How To Avoid Dangerous Additives

In response to 5 Toxic Food Additives The FDA Allows, here are some alternative food companies that do not use harmful additives.

Soda & Sports Drinks

Concerns about the brands on the right come from their use of brominated vegetable oil and acesulfame potassium. These additives are linked to cancer, behavioral disorders and more. The brands on the left use natural ingredients, flavorings and colorings.

Other safe soda/sport drink brands:

• Bubly Sparkling Water
• Celcius Energy
• Bai Antioxidant Water
• Bolt 24 Hydration

Pre-Packaged Meats

Product names with “smoked” or “cured” means they have sodium nitrate added to make them last longer. This additive is linked to several types of cancer and birth defects for pregnant mothers. Although the packaging looks almost identical, meats that state “all natural” or “uncured” on the packaging are much safer.

Snacks

Many snack companies use artificial coloring in their products to make them look better. The products on the right use colors made from petroleum because it’s cheaper and more vibrant. To the companies who take shortcuts on our health: Our illness is not your profit. The brands on the left use colors derived from natural sources such as beets or carrots to get a similar, non-toxic result. If you’re interested in learning about the side effects of just one of these colorants, check out my article; America, Please Ban Red 40.

Other safe snack/candy brands:

• Made Good
• Annie’s Organic
• Black Forest
• Smart Sweets

Personally, this is the main additive I try to stay away from. When my younger brother started elementary school, his teachers requested my parents have him tested for Autism. He had a speech delay, social anxiety and a sensory processing disorder, but he wasn’t on the spectrum. Whenever he would eat red candy or red drinks at school or home, he would become extremely hyper and emotional. My parents took him to a speech pathologist and started cutting Red Dye 40 out of his diet completely. Through the combination of these two, his speech, anxiety and sensory problems slowly went away as he grew up. Today, he’s 11 and almost never shows behavioral problems. Perhaps eliminating Red 40 helped his brain develop healthily.

When a pregnant mother consumes artificial colors, the baby is exposed to toxins in their earliest developing stages. Since the FDA does not make this information widely available on food packaging, we must educate ourselves and others to create a better, healthier future.

Note: I am not a certified nutritionist. My advice is only intended to help educate you as a consumer. All photos and ingredient information are taken from each corresponding company’s websites.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. If you have a specific additive or food group you would like me to write about, let me know in the comments! Educating ourselves is the first step in raising awareness for this problem. We can take action by not supporting and not buying products that use toxic additives. Let’s work together to improve our future health!