Food Additives and Nutrition Habbits

Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste, appearance, or other qualities. A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow and reproduce. There are six different nutrients and these nutrients are water, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, lipids and protein.

Water is very important because you can not last very long or function without water. The body is mainly water (62% of the body weight). Any form of dehydration makes you feel terrible and that is why we need water.

The way that your brain works and operates and the way you act is all affected by water, without water your brain cannot operate to its full potential.If you are constipated one of the main reasons is because you probably don’t have enough water in your system.Other than just drinking water you can get water by eating fruits and vegetables.

Carbohydrates are your body's fuel and it provides energy to the body without carbohydrates you will be run down and therefore wont be able to function.

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They protect your body from catching any viruses and diseases. 45% to 65% of the calories you consume on a daily basis should be carbohydrates. Some Carbohydrates are healthier than others such as choosing whole grain foods over refined foods.

Vitamins are important to keep your body strong and healthy so you need to include these into your everyday diet. In order to be healthy you need to include 13 essential vitamins.. They improve your vision and makes sure you have strong bones and teeth and vitamins also reduce the risk of getting lung and prostate cancer.

Various kinds of vitamins such as vitamin C improve your immune system.

Minerals help support the body. They are important in order for people to have strong bones and teeth, having a good amount of fluid in your system and . Calcium, iron and zinc are some examples of minerals. Calcium helps with keeping a strong and healthy blood pressure as well as keeping your muscles and body relaxed. Iron supports your red blood cells and hormone creation and zinc keeps your body healthy and immune system strong and also helps with healing.

Lipids helps with functions of the body like absorbing vitamins and minerals, blood clotting, building cells, and moving of muscles. Lipids are high in calories, which are high in energy. Lipids should be in 20%-30% of the everyday diet. Healthy fats could be in nuts, seeds, fish, and vegetable oils (like olive, avocado, and flaxseed). Try and avoid trans fat and have less saturated fats.

Protein is important for good health. Protein provides the building blocks of the body and these building blocks don’t only have an impact on the body. All cells in the body have protein in them. All substances in the body are made up of proteins. Protein only gives the body all its energy if it is necessary. Proteins are made up of different amino acids. Even though the body is able to create amino acids quite a few of the essential amino acids only come from certain foods. To function the body needs essential amino acids.

Food emulsifiers can also be known as emulgents and some emulsifiers are known as surface-active agents and these agents act as a boundary between two liquids and these liquids would be oil and water and this causes the liquids to blend together and create little drops of liquid. This food additive also decreases the amount of stickiness, makes sure the substances don’t separate as well as makes sure the substances don’t crystalize too much.

It can be that drops of oil are dropped into water or it can be that drops of water are dropped into oil and these are called emulsions. Emulsifier is done by emulsion which can be created with force in a mechanical way so therefore the droplets are spread out into even smaller droplets. In order to keep the emulsions at a stable/normal level for foods with low levels of fats and very creamy foods, emulsifiers need to be added to the food. Emulsifiers need to be listed on the ingredients list.

Stabilizers are substances added to foods to preserve consistency or maintain a solution, mixture or suspension. Stabilizers are food additives and are used by the food industry for processed foods. Stabilizers may inhibit the separation of emulsions which has to do with emulsifiers or prevent the color of foods from changing. They may furthermore bind suspended solids in a liquid or maintain an acidic environment.

A bleaching agent is used to lighten or whiten a substance which occurs by having a reaction caused by the chemicals used to bleach the substance. Food bleaches are used in flours and this is done by adding the bleach to the flour and this will make the product look more white. Agents that are used to make the product more white by bleaching is by adding a flour bleaching agent, organic peroxides, calcium peroxide, nitrogen dioxide, chlorine. Bleaching agents is quicker to do rather than waiting for the flour to get to the correct stage. Colourants is the substance that is edible as it is made from vegetable dyes and it gives colour to food to make it look more exciting. Food colorants are used for various products and they are mainly sweet products.

Some food colorants aren’t very healthy for our bodies and these are known as synthetic food colorants but nowadays there are food colorants that are naturally made and these are healthy for our bodies. Issues relating to the synthetic food colorants are allergic reactions, issues with how people act as well as an effect on peoples intellect and this is all due to the number of toxins in the synthetic food colorants. Natural food colorants don’t have a bad effect on the body's health.

Artificial Preservatives are chemicals that is an addition to some foods and the chemical substances are either put on the outside of the foods or added to medicine. These preservatives mainly come from acids and this is a reason why they have such a negative effect on bodies but they don’t only come from acids they can also be natural and examples of these are Benzoates, Propionates and Sorbates.

There are different groups of artificial preservatives and these are antimicrobial agents which are put in foods and this agent is what destroys the bad bacteria and prevents mold from developing on foods, antioxidants are there to make the food last as it protects the food from the reaction of the oxygen. Some antioxidants are already in food without having to add them and they preserve the foods, chelating agents and these are chemicals that are put in foods which are called “metal ions “ and these are atom compounds that have an electric charge.

Antioxidants is a substance that is in food that can prevent oxidation especially if it is used to protect the food from becoming worse. Antioxidants are substances that can prevent or slow damage to cells. Antioxidants can either be artificial or natural. Some natural antioxidants have a huge variety of antioxidants. Antioxidants are there to compensate for the free radicals in the body and are meant to improve the bodies health.

Antioxidants can protect oxidative stress. This occurs due to excessive exercise, tissue trauma, due to inflammation and injury, smoking, environmental pollution, radiation. This leads to a great release of free iron or copper ions, an activation of phagocytes, a type of white blood cell to fight infection, an increase in enzymes and a disturbance of electron transport chains. Each antioxidant has a different function. Sweeteners are grouped into two groups of nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners. Nutritive sweeteners provide a sweet taste and also provide energy which is measured in kilojoules. Nutritive sweeteners provide 17kJ of energy per gram, like the amount of kilojoules in some carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates, also provide other nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and fibre but sweeteners don’t. Sugar alcohols are a group of nutritive sweeteners that contain less energy per gram and are not completely taken into the bodies system. Incomplete absorption doesn’t have much of an effect on blood glucose levels compared to sweeteners

Non nutritive sweeteners are sweet without providing energy. Non-nutritive sweeteners provide no form energy. They are also called high-intensity sweeteners in order to sweeten something not much is needed. Nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners can be called sugar substitutes,as they are a replacement of sugar.Some products only include non- nutritive sweetners but some include both. Aspartame and Stevia are examples of sweetners that have been improved.

Flavour enhancers are mainly used in savoury foods to intensify the flavour in the food.. A natural flavour enhancer is salt and this is a simple taste. Flavour Enhancers improve the taste without having any of their own flavour. Large amounts can cause high blood pressure or allergies. Natural flavor enhancers increase the stability of food.

Common food flavour enhances are MSG is a main flavour enhancer in order to flavour foods rich in protein.MSG is a natural flavour which is classified as a food additive.Monopotassium glutamate is a non sodium food enhancer.Calcium diglutamate as well as a flavour enhancer is also used for first aid purposes. Inosinic acid is important to have for the metabolism system of the body.Inosinic acid as a food flavor enhancer is very important for the proper metabolism of the body.

There are various consumer issues and these include:MSG has mild symptoms and these are tingling skin and headache. Some other symptoms caused by MSG are headaches,congestion, mild chest pain, nausea, digestive issues, depression and fatigue. Some more intense symptoms of an allergic reaction to MSG are chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath and swelling in the throat

People who are allergic to MSG should not consume processed foods. Other foods that these people should try and avoid are dried meats, poultry stocks and modified food starches. Symptoms to look out for to determine whether or not you are allergic to tartrazine are having a reaction to other products that contain tartrazine in them. Serious symptoms of this allergy will include skin rashes and nasal congestion. Tartrazine allergy will only cause asthma to sensitive bodies. If you allergic to tartrazine you need to try avoid consuming this food additive.

The main side effect caused by sulphite is asthma and symptoms of this are wheezing, chest tightness and coughing and will happen if the asthma hasn’t been fully controlled. Symptoms to an allergy of sulphite may consist of flushing, fast heartbeat, wheezing, , dizziness, stomach upset and diarrhoea, collapse, tingling or difficulty swallowing.

Benzoates:People are most commonly intolerant to Benzoates rather than having a food allergy. An intolerance to food doesn’t affect the bodies immune system and isn’t life threatening. The most common intolerances are all to do with lactose, caffeine, sulphites, salicylate and sodium benzoate. Benzoates is most commonly in orange-flavored soft drinks, milk, meat products, condiments, baked goods and lollipops than in other foods.Benzoates can cause dermatitis and this may occur continuously. The skin that has experienced an allergic reaction become red, swollen and blistered which is a small form of dermatitis or dry, thickened and intensely itchy which is a major form of dermatitis.