredients label?

**Marion Nestle** (2:29)
Hmm, probably.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:31)
Do food colorings harm the health of children?

**Marion Nestle** (2:34)
Some people say yes.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:37)
What do you say?

**Marion Nestle** (2:38)
I think probably some.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:41)
And finally, what's the most surprising thing that you've discovered about food additive regulation?

**Marion Nestle** (2:47)
That nobody's paid any attention to them until now.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:51)
I'm holding in my hands a loaf of bread. It's a Wonder Bread that is sold in your hometown New York. And I thought it would be fun just to look at this loaf of bread, which looks very much like any other loaf of bread, and do what I've slowly learned to do since I started working at ZOE eight years ago, which is like turn it over and look at the ingredients on the back. And I think most of our listeners would think, well, there's like flour, I guess there's yeast, there's water, there's probably salt, if that sort of makes sense.

**Marion Nestle** (3:20)
A little sugar to get the yeast going.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:23)
Okay, maybe a bit of sugar. I'm going to look at the ingredients. The first thing is, there is a very long list of ingredients and they're in very small types. I'm actually going to take my glasses off just to read them. I'm going to jump, I'm not going to read them all because it's pretty amazing, but it has dough conditioners containing one or more of the following, sodium sterolacylate, calcium sterolacerate, monoglycerides, calcium peroxide, calcium iodide, enzymes, whatever they are, monocalcium phosphate. I could go on, there's probably about 50 ingredients in total. I have no idea what they are. I understand that these are what additives are, they're these things with sort of strange chemical names at the end of the list of ingredients in a food. I don't understand what purpose they serve, how they affect my health. Luckily, I have one of the world's top experts on this subject with me today. Could you just start at the beginning, like, what are additives?

**Marion Nestle** (4:21)
Well, they told you what they are. Those are dough conditioners. You haven't mentioned the most attractive or unattractive feature of Wonder Bread, depending on how you look at it, was how soft it is. It's soft and squeezable, and it'll stay that way for a very, very long time. So one of the attributes of Wonder Bread is that it's soft, it's extremely, you don't have to chew it. You could practically just swallow it without mushing it around a bit, and it'll last on the shelf for a very, very long time.