—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. May 25. 1974
14
ORGANIC LIVING
Br
Robert Rodcde
FOOD ADDITIVES CAUSE STRANGE EFFECTS
A strange thing happened recently in a West Virginia
laboratory when adult house flies were fed a diet containing
common food coloring additives. As soon aa the files were
exposed to light, they died - often within an hour.
According to researcher Tim Yoho, the flies were killed by
photodynamic action, a destructive effect produced when
the dye and normal light interact. “The wide usage-of dye
additives in foods, drugs and cosmetics, could result in
photodynamic injury to man,” warns Yoho, a Post-Doctoral
Fellow in West Virginia University’s entomology depart
ment.
Artificial colors, flavors and other chemical food additives
are also causing children to behave in strange ways, but not
because of photodynamic effect. The chemicals make
susceptible youngsters so hyperactive and poorly behaved
that they can’t sit still in class long enough to leam anything,
says Dr. Ben Feingold of the Kaiser-Permanente Medical
Group in San Francisco.
Most doctors and educators rely on amphetamine drugs to
control such problem children, but Dr. Feingold got excellent
results by taking away additive-ridden junk foods. “We can
turn these children on and off at will,” he observed, “just by
regulating their diet.”
What kind of foods must go? The average child’s problems
start at breakfast, he says, with cereals that are loaded with
nonessential flavors and colors, or perhaps frozen waffles or
frozen French toast dyed with tartrazine (a yellow food
coloring). “At school,” he says, “the same ritual is continued
at lunch,” where nitrate-laden hot dogs, luncheon meats, ice
cream and other heavily preserved and otherwise
chemicalized foods are served.
Adults aren’t immune to mysterious reactions either,
warns Dr. Stephen D. Lockey, Sr., a Lancaster, Penn
sylvania, physician who treats victims of allergic reactions.
One of Dr. Lockey’s patients, a 37-year-old housewife,
developed hives whenever she ate any food containing yellow
food coloring. When she was advised to give up custards,
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cakes, lemon pies and all other processed foods containing
the chemical, her symptoms disappeared.
Another young woman experienced sudden weakness and
extreme fatigue after eating com flakes or dehydrated
potatoes. Yet skin tests indicated she was not allergic to corn
or potato. Dr. Lockey finally traced her problem to BHA
(betahydroxyacid) and BHT (betabydroxytoluene), two
chemical preservatives used in those processed foods.
In other cases, chemicals in ice cream, bakery goods,
candy, chewing gum, soft drinks, gelatin desserts, jams and
cake mixes may cause trouble, says Dr. Lockey.
With an estimated 2,500 substances currently being added
to our food supply, it’s not surprising that scientists are
stumbling upon more and more danger areas:
Sodium nitrite in frankfurters, bacon, salami, ham and
other cured meats can trigger severe headaches in
susceptible individuals, according to University of California
neurologists Drs. W. R. Henderson andN. H. Raskin. Those
' “hot-dog headaches,” as they call them, often begin within 30
minutes of eating the chemical. The doctors believe the
reaction is similar to the headache accompanying “Chinese
restaurant syndrome,” which often follows a meal heavily
spiced with monosodium glutamate.
Antibacterial fatty acids commonly used to preserve pies,
ice cream, beverages and some canned and frozen foods can
stunt cell growth. At higher concentrations the additives -
including sodium propionate, sorbate and propyl paraben -
can even kill the cells. That was discovered in a Georgetown
University study funded by the National Institute of Health.
What else might additives be doing? Many instances of
mild psychological trauma and other weird symptoms could
conceivably be caused by food chemicals. But scientists may
never be able to pinpoint which ones are responsible, because
of the complex interactions between all the thousands of
chemicals in our environment.
While researchers are busy trying to solve the puzzle, you
can protect yourself by eating foods that don't contain ad
ditives. Read labels. You may need a magnifying glass, but
you’ll be surprised to see how many chemical extras go into
the simplest of foods. By comparing brands carefully, you
can usually find a no-additives or fewer-additives alter
native.
You can’t go entirely by the label though. “The presence of
coloring in butter, cheese and ice cream need not even be
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specified at all,” warns Michael Jacobson, author, of
“Eater’s Digest.” Other so-called standardized foods needn’t
list all their ingredients on the label either. In the absence
full disclosure, D?.;Felngold says to
adoption of a specialisymßbl of packagestd tell shoppers if *•
glance when the product is free from all chemical additives.
Naturalness is your only real guarantee. Buy knd serve
more foods that don’t depend.on additives for their appeal.'
Fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and good
examples of whole, unprocessed foods that get through'to the
consumer relatively unscathed. t ' ■
m 4
“Hot-Line to Health” is a 48-page booklet containing many
new findings about chemical hazards in our food and en
vironment. It’s available for fifty cents from Robert Rodale,
Organic Living, in care of this newspaper. Be sure to ask for
the booklet by name, and please allow at least three weeks
for delivery.
(c) 1974 by The Chicago Tribune. World Rights Reserved.
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