Food additives
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Follow the links below to find trusted information about food additives.
Last reviewed: May 2018
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Food additives
Food additives are substances added to some foods to keep them fresh or improve their colour, flavour, texture or appearance.
Read more on WA Health website
Food additives | myVMC
Food additives are chemical substances added to foods to improve flavour, texture, colour, appearance and consistency, or as preservatives during manufacturing or processing. Herbs, spices, hops, salt, yeast, water, air and protein hydrolysates are excluded from this definition.
Read more on myVMC – Virtual Medical Centre website
Food additives, labels and regulations | Raising Children Network
A list of the most common food additives and their uses in commercial and domestic food preparation. Includes information on how safe food additives are, and food regulations and standards.
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Can food additives affect my childs behaviour? Dietitians Association of Australia
Can food additives affect my childs behaviour? For most people, foods with additives are perfectly safe and there is no need to worry about eating them as part of a healthy, varied diet
Read more on Dietitians Association of Australia website
Adverse Reactions to Natural Food Chemicals | myVMC
Some natural food chemicals, in particular salicylates, amines and monosodium glutamate (MSG), can cause reactions in sensitive people, where they are often labeled food intolerances.
Read more on myVMC – Virtual Medical Centre website
Food intolerances | Women's Health Queensland Wide
It is not just artificial food additives that can cause food intolerances.
Read more on Women's Health Queensland website
Flavouring food without salt | The Heart Foundation
Cut down on salt today by using these salt substitutes to flavour your food.
Read more on Heart Foundation website
Natural sugar alternatives | Women's Health Queensland Wide
We examine popular natural sweeteners to see how healthy they really are.
Read more on Women's Health Queensland website
Food allergy - myDr.com.au
A food allergy is an immune response triggered by eating specific foods that cause certain well known symptoms to develop.
Read more on myDr website
Reactions to food
Information on the foods that commonly cause allergic reactions in babies, how to know if your child has a food allergy, plus links to trusted resources.
Read more on Pregnancy, Birth & Baby website
Top results
Tartrazine exclusion for allergic asthma | Cochrane
Tartrazine is the best known and one of the most commonly used food additives. Food colorants are also used in many medications as well as foods. There is no evidence that tartrazine makes asthma worse or avoiding it makes asthma patients any better.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) avoidance for chronic asthma in adults and children | Cochrane
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is used as a flavour enhancer and has been implicated in "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome", causing tightness, burning or numbness in the face, neck and upper chest (although there is no evidence to prove this syndrome). It has also been proposed that asthmatics may react badly to MSG. In two randomised controlled trials (RCTs), involving 24 adult asthmatics, there was no evidence that MSG worsened asthma when compared to control ingestion. Further RCTs are needed.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Early additional food and fluids for healthy breastfed full-term infants | Cochrane
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Folate supplementation in people with sickle cell disease | Cochrane
We wanted to assess how effective and safe folate supplementation (folate occurring naturally in foods, provided as fortified foods or additional supplements such as tablets) is in people with sickle cell disease.
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Probiotics in infants for prevention of allergic disease and food hypersensitivity | Cochrane
There is insufficient evidence to recommend the addition of probiotics to infant feeds for prevention of allergic disease or food reactions. Reactions to foods and allergies (including asthma, eczema and hay fever) are common and may be increasing in developed countries. Many infants become sensitised to foods, including infant formula, through their gastrointestinal tract, a process that may be affected by the composition of the intestinal bacteria. Attempts to promote the growth of normal gastrointestinal bacteria and prevent sensitisation to foods have included the use of probiotics. Probiotics are live bacteria that colonize the gastrointestinal tract and provide a health benefit to the host. This review found that probiotics added to infant feeds may help prevent infant eczema, with one study suggesting the benefit may persist to four years of age. However, concerns regarding the quality of studies, inconsistency of findings between studies, and the fact that the benefits did not persist if restricted to infants with evidence of sensitisation to allergens, suggests that further studies are needed to confirm these results.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Aspirin as an additional treatment for giant cell arteritis | Cochrane
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a condition where inflammation destroys the wall of arterial blood vessels usually seen in the head. GCA affects people over the age of 50 years and is more common as people get older. Early on people feel tired and unwell; they have loss of appetite and can lose weight. Most people then develop a new headache, which can make it uncomfortable to touch their hair and scalp. Some people find chewing food uncomfortable. GCA can cause sudden blindness in one or both eyes. Other rare complications include double vision and life-threatening aneurysms and stroke.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Prebiotics in infants for prevention of allergic disease and food allergy | Cochrane
There is some evidence that prebiotic added to infant formula may prevent eczema and asthma in infants. However, there is some concern about the reliability of the evidence due to not all trials reporting allergy outcomes and trials not reporting the outcome for all infants. Reactions to foods and allergies (including asthma, eczema and hay fever) are common and may be increasing. Many infants become sensitised to foods, including infant formula, through their gastrointestinal tract, a process that may be affected by the composition of the intestinal bacteria. Attempts to promote the growth of normal gastrointestinal bacteria and prevent sensitisation to foods have included the addition of prebiotic to infant formula. Prebiotics are nondigestible food components that help by selectively stimulating the growth or activity of 'healthy' bacteria in the colon. This review found some evidence that a prebiotic supplement added to infant feeds may prevent eczema in infants up to two years of age. It is unclear whether the use of prebiotic should be restricted to infants at high risk of allergy or may have an effect in low risk populations; or whether it may have an effect on other allergic diseases including asthma. However, further research is needed to confirm the findings before routine use of prebiotics can be recommended for prevention of allergy.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Whole grain foods for the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus | Cochrane
Food products derived from cereal grains as wheat, rice, corn, rye, oat, and barley constitute a major part of the daily diet in many countries. In refined-grain products, the bran and germ of the grain, which contain the major amount of nutrients and dietary fibre, have been removed and only the starchy inner part of the grain (ca. 80% of the whole grain) is used. Whole grain foods contain either intact, flaked or broken grain kernels, coarsely ground kernels or flour that is made from whole grains (whole-meal flour). In this review the effect of whole grain foods and cereal fibre (as a marker of whole-grain food intake) on the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was assessed using all available prospective cohort studies and randomised controlled trials. Only one randomised controlled trial was found which was of low methodological quality. This study investigated in 12 overweight persons during six weeks the effect of the consumption of refined grain foods versus that of whole grain foods on insulin sensitivity (risk factor for the development of T2DM). Intake of whole grain foods resulted in a slight improvement of insulin sensitivity, increased bowel movements and no adverse effects. No information was given about patient satisfaction, health related quality of life, total mortality and morbidity. In addition eleven prospective cohort studies were found. One study was conducted in Finland and the rest in the United States of America of which seven were done in health care workers. Some of the studies were of limited quality. They consistently showed that a high intake of whole grain foods or cereal fibre is associated with a lower risk of the development of T2DM. However, evidence for a protective effect coming from prospective cohort studies only has to be considered as weak as with this design no cause and effect relationship can be established. Well-designed randomised controlled trials are needed to be able to draw definite conclusions about the preventive effects of whole grain consumption on development of T2DM.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Advice on diet for malnutrition as a result of disease in adults | Cochrane
Ill people often have a poor appetite or feel sick due to treatments and eat less than usual. If this reduced food intake is prolonged, it can cause weight loss, malnutrition and death. Healthcare professionals may offer advice to encourage good eating habits of high-protein and high-energy foods so that weight can be gained and the person's nutritional status improved. Oral nutritional supplements are commonly offered with or without advice on increasing food intake. Forty-five studies with a total of 3186 people are included in this review in four different comparisons: dietary advice to no advice; to oral nutritional supplements; to dietary advice plus oral nutritional supplements; and to dietary advice and nutritional supplements given together compared with no additional help. Follow-up ranged from 18 days to 24 months. There are some significant results for change in weight, muscle bulk and strength suggesting that nutritional intervention is beneficial although for some comparisons there are big differences between the studies. The authors conclude that nutritional intervention appears to be more effective than no help at improving weight, muscle bulk and strength. More research is needed to work out the best ways to help people who are losing weight because of illness in order to improve their clinical outcomes and quality of life.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Use of a powder mix of vitamins and minerals to fortify complementary foods immediately before consumption and improve health and nutrition in children under two years of age | Cochrane
Use of a powder mix of vitamins and minerals to fortify complementary foods immediately before consumption and improve health and nutrition in children under two years of age
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
