Health, medicine and longevity news. Chemistry in our food. Why Food Chemistry and Supplements Shouldn't Scare People Nutritional Supplements Interesting Facts

When we come to the store, we always choose products of high quality, beautiful, appetizing in appearance. Nobody will buy, for example, gray sausage or rancid butter. After all, every customer wants products to be fresh, aromatic and tasty. And nutritional supplements contribute a lot to this.

So why are they needed?

They are able to improve the appearance, aroma and taste of the product (aromas, flavor enhancers, colorants).

They slow down the deterioration of the product (preservatives, antioxidants).

Increase the nutritional value of the product (vitamins, minerals, sweeteners).

Required in the industrial production process (emulsifiers, stabilizers).

I would like to talk about the most common nutritional supplements in more detail.

So preservatives. To prevent food spoilage and stay fresh for a long time, preservatives are added to them. After all, a spoiled product is not only inedible, but also hazardous to health. Preservatives protect us from food poisoning, prevent the growth of molds and microorganisms, and stop the production of poisons by microorganisms, such as aflatoxin.

Benzoic acid and its salts (benzoates) are a preservative, found in almost all canned foods in plastic packaging, for example, in herring, in drinks. It is dangerous for allergy sufferers who are sensitive to salicylic acid, and for patients with bronchial asthma.

Sorbic acid. It is most commonly seen in canned foods, as well as cakes and baked goods. It is considered the most harmless and especially effective preservative.

Sodium nitrite. It is both a color enhancer and a preservative at the same time. Add it to smoked meats and sausages. Thanks to sodium nitrite, the natural color of the sausage remains much longer. By the way, this salt prevents the growth of botulism spores in canned sausages. It was with sausage poisoning that this disease (botulus-sausage) was first described. Sodium nitrite is highly toxic. Its quantity is strictly standardized by GOST. And this concentration is very small, does not exceed 0.005%. I will say from my own experience: I have never met an excess of sodium nitrite above the standard.

One of the options not to add preservatives to food is vacuum packaging, and the salt itself (sodium chloride) is nothing more than a preservative. The situation is the same with vinegar. In one situation, he is a seasoning, and in another a preservative. Don't you put vinegar in the pickling? Although I prefer natural apple.

Antioxidants. Their action is based on the fact that they bind oxygen in the air, preventing oxidation (rancidity of fats). Most often they are added to vegetable and butter, chips, raw smoked sausage. These include ascorbic acid (vitamin C), citric acid, tocopherols (vitamin E), lactic acid, lecithin. They are natural and harmless, which is not the case with sulfite. It is added to wine, dried fruits, but for some reason not a word is written about its presence.

Thiabendazole, diphenyl, orthophenol. They are covered with a thin layer of bananas and citrus fruits. A thin waxy coating protects the fruit from spoilage. So wash your fruit thoroughly before eating.

Vitamins and minerals. Add to baby food, juices, dairy products. Helps to make foods balanced and healthy.

Emulsifiers and stabilizers. Without them, we would not have eaten ice cream or mayonnaise. The products would simply disintegrate into their constituent parts. For example, lecithin is a good natural emulsifier. There is a lot of it in egg yolk. This is why homemade mayonnaise does not flake and all the cholesterol in eggs is not completely absorbed by the body.

Modified starch, pectins, agar-agar, gelatin. Refers to thickeners. They are a good ballast substance, practically not digested by the body. I would like to mention agar-agar. It is obtained from red and brown algae. Has the ability to remove toxins from the body. So jelly and marmalade based on agar-agar are very useful (if, of course, they also contain natural dyes).

Glycerin and sorbitol are moisture regulators. They absorb moisture well from the air, which is why baked goods do not stale for so long.

I have listed the most common nutritional supplements, although there are many more. As you can see, there are both useful and not very useful ones. Due to hygiene requirements, the use of food additives is allowed only if they do not threaten human health even with prolonged use. Their content in products is strictly controlled at all stages of production.

In our age of progress and universal employment, life itself pushes us to the fact that more and more often we buy ready-made meals from factory production and less and less often we prepare food from fresh products. So either we must accept the presence of food additives, or abandon all industrial products. and switch to home cooking. The choice is yours.

Our products contain a huge amount of various colorants, flavor enhancers, preservatives and more. Naturally, unknowingly, we are terribly afraid of these additives. Because we watch TV, read various articles on these topics, and there they regularly frighten us with scary and incomprehensible Yeshkas. It became interesting to me to figure out: how dangerous are they and are they dangerous at all? Especially when you consider the fact that food additives are present in almost all food products and drinks. So…

What is a food supplement?

These are various specialty chemicals that are added to products in order to give them any properties. For example…

Flavors are needed to give a certain smell, conservatives prolong the sale and consumption of products, dyes are needed to give the desired color, sweeteners make products sweet, stabilizers preserve the physical and chemical properties of products, and antioxidants are needed to preserve vitamins.

Well, do you need nutritional supplements or not? It seems to me the answer is obvious: we need!

During any heat treatment (cooking, frying, stewing), various chemical reactions occur in potatoes, as a result of which new substances are formed. But these substances were not in raw potatoes. Hence the conclusion: there is no need to be afraid of food additives! You just need to know which food additives can really harm and avoid foods containing them. .

It is absolutely unrealistic to manufacture products on an industrial scale without special additives. Such products will quickly deteriorate. Therefore, one should not believe the words "no preservatives" or "no food additives". The manufacturer who writes this on the packaging is frankly deceiving you. It's just that he (the manufacturer) used acetic acid as a preservative. , and it is not included in the official list of preservatives. Although in fact it is. But its esters or salts are included, these are food additives E260 - E269.

Nutritional Supplements by Numbers

Each dietary supplement has its own unique number or code, which consists of the English letter E and a three-digit number. Additives from E100 to E199 are dyes, E200 - E299 are preservatives, followed by a hundred antioxidants, and so on.

It is worth noting that food E-supplements themselves do not pose a particular threat, and many are found in excess in natural products or can be produced by the human body. For example, the supplement E270 is lactic acid, which is formed in the cells of our body during the breakdown of glucose.

So many people are intimidated by monosodium glutamate (monosodium salt), which in its essence is an amino acid abundantly found in nature. It is abundant in tomatoes, milk, mushrooms, meat, corn, fish, cheese and cottage cheese.

Of course, there are additives that can be called harmful, if not one but: to harm health, their number must be significantly higher than that used by food manufacturers... But allergy sufferers and children are better off eating foods that contain such additives with caution. They can build up in the body.

Ideally, you need to remember all the harmful and dangerous Eshki, but in practice this is not feasible. Therefore, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the most dangerous ones.

Doctors, especially nutritionists, do not advise eating a lot of sausage, because of the preservative and color improver E250 included in it (sodium nitrite) as it is toxic in large quantities. But without it, sausage could not be eaten at all, the risk of contracting botulism would be very high. It is strange that the same researchers and critics of nutritional supplements for some reason do not tell consumers that, for example, one kilogram of broccoli or spinach contains exactly the same amount of sodium nitrite as 50! kilograms of "Doctor's" sausage.

Now the question is: through which product is it more realistic to get this "harmful" preservative by eating a kilogram of broccoli or 50 kilograms of sausage? I think everyone understands what the answer will be.

The healthy and well-known cranberry contains more E211 (sodium benzoate) than manufacturers use for canning food.

Many people are afraid to give children sweet soda, fearing sweeteners. There is some truth in this, the sugar substitute - aspartame (E951) breaks down in the body into amino acids and releases methanol. And methanol is undeniably a poison. But the question is again in the amount of the consumed dose. An adult weighing 70 kg needs to eat 266 aspartame tablets or drink 25 liters of Diet Coke per day to be harmful to health. Well, how real is it? That's right, not real at all.

Nutritionists joke: a fresh apple contains additives E296, E141, E330, E440 and a couple more will probably be. So what? Now you will not eat apples, and will not give them to your children? Doubtful.

Some producers also have a good sense of humor. For example, on the label of the drink "Buratino" you can read the composition: water, carbon dioxide, sweetener, citric acid E330, preservative E211 and flavor identical to natural. Everything would be fine if it was lemonade or an orange drink, but what kind of natural aroma we should feel in Buratino is not clear. Maybe the smell of freshly sawn wood?

Finally

As you can see, there is nothing very wrong with food additives. I would even say that they are intended not to harm, but, on the contrary, to help both us and the food manufacturers. How else would we consume sausage, candy, cookies, ice cream or soda? No way. You just need to be aware and carefully study the composition of the purchased product ... It is also good to know which Eshki are dangerous to use. It is especially worth buying food for children, the elderly and pregnant women.

Are those who advocate natural products without food additives being so honest? Why, then, they deliberately keep silent about how many different chemicals are used to grow vegetables and fruits.

Another question, which is more dangerous: the dose of the food additive verified by the manufacturers or uncontrolled watering in the fields and in greenhouses with different chemistry of cucumbers, tomatoes and other supposedly natural products. Watermelons alone annually poison a huge number of people, including children. So, it is worth considering: what is the purpose of such a serious information war against food additives and who benefits from it? Maybe the producers of "natural" products?

Elena Belokonova

In the food industry, various additives have always been used, but until 1953, manufacturers honestly informed buyers about all the ingredients of the product. But after the European Commission on Additives proposed a lettering system using the E code, the composition of processed foods, sausages, sweets and more in our diet has become something of a secret.

Hence the fear of buyers: is there something dangerous to health hidden under the next designation with the letter E? Let's try to find the truth and find out which food additives should be excluded from the family menu.

By themselves, food additives do not affect the human body
harmful influence, scientists say. However, they warn that
ingredients marked E, reacting with other substances
in the body can have unpredictable effects on our health.

Dangerous food additives for children

The child's body is less protected from harmful external influences. Therefore, it is important for parents to carefully monitor the quality of the products that make up the baby's menu. And if the child is already eating adult food, you need to know that some of the supplements with the E index are not recommended in baby food.

E330 - citric acid, which is a part of many beloved carbonated drinks, when consumed, provokes the secretion of gastric juice and can lead to the development of gastritis.

E951 - aspartame, an artificial sugar substitute, is used in the production of many sweets. However, there is speculation that this dietary supplement contributes to the development of a genetic mutation leading to a rare disease - phenylketonuria.

E216 and E217 - propyl ether and sodium salt. These preservatives are found in filled chocolates, candies and, if consumed in excess, can cause foodborne illness.

E102 - TARTRAZINE A dye that is used in the manufacture of confectionery, candy and ice cream. However, tartrazine can cause food allergies.

E400-499 - thickeners, stabilizers to increase the viscosity of food. They are used for making yoghurts. Potential consequences of abuse of this dietary supplement can be diseases of the digestive tract.

Dangerous dietary supplements for women

Pregnant women and nursing mothers are advised to stick to a diet. However, even foods that are allowed while waiting or breastfeeding should be passed through the "sieve" of food additives. The fact is that some of them are capable of harming both women's health and children. Here are some examples.

E957 - Thaumatin. Officially, its use in the food industry is prohibited, but the risk of acquiring counterfeit products still exists. Therefore, it is worth remembering: E-957 disrupts the hormonal balance.

E128 - red dye Red 2G with a carcinogenic effect, used in the production of sausages. Able to lead to anomalies in the development of the fetus during pregnancy and congenital abnormalities.

E250 - sodium nitrite - dye, seasoning and preservative used for the manufacture of sausages. It is noteworthy that the E250 is approved for use in Russia, but banned in the EU countries. The possible consequences of the effect of this food additive on the female body are the development of fetal hypoxia during pregnancy, a decrease in the content of vitamins in the body, and an increase in the excitability of the nervous system.

Dangerous dietary supplements for men

There is little information about the harmful effects of food additives on the male body. Of course, representatives of the strong half of humanity, like children and women, are not immune from the development of allergic reactions, cancer due to the effects of ingredients with the E index, as well as the negative effect of these substances on the systems and functions of the body.

There is a nutritional supplement that men need to know "by sight". It is known that E520, or aluminum sulfate, used as a starch modifier, when abused, can adversely affect the male reproductive system.

How to protect yourself from the harmful effects of food additives

Keeping a family healthy is challenging when food contains more artificial additives than natural ingredients. How to be? Perhaps realizing the consequences of overuse of dietary supplements will lead many to think about healthy eating.

And for this it is worth opening your refrigerator, evaluating the ratio of sausages, sausages, smoked meats and canned food in it with the amount of fresh fruits, vegetables and homemade food. If the comparison is in favor of "chemistry", then it's time to start a new day with cleaning in the refrigerator, and then go to the store for the right food.

And although it is almost impossible to avoid foods with an indication of certain E on the label, try to keep their amount in the daily diet as small as possible.

Three kilograms of chemicals. This is the amount that is swallowed per year by the average consumer of a variety of, sometimes completely familiar products: muffins, for example, or marmalade. Colorants, emulsifiers, sealants, thickeners are now present in literally everything. Naturally, the question arises: why do manufacturers add them to food and how harmless are these substances?

Experts agreed to consider that “food additives are a general name for natural or synthetic chemicals added to food with the aim of imparting certain properties (improving taste and smell, increasing nutritional value, preventing product spoilage, etc.) are used as independent food products. "

The wording is clear and understandable. However, not everything in this matter is simple. Much depends on the honesty and elementary decency of manufacturers, because what exactly and in what quantities they use to give products a presentation.

Taste serial number.
Nutritional supplements are not an invention of our high-tech age. Salt, soda, spices have been known to people since time immemorial. But the real flourishing of their use nevertheless began in the twentieth century - the century of food chemistry. There were high hopes for supplements. And they met expectations in full. With their help, it was possible to create a large assortment of mouth-watering, long-lasting and at the same time less labor-intensive products in production.

Having won recognition, the "improvers" were put on stream. The sausages are pale pink, the yoghurts are fresh fruit, and the muffins are lusciously non-hardening. The “youth” and attractiveness of the products was ensured precisely by the additives that are used as colorants, emulsifiers, sealants, thickeners, gelling agents, glazing agents, flavor and odor enhancers, preservatives ...

Chewing gum and Coca Cola, super popular in the twentieth century, got their unique taste precisely thanks to food additives. And the most amazing thing is that 100 years ago, cocaine was a dietary supplement for cola. It got its name from the coca plant, a shrub from the leaves of which cocaine is obtained.

Much has changed since then in the area of ​​safety in the use of food additives. Once, the use of methamphetamine was considered harmless, now it is classified as a "hard drug". Not so long ago, in Russia, on Mars chocolates there was a substance included today in all countries of the world in the list of prohibited food additives. It is quite possible that after several decades, some dye, generously added to products, will be recognized as harmful.

The mechanism of the appearance and use of a food additive is as follows: first, the additive is developed, then it is tested from several weeks to several months, or even years. If the tests are successful, then the regulatory organization of the country where the additive was developed recommends it for widespread use.

In Europe, safety rules require that the presence of a food additive be indicated on the package in the list of ingredients.

According to the accepted European classification, all additives are designated by the letter "E" (the initial letter in the word "Europe" (Europe).

For example, E152 is a completely harmless activated carbon,
E1404 is starch, and E500 is soda.
The largest group of food additives after the letter E contains only 3 numbers.

Classification of food additives:

E100-E182 denote dyes that enhance or restore the color of the product. They can be natural (such as beta-carotene or dyes based on carminic acid-carmine) or synthetic.

The main goal in this case is to strive to increase sales. Dyes do not at all affect the taste of food and the process of its assimilation by the human body. Colorants are added to lemonade, Coca-Cola and similar drinks, sweets, puddings, ice cream, alcohol, margarine and cheeses.

Natural colors are extracted from a variety of fruits and vegetables, such as red beets, bell peppers, oranges or spinach. Artificial colors are synthesized chemically. Foods containing natural colors are generally considered non-hazardous to health.

Be careful with artificial colors. They can cause allergies and, under certain conditions, even cause cancer.

Codes E200-E299- preservatives that increase the shelf life of products by protecting them from microbes, fungi and bacteriophages. This group also includes chemical sterilizing additives used in the maturation of wines, as well as disinfectants.

E300-E399- antioxidants that protect foods from oxidation, such as rancid fat and discoloration of cut vegetables and fruits.
E400-E499- stabilizers, thickeners, emulsifiers, the purpose of which is to maintain a given consistency of the product, as well as to increase its viscosity.
500-E599- pH regulators and anti-caking agents.
E600-E699- flavors and flavor enhancers

The most common and most dangerous of this group is glutamate.
E700-E899... Food additives under these numbers do not yet exist, these codes are reserved for new substances, the appearance of which is not far off.
E900-E999- defoamers

Not so long ago, in the 90s, a second, less extensive group appeared, in the designation of which, after the letter E, there are 4 numbers E1000-E1521. This group of additives is responsible for ensuring that products such as flour, sugar, salt do not absorb moisture and remain crumbly (these are glazers, separators, sealants, flour and bread improvers, texturers, packing gases, sweeteners).

In various of these groups, there are nutritional supplements that provide clear benefits to the body and are called "functional". But experts are also increasingly voicing their voices in favor of tightening control over the use of food additives due to their dangerous effects on the human body.

First, let's figure out what these are, functional additives and "functional products", what benefits they bring.

Since the second half of the 20th century, vitamins and microelements have been added to many food products, which made it possible to almost completely eliminate diseases associated with a lack of one or another element. This is how cheilosis, angular stomatitis, glossitis, seborrheic dermatitis, conjunctivitis and keratitis associated with a lack of vitamin B2, riboflavin (dye E101, which gives products a beautiful yellow color), are a thing of the past; scurvy caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, ascorbic acid (antioxidant E300); anemia caused by a lack of vitamin E, tocopherol (antioxidant E306).

And the addition of additives containing pro-biotic forms of beneficial bacteria to foods and drinks strengthens the immune system and health. All nutritionists agree on this.
These bacteria, taken daily in yoghurts, kefirs and other fermented milk products, restore the natural balance of the intestinal microflora and, thus, improve its functioning.

Also, functional additives include very important essential fatty acids of the "omega-3" class. Their deficiency is associated with hyperactivity in children, depression in adults. They are essential for the prevention of atherosclerosis.

Produced bread, eggs, enriched with "omega-3".

In bakery products for the purpose of their "improvement"
bran, which contains a large amount of vegetable fiber, is added. It acts as a brush for the intestines, improves its functioning and helps to eliminate toxins and toxins.

When choosing such products, one should pay attention not only to a useful food additive, but also to the composition of such a product as a whole. Guarana energy drinks can also contain an excess of simple sugar. The choice of “functional” products should be reasonable and based on specific goals. If you have high cholesterol levels, it makes sense to buy foods with special additives.

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