Unbelievable!! I was very interested in reading this, but the first "scientific" article discusses sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate as though they're the same thing. No point in reading any further. Either the "scientists" don't have a clue what they're talking about or they have some other agenda. There's more nitrite in your lettuce than your hot dog, and you could blow up a bridge with nitrate.
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Five Controversial Food Additives
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Laura Tarantino, director of the FDA's Office of Food Additive Safety, says that "more than 90 studies support the use of acesulfame." The Center for Science in the Public Interest, however, argues that the FDA should reconsider the evidence, citing animal studies linking it to cancer. Chang Lee, chairman of the department of food science at Cornell agrees that the "controversy over the safety of acesulfame-K has not been completely resolved." In the meantime, if you've got concerns, there's an easy solution: satisfy your sweet tooth with fresh fruit--or real sugar.
Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. You've heard plenty about potentially artery-clogging "trans fats" in the news; on food labels, they're found in "partially hydrogenated" (or just "hydrogenated") vegetable oil and are still used in crackers, baked goods and such restaurant foods as french fries or fried chicken. The case against trans fats is so strong that health departments in New York City and Philadelphia have limited their use in restaurant cooking; and several big food companies--including Starbucks, McDonald's and Frito-Lay--are cutting back on trans fats or eliminating them. Anyone with a family history of heart disease should take note and do the same.
Artificial food colors: Check the labels on favorite foods for FD&C Yellow No. 5 and No. 6 and FD&C Red No. 40, three synthetic colorings used in food that were cited in a study published last fall by the British medical journal The Lancet. Researchers followed 144 8- and 9-year-olds over six weeks--some of whom drank a juice containing a mix of the food colorings, others who drank uncolored juice (the food colorings had otherwise been eliminated from all the kids' diets). The result: the children who consumed the food colorings were significantly more impulsive and fidgety and also less attentive over the six weeks, although the study did not identify specific links between consumption and the agitated behavior. The researchers obtained similar results with 3-year-olds. An FDA spokesman says that "further testing on this issue is needed," but that the agency "has no reason to change our conclusions that the ingredients that were tested in this study that currently are permitted for food use in the U.S. are safe for the general population." Click here for more of the FDA's take on the safety of color additives.
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