Food Without Salt

Food additives used by mankind for centuries, are chemicals applied to foods at home or in the food industry to improve the taste, color, texture and longevity of food. Salt, sugar and vinegar were among the food additives have been discovered and used both to improve the taste and food preservation. Although salt spices, smoke, and sugars have been used sparingly since millennia in the past 30 years, with the advent of processed foods, there was a massive explosion in the chemical adulteration of foods with additives. Additive in food technology research and development has become big business.

Considerable controversy has been associated with potential threats and possible benefits of food additives. commercial food additives are regulated by the U.S. Federal Food, Drug and cosmetics and food additives tend to receive the most attention due to published regulatory review. There are literally thousands of chemical additives used in our food today, and dozens of people are considered harmful components. A brief discussion of the most popular additives will serve to illustrate the potential health problems, and we hope to help you start thinking about avoiding these harmful substances:

Sulfites (sulphites) are used as money laundering, anti-oxidant, and the preservation of additives in food. They have been implicated as allergens due to the fact that a typical sulfite reaction involves flushing, dizziness, shortness of breath or wheezing. Asthma attacks can be caused by sulphites and some deaths have been attributed to their consumption as well. Unfortunately sulfite sprays have been widely used on fresh produce in stores and restaurants to prevent browning due to air exposure. The American favorite, the French fries, are also treated in this way. As preservatives, sulfites are both present in processed foods, alcoholic beverages (wine and beer), and drugs. Even the sprays used to treat asthma contained sulfites as preservatives in the past! Greater awareness of sulfites in 1985 led to new rules restricting their use, and the FDA banned the use of six sulfite preservatives in fresh fruits and vegetables. But the ban still allows manufacturers of processed food, dried fruits, wines and beer to the use of sulphites, but if these manufacturers are cautious on behalf of their clients, they will deliberately prevent or restrict the use sulfite.

Nitrates and nitrites - Several chemicals used as food additives are also found naturally in many foods. Nitrates and nitrites are always present in plants. They are part of the essential chemistry of soils and plants, and as any gardener knows Nitrogen is essential for plant growth and nitrogen fertilizers containing nitrates are the most abundant chemicals in agriculture. Surprisingly, some highly beneficial foods such as beets, radishes, spinach and lettuce contains the highest levels of nitrates. We know that the nitrate consumption per day is estimated at about 100 mg per day.

Although nitrite does occur in nature, they are less frequent in the food supply, but are produced in the mouth and intestine by bacterial action on protein and nitrates. Their consumption is about 2-3 mg per day. Nitrite, usually in the form of sodium salts, have been widely used as preservatives, especially in bacon and other processed meats. Petre nitrite is most known with his undeserved reputation of the inhibitor of libido. The main concern is the ability of nitrites combine with amino acids in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) to form nitrosamines, potentially carcinogenic molecules. Vitamin C inhibits nitrosamine formation and is thought to protect against cancer of GIT. Vitamin C as preservatives, antioxidants, preservatives can replace less desirable in some foods. Tobacco smoke is the main.