Additives - Scary Sounding Or Not - Always Under Scrutiny

What do you get when you pour out those crispy O’s from a box of Cheerios?

Oats, of course. Not to mention pyridoxine hydrochloride and tocopherols.

Whoa. What is that stuff? It sounds more like a bowl of chemical soup than a bowl of cereal.

In a way, it is. But if you can look beyond the scary-sounding names, you’ll find that many food additives are really just common, quite edible elements.

Take ascorbic acid, for example. It’s nothing more than a fancy name for vitamin C and often is added to such fruits as peaches to keep their color from turning dark during processing. And the additives in Cheerios? The pyridoxine hydrochloride is a form of vitamin B-6, and tocopherol is vitamin E.

This isn’t to say that all additives occur naturally, are considered hazard-free or won’t be deemed hazardous as time goes on. Remember cyclamates and red dye No. 2? Both were pulled from the market years ago because of their health risks.

But Christine Bruhn, director of the Center for Consumer Research at the University of California-Davis, believes most natural and synthetic additives now in use are safe.

“There is nothing in our food supply that has not been thoroughly tested,” she says.

True, although Bruhn may be overstating the case. There are more than 2,000 additives, and all are continually scrutinized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

However, as the FDA says on its Web site, the absolute safety of any substance can never be guaranteed. The agency makes its decisions about food safety with the best scientific evidence available, but as scientists learn more over time, those decisions can change.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit, consumer-watchdog organization, offers a “food additive cemetery” of banned substances on its Web site (www.cspinet.org). On the list: those infamous cyclamates and red dye No. 2, as well as some lesser-known offenders including agene (nitrogen trichloride), ethylene glycol and monochloroacetic acid.

CSPI also cautions consumers against ingesting several additives that still have the FDA’s approval: sodium nitrite, saccharin, caffeine, olestra, acesulfame K and artificial colorings. CSPI says their safety is questionable and they are low in nutritional value.

Though both the FDA and CSPI evaluate the safety of additives by reviewing scientific literature, the FDA takes more time and waits for as many studies to be done as possible before taking an additive off the market.

“They want to be absolutely sure a substance is not safe,” says Michael Jacobson, CSPI’s executive director. “They don’t take action lightly because they know there will be a battle with industry.”

Still, he says: “The FDA generally does a reasonable job of monitoring additives in foods. It’s a matter of judgment whether a substance is deemed safe enough.”

The reasons for using additives are many:

To augment nutrition. “Most people embrace the idea of using additives to enhance or maintain the nutritional value of food, like adding vitamin D to milk or vitamin A to margarine or iodine to table salt,” says Bruhn.

To maintain freshness and texture. Emulsifiers keep foods from separating. Lecithin, derived from such foods as eggs or soybeans, keeps peanut butter smooth and fresher longer.

To help in the leavening of foods. Yeast and baking powder - low on the health-hazard scale - are considered additives, and are included in breads and cake mixes.

To enhance visual appeal and taste. “Based on consumer testing, food manufacturers may use certain additives to make food more appealing, like coloring agents, natural and synthetic flavors, such flavor enhancers as MSG (monosodium glutamate) and sweeteners,” Bruhn says. The characteristic flavor and color of strawberry ice cream, for example, may come from real strawberries or from additives.

Many people are put off by the idea that “chemicals” are added to their foods, Bruhn acknowledges. But all foods are made up of chemicals, she points out. The acetone, methylopropyl, keton and B-phenylethylcaproate on a list of ingredients for canned fruit, for example, occur naturally in ripe strawberries.

Bruhn believes the technical names of additives make them seem scarier than they should be and suggests food manufacturers use common names instead. “For example, substitute `’baking soda’ for `sodium bicarbonate’ on the label,” she says.

In the meantime, consumers can educate themselves on food labeling by checking the Web sites maintained by the FDA (www.fda.gov), USDA (www.fsis.usda.gov) and CSPI (www.cspinet.org).