27 Oct Fashionable food fears – part two
When it comes to food, even the simplest things can scare people. E-numbers, for example. Oh, what fear they inspire! Even if you don’t know what they mean, you can be sure each one is a secret code for a noxious poison that’ll give you cancer and turn your child into a monster. Let’s take a look at some of those fearful food additives…. Part Two of an article series by Ivo Vegter of Daily Maverick, one of SA’s best myth-busting journalists.
Last week, we tackled some myths about the dangers of salt, eggs, margarine and butter. Those were only the first few in a long list of food fears and fads. In this, the second in a series of as-yet-undetermined length, we’ll push on with some more of the myths we raised.
There is a long tradition of public fear about substances we do not understand. A spike in concern about artificial colouring, flavouring and preservatives in food led to the establishment of a system for numbering food additives approved by the European Food Safety Authority. Known as E-numbers, the system began with food colouring in 1962, with later expansion to preservatives, anti-oxidants, emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickeners and gelling agents. E-numbers were supposed to ease the public’s fears, but replacing scary chemical names with incomprehensible numbers did little to rehabilitate their reputation.
On the contrary: people are now being told that E-numbers in general are dangerous, and ought to be avoided. These fears date back to the 1970s, when a paediatrician, Dr Benjamin Feingold, claimed there was a link between food additives and childhood attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity. Much research was conducted to establish whether such a link existed, but very little conclusive evidence was found.
One famous study, conducted in 2007 at the University of Southampton, tested six synthetic food colouring additives, along with sodium benzoate, a preservative. These colours – Tartrazine (lemon yellow, E102), Quinoline Yellow (E104), Sunset Yellow (E110), Carmoisine (maroon red, E122), Ponceau 4R (scarlet red, E124), and Allura Red (E129) – became known as the ‘Southampton Six’.
Even in non-alarmist circles, it is recommended that these be avoided. Yet the European Food Safety Authority has repeatedly reviewed the study in question, and concluded that it could not be extrapolated to the general population, its results were inconsistent, and the available scientific evidence does not substantiate a link between the colour additives and behavioural effects.
Now check out this list of ‘symptoms’ that your child may be hyperactive as a result of food additives. Many of them constitute perfectly ordinary child-like behaviour, and the rest cover just about any condition a child might suffer. Any child whatsoever could be held up as ‘evidence’ that food additives are bad for you.
By such loose standards, any child could be held up as evidence for anything else, too, of course. You could make a similar list and blame it on air pollution, rock music, organic food, polyester clothes, television, and plastic toys – and in fact, many hyper-fearful safety nannies do. This isn’t science. This is emotional scare-mongering.
Many food products, including in South Africa, contain these so-called E-numbers on the ingredient list…..