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Health Issues of Preservatives

Preservative is a type of food additive, which is added to products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, woods, paints, or other material to extend and preserve their shelf life and keep them from being destroyed and broken down by microorganisms like bacteria, germs or viruses. These microorganisms can cause food spoilage and decay, which can be found almost anywhere throughout our daily lives.

Here are some of the safe types of food additives/preservatives, which can be commonly found at the back of our snack boxes and packs.

• Ascorbic acid – a form of vitamin c found naturally in fruits and veggies, it helps protects body from free radicals • Aspartame – common artificial sweetener • Taurine – substance found in meat, breast milk, fish and sometimes energy drink, helps maintain electrolyte and water balance in blood • Nisin – an anti-bacterial used in meat and poultry products, cheese, salad dressing, and liquid eggs

Here are some of the questionable types of food preservatives that consumers should look out for as they may create various health issues:

• Soft drinks – they have artificial sweeteners like Saccharin, NutraSweet, and Aspartame, which have small quantities of poison because they modify brain neurochemistry, these drinks also contain high fructose corn syrup that has mercury and can damage body cells in the long run. • Sulfites – used for stopping browning and discoloration of food, health issues related is that it links to asthma-related sensitivity and sometimes allergy • Sodium Benzoate – can be found in sodas and various fruit juices, helps stop fermentation and acidification of foods, researchers have also found that when this type of preservative is mixed with vitamin c, it can create benzene (a known carcinogen-poison type chemical), consumers must drink gallons of these benzene-filled beverages before any negative health effects occur • Sodium Nitrate and Nitrite – substance added to processed and canned foods, often found in processed meat products such as bacon, ham, corn beef, sausage, and also the reason for giving hot dogs their red coloring, research has recommend that people should lessen the consumption of these processed meat to avoid nitrite’s intake, which have been link to various types of cancer • BHA/BHT – these substances help to preserve oils and fats in cosmetics and foods, some research has studied these substances and considered them as safe but some research has found that BHA has potential to contain carcinogen, at the same time BHT has been associated with both increased and decreased risk of cancer, affects sleep, increases appetite, liver and kidney damage, baldness, behavioral damage, and growth retardation • Refined sugar – high consumption of sugar can cause bloating, weight gain, migraines, fatigue, lower immune function, obesity, breast cancer, gum cavities and disease, and cardiovascular disease • MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) –used in flavoring food, found in low fat milk, candy, chewing gum, fruit yogurts etc., can cause headaches, nausea, weakness, burning sensation in back of neck or forearms, difficulty in breathing, change in pulse rate and heart rate etc. • Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) – used to keep flavor oils in soft drinks suspension, the main ingredient in BVO (bromate) is a poison, for children just two ounces of 2% solution of BVO can brutally poison them, but for adult it reduces immune defenses and histamine, which can further lead to allergic reactions.