When you reach out for that packet of ready-to-eat food next time, think of the chemical cocktail you would be consuming instead of the convenience. Thickeners, emulsifiers, colours, antioxidants, anti-caking agents and acidity regulators, flavour enhancers?all of them spell a heavy dose of chemicals.
Consider the regular chocolate bar. ?Most ingredients in a modern chocolate bar aren?t really there for taste. They?ve been added to make it easier to manufacture the bar, store it, ship it and keep it on the shelves. Ingredients designed to raise the melting point of the chocolate, stabilise the flavours, prevent the ingredients from rotting for months, stop the bar absorbing water or bind together the ingredients so that they don?t separate in the packet before you open it,? shares activist Raj Patel in his book Stuffed and Starved.
?We happen to consume many additives and preservatives from instant food products. It can be in the form of flavourings to enhance the taste of the products or preservatives to increase their shelf life. It?s almost impossible to eat food without preservatives unless you eat only fresh food cooked yourself,? says Dr Veena Aggarwal, Head, R&D, VLCC.
Though most people have turned calorie conscious and usually check the nutrition labels before picking stuff off the shelf, they tend to skip the ingredients part. While there aren?t many conclusive studies related to preservatives and additives, the concern in the voices of health experts is unmistakable.
Dr Rahul Nagpal, HoD, Paediatrics, Max Hospital, Delhi, says, ?I have seen a substantial increase in the incidence of food-related diseases amongst children, particularly 4 to 8-year-old age group, in the last two years. It is difficult to pin down the exact cause. But yes, a lot of those can be attributed to inefficient or inadequate storage of food, especially juices, milk products, imported food. At times, the food gets contaminated despite the vacuum sealing.?
Preservatives have been found to have a negative impact on health. ?Preservatives in food can cause irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome. They can even be carcinogenic. Nitrates and nitrites can cause cancer. Sulphite can cause allergies, migraine, asthma and eczema,? elaborates Dr Ved Prakash, Consultant, Dept of General And Minimal Invasive Surgery, Asian Institute of Medical Sciences, Faridabad. Preservatives apart, even artificial colours, he adds, can be responsible for a number of symptoms, including hyperactivity in children, fertility and birth-related defects, liver and kidney damage, interference in brain function and learning disabilities. He particularly cautions against the ?no preservatives? tags that you might often spot on the supermarket shelves. ?Most such products still contain other chemicals like anti-oxidants, stabilisers and emulsifiers,? he says.
There is plenty of global research to back their claim.
Research-wise
A study conducted on 1,800 three-year-old children in 2004 concluded that artificial food colourings and preservatives have a significant impact on hyperactivity levels in very young children. The month-long study divided the children into four groups. During the first week the children were given foods free of artificial additives, including colourings and the preservative sodium benzoate. Later, the groups were randomly given fruit juices, with or without preservatives and artificial colourings. The study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, found the children to be less hyperactive when they consumed food without additives.
Two years ago, another randomised, placebo-controlled study also concluded that artificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative in the diet resulted in increased hyperactivity in three-year-old and 8/9-year-old children.
Sodium benzoate in particular was singled out in yet another significant global study in 2007 involving soft drinks. The preservative, when combined with vitamin C additive, turns into carcinogenic benzene. It may also damage vital parts of our DNA.
Clearly, this is a reason why providing healthy options to consumers has become the USP of brands like Nestle and ITC. Nestle recently launched ?Bhuna Masala? with no preservatives. ITC?s Kitchens of India and Aashirvaad range of ready-to-eat meals is again preservative-free. ?We use high temperature method of food preservation. This process kills all the microorganisms (food spoilage organisms, as well as pathogens) in the food,? explains an ITC spokesperson .
Any alternates?
As per FICCI estimates, the ready-to-eat food sector is growing over 20% annually, increasingly occupying a larger piece of the Indian food and beverage industry that?s pegged over Rs 3,58,400 crore. Little wonder that it is virtually impossible to escape convenience food in this jet-set age. So, is there an alternative to escape preservatives? ?Buy organic foods that are free from artificial additives. And try to eat freshly prepared food as much as possible rather than processed or canned foods,? says Dr Prakash. Sounds utopian yes, but then good health doesn?t come easy. Or maybe it does. ?It?s all about choices. Is picking an apple more difficult than making instant noodles, opening a packet of chips or cutting open a can of smoked salmon,? questions Kavita Kapoor, mother of a four-year-old. Again, the answer is easy and making the healthy choice difficult.
?The harmful effects of preservatives and additives may be evident only after decades of consumption. And due to their slow effect on health, studies on large scale are not practical to find out the causal effect,? she adds.
Seems it?s time to switch over to the traditional and healthy poha and can the cans!
