April 10, 2008

scientists react to the FSA’s guidance on food additives

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued new guidelines on the use of additives in food, following recent research suggesting that certain combinations of additives can cause hyperactivity in children.

Dr Sue Baic, registered dietician and Senior Lecturer in Nutrition at the University of Bristol, said:

“This is could be a helpful step in making it easier for parents to avoid the specific range of additives which have been implicated in behaviour problems in some children. Clearly it’s not necessary to avoid all processed foods nor all food additives and it may be that more acceptable alternatives can be used in the majority of affected foods. Many processed foods are both convenient and nutritious and approved food additives play a vital role in keeping our food palatable and safe, actually preventing health problems. However we do know that feeding children on diets containing large amounts of confectionery, crisps, cakes and fizzy drinks high in fat, salt, or sugar, even if free from these particular additives, is detrimental to health. Research supports a shift towards the consumption of more relatively unprocessed foods, such as fruit, vegetables, wholegrain cereals and fish.”

Claire Williamson, Nutirition Scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, said:

“The study carried out recently by the University of Southampton provided evidence that certain mixtures of artificial additives (together with the preservative sodium benzoate), are associated with an increase in hyperactive behaviour in 3 and 8-9 year old children. Although there are some study limitations, the study does appear to provide supporting evidence for a link between certain artificial additives and hyperactive behaviour in children and builds on evidence from previous studies.

“While many food additives confer a specific benefit, such as preventing microbial damage and food deteriorating too rapidly, food colours are not necessary to keep food safe and therefore offer no specific benefit to the consumer. We are therefore in favour of the FSA’s decision to phase out the 6 food colours that were used in the study over a specific period.”

See also the Food Standard’s Agency website.