Food Additives: What They Are, What Types There Are, and Health Effects

Surely a large part of the population will have heard of the presence of food additives in food that we buy, especially pre-cooked or packaged, and it is common to try to avoid its consumption by relating it to something negative.

On the other hand, it is known that although there are great economic interests behind it and they are not entirely healthy if they accumulate, they also have a function when it comes to keeping food preserved. There is a lot of controversy with these products.

What are food additives, what are they for and what effects do they have on us? It is about this topic that we are going to talk about throughout this article.

Food additives: what are they and what are they for?

Food additives are the name given to the set of substances which are not part of foods naturally and which are added to them in order to add, enhance or modify any of its characteristics without adding or removing any of the nutritional properties of the food in question.

Generally, the main objective of adding this type of product is to preserve it for as long as possible, or to enhance the flavor. But it also has a sanitary meaning, since food in poor condition can suffer alterations and breed bacteria, fungi and other substances dangerous to health.

Although when we talk about food additives we generally think of synthesized products, the truth is that throughout history humanity has used salt, sugar or sulfur dioxide for this purpose. Or, it has even generated procedures such as smoking that allow food to be preserved. But little by little new ones have been generated with the purpose of increase the time that food is preserved enhance the aroma, appearance or flavor or reduce the cost of manufacturing processes.

Its main types

When we talk about food additives, we are not talking about something homogeneous, but rather a series of elements that are added to food but that in reality They can be grouped into different types of food additives with different properties or objectives. Thus, we can find some of the following types of food additive.

1. Preservatives

Probably the best-known group of food additives and whose function makes the most sense, preservatives are those products that are used for the purpose of prevent food spoilage due to the activity of microorganisms Among them we can find sorbic or benzoic acid, but also controversial compounds such as nitrates in marinades and sausages.

2. Flavorings

Food additives that are added for the purpose of flavoring are known as flavorings. improve the aroma and flavor of food

Generally part of this group are products of plant origin or products that imitate their aroma, including nuts. They are usually found in sweets, pastries, wines or cereals. Elements such as sugar could also be considered flavorings, although they do not receive such consideration at a legal level.

3. Colorants

Colorants are a group of food additives, which can be natural or synthetic, whose main function is to improve the visual appearance of food. Thus, its use is aimed at giving more color to the product. We have an example in saffron or chlorophyll or, in the case of synthetic ones, erythrosine or tartrazine. However, it must be taken into account that many of these products can contribute to generating some health problems

4. Antioxidants

Although many foods contain antioxidants naturally, It is common to find that many foods are added synthetically in order to prevent food from oxidizing and becoming bad, as well as from taking on a bad appearance and taste.

The main objective is to prevent the fats in the food from oxidizing and being lost. They can be either elements that directly eliminate oxidizing substances from the food or substances that promote and enhance the natural antioxidants already present in the food itself. An example is found in L-ascorbic acid generally in fruit and packaging, lactic acid and citric acid.

5. Stabilizers, thickeners, gelling agents and emulsifiers

Although each of these names refers to a type of additive, they all share the fact that their use is based on altering the texture and composition of foods, allowing the generation of very varied products that are very different in the mouth despite have the same origin. They allow us to give more consistency to a liquid food, as well as generate gels and emulsions Now, most of them are not digestible per se. Examples of this are found in pectins or sorbitol.

6. Acidulants

Another type of food additive classified by the World Health Organization is acidulants. These products’ main objective is to regulate the acidity level of foods, or change the flavor of the product It is typical of soft drinks, in which sulfates such as sodium or calcium are used.

7. Flavor enhancers

We call flavor enhancers that set of substances that increase the perception of the flavor of the food to which they are added, in principle without the enhancer having its own flavor The best known is L-glutamic acid, which in high concentrations is responsible for the umami flavor.

8. Sweeteners

Along with preservatives and colorings, sweeteners are the best-known food additives, and perhaps the ones most used by the end consumer on a daily basis, regardless of whether the chosen food contains them or not.

Sweeteners are a group of substances that are added to foods. in order to provide a sweeter taste Generally, these are products that have been created to replace the use of sugars, something essential for people with certain diseases. Saccharin and aspartame are the best known, along with stevia (this part of a natural product) and glycyrrhine.

9. Modified starches

This type of additive is characterized by being based on the properties of starch to produce additives with binding properties, that is, they are used to achieve combine and keep together two or more types of foods that by themselves would not be able to mix

10. Enzyme preparations

This type of food additive is a preparation based on natural proteins that aims to generate biochemical reactions in food, attempting to replace those procedures that would require the use of chemical substances to be carried out. Typical of the preparation of cakes, fermented products or fruits Likewise, it is possible that the preparation is not included in the final product that reaches our table.

Health effects

As we have seen, food additives are products considered useful and used in order to preserve or try to improve the final product, or reduce the cost of its production. But although we generally consume additives constantly, the truth is that many of them have been under investigation because in high proportions and with regular consumption they may promote the appearance of different health problems or even become directly toxic.

Among the different problems that they can cause, we can find that some additives can generate allergic reactions in some people, as well as the possibility of making food digestion more difficult, absorption problems, alterations in excretion or they can make it difficult or destroy some beneficial components of the food to which they are added.

Likewise, in some cases they have been associated with difficulties in the transport of oxygen in the blood, to teratogenic effects that can harm the fetuses of pregnant women or even in some cases to an increase in the probability of suffering from cancer, as occurs for example with nitrates. It must also be taken into account that for some of them the short-term effects are known but the data on the possible long-term effects are unknown or not completely clear.

Despite this, it must be said that there are various organizations that evaluate the level of toxicity of food additives and regulate their presence in foods in order to reduce and try to eliminate the risks. Among other actions, they can regulate the levels of additives used, or in the event that a specific one appears especially dangerous, even prohibit its use. Even so, it can be useful to evaluate the type of elements that are part of the food we eat.