A
recent article from Australia's
Herald Sun discusses an Australian school that eliminated food additives from their students' meals for two weeks in order to see what effects it would have on their behavior.
"Sue Dengate, who runs the Food Intolerance Network and organised the project at Palmers Island Primary School, said the results were surprising.
'It was amazing. The children were more co-operative, the siblings stopped fighting and there were more harmonious families,' Ms Dengate said.
Principal Andrew Bennett said that the changes became obvious in three or four days.
'We found difficult children created much less of a disturbance,' Mr Bennett said."
This is incredible news, and I hope more parents take note of it. Scientists have known about the detrimental effects of food additives (colors, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, flavorings and other chemicals) on health and behavior for years, yet there are
still so many food items out there that contain these additives. Many of them are specifically marketed towards children, with the products' bright colors and sweet flavors. Food additives may especially exacerbate symptoms for children diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, so parents may want to take a look at what their children are putting in their bodies.
Sadly, many people believe that companies wouldn't put dangerous things in food. They think that if the FDA approves it, it must be safe. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. The FDA reverses its own decisions quite frequently, and they just don't take the time to do long-term studies on the effects of these new-fangled scientific concoctions before allowing things to hit the shelves.
What can you do?
The best thing to do is to cut down on processed foods (anything pre-prepared that comes in a box, wrapper, or can) and serve real, whole foods you cook yourself. Yes, that can take more time, but it doesn't have to. Get a crock pot, and you can put the ingredients together the night before, pull the crock out of the refrigerator in the morning and have dinner waiting for you in the evening. Fruits and vegetables make great quick snacks, as do smoothies. Buy plain yogurt and jazz it up yourself with various flavors of sugarless jams or fresh fruit.
Most of us don't want to completely eliminate processed foods from our diets, though, especially if we were raised on them. There's something to be said for the comfort of yummy junk food and microwave dinners, and they are often easier and faster to prepare. Yes, I'm lazy, too. I buy crackers, cereal, cookies, jarred pasta sauce, and the occasional frozen pizza....
For the processed foods you do buy, take a moment to read the labels. Choose healthier products without extra additives. If the list of ingredients is exceptionally long and it contains names of things that you couldn't pronounce in your high school Chemistry class, it's probably a good item to put back on the shelf. You may be surprised at the additives that lurk in supposedly healthy items like bread, yogurt, and canned soups.
Common food additives that often cause problems:
- Artificial colorings (FD&C Yellow No.5, for example)
- Artificial flavorings
- Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal)
- BHA, BHT, TBHQ (commonly found in cereals, potato chips, candy)
- Calcium proprionate (commonly found in bread, baked goods)
- Monosodium glutamate (MSG, commonly found in soups, fast foods, frozen dinners, potato chips)
- Nitrates, Nitrites (commonly found in hot dogs, ham, lunch meat, bacon)
- Sulfites (commonly found in dried fruits, shrimp)
