The Spotlight highlights some good, and some not-so-good, things you might discover in your dinner or spot sneaking into your snack.
In the U.S., we are more likely to know what is in our food, or not in it, than a person from anywhere else would be. We are fortunate to have the world's safest food supply. Along with that, we benefit from food labels and laws that assure us that many potential additives are not allowed, and those that are will be clearly identified. Still, what are all those chemicals listed on the label? Do I really need propylene glycol? Is pyridoxine hydrochloride a good thing? Who is Ethyl Vanillin—or for that matter, Carageenan?
While this issue of the Spotlight can't answer all the mysteries of what's in your food, we want give you a taste of what purpose an ingredient might serve, how it came to be there and how you benefit. Along the way, we hope to share a little of the background of how our food supply became so safe, and ultimately, why it's a good thing to see those chemical names on our food labels!
Any discussion of substances found in food could justifiably begin with food fortification. In a 2002 study, Bishai and Nalubola stated that "food fortification stands out among public health interventions as one of the most effective methods of preventing nutritional deficiencies." By the relatively simple addition of a specific vitamin or mineral, the U.S. has effectively erased the threat of beriberi, pellagra, rickets and goiter.
A look at food fortification in the U.S. reveals "major waves" through the decades, beginning with iodization of salt in the 1920s to combat goiter and fortification of milk with vitamin D in the 1930s. In the 1940s, a sporadic push was made to add the B vitamins niacin and thiamin to flour and bread. It took a temporary law, War Food Order No. 1, to enforce the practice nation-wide. Folic acid, another B vitamin, entered the U.S. fortification scene in the 1990s as its connection to neural tube defect prevention became clear.
In the late 1980s, the U.S. food industry began introducing calcium-fortified drinks and cereals. Unlike earlier fortification efforts, the calcium campaign was not in response to a public health/disease prevention need. Read more about calcium, and why it is likely to be added to your food, on page 3 of this issue.
Globally, fortification continues to be an issue. Jay Naidoo, chairman of the board of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, told the 2004 World Economic Forum that if wheat flour was fortified with iron and
folic acid in the 75 most needy countries, iron deficiency could be reduced by 10 per cent and birth defects could be lowered by a third. Recent efforts in the Phillippines have shown that fortification of sugar with vitamin A could help vulnerable populations avoid the deficiency effects of nightblindness and other eye damage. Sugar is considered an ideal, appropriate food for vitamin A fortification because it is widely used and affordable.
Department of Science and Technology, Food and Nutrition Research Institute (2002).Vitamin A fortification of sugar: The Philippine experience. Retrieved 9/30/04 from http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph/htm/vitafor.htm.
NovisGroup. New folic evidence favours food fortification. Retrieved 9/27/04 from
http://foodnavigator.com/news/printNewsBis.asp?id=54964 . Reprinted
with permission.
(SP)
A three-year food safety grant funded by USDA is the main research project of Dr. Valentina Remig, who joined the Human Nutrition faculty in 2002. She and her team have conducted a national survey and focus groups with older Kansans. They have identified current knowledge, attitudes and food safety practices. In the final phase, they will develop a food safety curriculum to teach to college students who will later be working with the elderly.
Remig has successfully funded her projects from a variety of sources. "I am the first person in the College of Human Ecology to have received a Mentoring Fellowship from K-State's Women in Science and Engineering program," she said. With that funding, she and her students are developing an instrument to measure quality of life, dietary intake, perceived health status and functional ability of independently living older adults.
Remig has collaborated on many projects, including research on calcium and food service. She provided the nutrition component to TenderHearts, a Kansas extension-based program focused on caregivers, and co-authored three Vim and Vigor older adult health modules. In addition, she coordinates the county-based service of students hired as Family Nutrition Program summer nutrition assistants.
Remig traveled to Singapore in southeast Asia this summer
in response to an invitation to consult on nutrition for older adults.
Remig spent 16 days there presenting workshops, seminars,
public
lectures, scheduled discussions and clinical rounds.
Remig grew up in Ohio, a naturalized citizen born of Ukrainian parents in Bremen, Germany. She received a B.S. in Dietetics then joined the Army and completed a dietetic internship in Texas. She returned to Ohio and earned a Ph.D. in nutrition from The Ohio State University, where she researched older adults' dietary habits, use of supplements and consumption of alcohol. Remig has devoted most of her career to developing and implementing nutrition education curricula in medical schools. She has also directed a dietetics didactic program and coordinated students' clinical placements.
Working in Texas, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio and now Kansas, Remig has taught countless students in a variety of health profession majors. Many have also benefited by having Remig recommend them for admittance to health profession schools or internships and for scholarships.
At K-State, Remig again combines her love for clinical work and teaching. She teaches a three-credit fall course, HN 600 Public Health Nutrition, and HN 630, Clinical Nutrition, a five-credit course offered each spring. Each course typically enrolls about 50 students. With Public Health Nutrition, she coordinates about 25 students enrolled in the course's distance learning section. Remig has also taught HN 610, Life Span Nutrition.
"I like teaching a lot," she says. "I enjoy seeing the tremendous development in students' maturity. I get to have them right before they launch into their careers, so I emphasize their need for lifelong learning."
Remig recently wrote a book chapter on nutrition and neurological diseases. Additionally, she has authored a professional continuing education manual on Parkinson's disease and numerous journal articles, abstracts, presentations and poster sessions.
As a dietitian interested in older adult nutrition, Remig has served for many years and in a variety of positions on the board of the Gerontological Nutritionists' Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association. She has also served on the K-State Honor Council and on the Human Ecology Academic Affairs Committee.
Remig is an avid gardener, cook and dog-lover. She has one
adult daughter who lives in North Carolina. Three years ago,
Remig was able to donate stem cells to her sister, a cancer victim who is
now in remission. (MH)
What does food adulteration mean, what are food additives, and who monitors their use? These are questions that every consumer has the right and responsibility to ask. Food adulteration is defined as, the intentional alteration or degradation of food by substituting inferior for superior ingredients in a product.
Food adulteration is not a modern problem. Throughout time, food manufacturers and production sources have used illegal and unethical tactics to misrepresent food. These tactics extended into the 18th and 19th centuries when Parliament passed laws protecting the purchase of tea, coffee, and cocoa, important commodities that generated tax revenues. Interestingly, lost revenues, not the safety of the consumer, initiated the passing of the first laws governing food adulteration.
In 1862, the United States Bureau of Chemistry (predecessor to the Food and Drug Administration) began appointing chemists to address consumer based food adulteration. Dr. Harvey Wiley, Chief Chemist at the Bureau, was instrumental in the battle against impure food. His work resulted in the Food and Drugs Act of 1906, which specifically defined food adulteration, misbranding, and the intrastate movement of foods. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 created a more comprehensive definition, and further addressed misbranding, labeling, and truthful representation to the consumer. It also increased penalties for failure to comply with these new standards.
The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act is subject to continual review and revision. Two of the most notable changes occurred in 1958 and 1960 when the food additive and color additive amendments were added to the Act. These amendments stated that all substances entering the US Food Chain have to be tested and proven to be safe prior to market release and the manufacturer must bear the cost of proving the product safe. Substances or ingredients subject to this particular testing are generally new and do not fall into the GRAS (generally regarded as safe) category, ingredients historically proven to be safe, like salt, sugar, and spices. Another important specification of the additive amendments is The Delaney Clause, which states that all new additives or ingredients have to be proven to be non-cancer causing in both animals and humans.
What are some of the additives allowed in our food, and what purpose do they serve? There are four basic categories of additives that were established in the Additive Amendment of 1958. They are: GRAS (generally regarded as safe), Food Additives (must be proven safe), Prior sanctioned (assumed to be safe for a specific food-before 1958), and Color Additives (must be proven safe).
Regardless of the additive's origin, manmade or naturally occurring, it is subject to the same testing procedures to prove its safety. They may be as simple as salt and allspice, a complex chemical compound or application ranging from increasing nutrient content, retarding spoilage or simply keeping grains from sticking together. The table on page 4 shows some common food additives, their use, and foods in which they are used. This table may be used as a handy reference when reading food labels.
Even though some additives have previously been determined as safe, consumer complaints and ongoing testing have proven that they may be harmful to certain individuals. An example is sulfites, historically used to preserve freshness of salad bars. Consumer complaints, especially from those persons with asthma, initiated further review of sulfite usage, which was found to be a problem for many people. As a result it was banned from salad bars and when used on or in other foods it must appear on the food label. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer, is another additive found to cause adverse reactions in many people and must be prominently listed on a food label. Consumer complaints are important in the ongoing testing of food additives.
Even though the stories of past food adulteration are unnerving, the agencies and laws resulting from them have provided an effective testing system for ingredients and additives, resulting in safe, wholesome, enjoyable food.
(TB)
Many sweet treats today contain low amounts of sugar because they are prepared with sugar replacers. Sugar alcohols, which are really neither sugar nor alcohol, are also called polyols. They are used as sweeteners and bulking agents in many "sugar-free" processed foods such as hard candies, cookies and other baked goods, ice cream, fruit spreads and chewing gum. Sugar replacers do not promote tooth decay.
Unlike sugar substitutes which have no calories, sugar replacers provide reduced amounts of carbohydrates and calories compared to sugar: about one-half to three-fourths the calories. Yet many sugar-free foods contain substantial amounts of carbohydrates or calories. Why? It comes from their other ingredients, for instance flour or nuts.
If the claim "sugar free" is made on a food's label, its Nutrition Facts panel must show the amount of sugar alcohols or of a specific polyol, such as erythritol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol or xylitol.
One needs to be cautious in eating too much food with sugar alcohols, since consuming large amounts in a short time may cause intestinal gas and diarrhea.
Many people with diabetes realize that sugar replacers affect their blood glucose. Blood sugar rises after eating sugar alcohols, although it rises more slowly than when sugar is eaten. People with diabetes are advised to count any food with more than 10 grams of sugar alcohol as containing half the listed amount as carbohydrates. (For example, 12 grams sugar alcohol would be counted as 6 grams carbohydrate.)
A newer type of sugar replacer, erythritol, may offer better potential for use by people with diabetes than other polyols. Erythritol is very low in calories more like an artificial sweetener and provides only 0.2 calories per gram according to U.S. food labels. It does not affect blood glucose or insulin levels, based on clinical studies using single-doses and in 14-day clinical studies.
For more information on sugar replacers, visit the website www.caloriecontrol.org/redcal.html
(MH)
If you're a label reader, you may notice names like calcium disodium EDTA and calcium propionate on your soft drink can or your bread wrapper. One substance very likely to be found in your food, in one form or another, is calcium. Though the word may appear on most labels you read, the function as well as the form of the mineral varies widely from food to food.
Calcium's role in bone and dental health is probably its
most widely identified claim to fame. For more information on this
calcium function, see the September/October 1999 issue of
Nutrition Spotlight at
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/humannutrition/spotlight/welcome.htm Beyond bones
and teeth, the remaining calcium in the body plays an important role
in muscle contraction, blood pressure regulation, blood clotting and
nerve transmission. More recently, researchers have linked calcium
to weight loss. Researchers believe high-calcium diets decrease
the ability of fat cells to grow or accumulate when excess
calories are consumed, and increase fat breakdown when calories
are restricted. For more on this new
focus on calcium, watch for our next issue of Nutrition
Spotlight.
As mentioned, calcium may appear in foods for different reasons and in different forms. Calcium carbonate, the most commonly occurring form of calcium, is used as a white food coloring and to control acidity. This form of calcium is commonly used in supplements, antacids and chocolate candies. Calcium citrate is the form of calcium most readily absorbed by humans, and is often found in foods with calcium added as a supplemental mineral. It also functions as a buffer to decrease acid in foods.
Other calcium forms serve even more diverse functions.
Calcium proprionate, or propanoate, occurs naturally in some dairy
products and is used to prevent mold growth in commercial baked
products. Calcium silicate is an
anti-caking agent that is used to absorb moisture from powdered foods
to keep them flowing freely. Calcium
sulfate is used as a thickening agent and as a yeast food for
baked products. One rather ominous-sounding compound,
calcium disodium EDTA
(ethylenediaminetetraacetate) is added to foods to prevent
crystal formation, color loss, and to retain flavors in canned and
carbonated soft drinks.
There are dozens of calcium compounds used as food additives. Below is a chart of several common ones. For a more complete list of food additives, including even more calcium compounds, and their use in foods, go to http://www.nutritiondata.com/food-additives.html. Note that at the end of the list there's a glossary that helps further decode those labels.
If the food label you're reading lists calcium, and goes on from there, know that one or more of calcium's varied forms is at work to keep your food at the peak of quality.
(TK)
Non-nutritive sweeteners were originally developed to provide a "calorie-free" sweet taste to foods and beverages for individuals with diabetes. They also have been helpful to people wanting to control their calorie intake for other reasons including weight management. This is because they do not provide significant calories-largely because their intense sweetness means that only a minute quantity is needed to achieve a desirable level of sweetness. According to the Institute of Medicine, and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), nonnutritive sweeteners can offer a safe alternative to the higher calorie nutritive sweeteners when used in moderation following the Food Guide Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This is true for children and pregnant women in addition to the general population. The only exception is aspartame. Individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU) should be careful to avoid consuming products containing aspartame as they are unable to metabolize phenylalanine. For them, this inability can lead to irreversible brain damage in infants and children.
The FDA has reached its conclusion regarding the safety of the approved non-nutritive sweeteners by reviewing over 100 animal and human tests for each type of sweetener. Safe limits are set in terms of Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI)the level that a person can safely consume everyday over a lifetime without risk. Individuals can easily stay within these limits by using moderation as their guide to healthful eating.
To date, there are five FDA approved non-nutritive sweeteners on the market. The oldest of these is saccharin (Sweet N' Low ®, Sugar Twin ®). Newer products are aspartame (Equal ®or Nutrasweet®) , acesulfame potassium or acesulfame-K (Sunett® or Sweet One®), sucralose (Splenda®) and most recently, neotame. They all provide negligible amounts of calories. Because of the small amount required, each may be used in calorie-controlled diets. None affects blood sugar levels making them suitable for use by individuals with diabetes. In the case of sucralose, the insignificant amount that is absorbed is, for the most part, excreted in the urine. Recent reports in the press have alluded to safety concerns over sucralose because it comes from a sugar molecule that has been modified by adding chloride ions. This concern is unfounded. On the contrary, it is the chloride ions that render sucralose unidentifiable to the body as a nutritive substance; therefore sucralose passes harmlessly into the urine, without adding calories or affecting blood sugar.
Nonnutritive sweeteners have their place in the American diet as they can be used to increase the palatability of fruits and vegetables thus having the potential of encouraging greater intake of nutrients. They also may make it easier to achieve a nutrient dense-diet without sacrificing the occasional sweet flavored food and drink. However, it is important to balance the use of the non-nutritive sweetened foods and beverages with more nutrient-dense foods.
(KH)
Brand names are listed for comparison only, and do
not constitute an endorsement.
Recipe adapted from Splenda® website www.splenda.com
(KW)
Aspartame, or more commonly called Equal® or Nutrasweet®, is an artificial sweetener classified as "non-nutritive." These sweeteners provide a sweet taste sensation without raising blood sugar levels or insulin and are calorie and carbohydrate-free.
Equal Spoonful® measures cup for cup just like sugar and each packet is equivalent in sweetness to 2 teaspoons sugar. Prolonged heating can reduce Equal's® sweetness so plan to add it after the dish is removed from the heat. Cake and cookies depend on sugar for bulk and browning, so choose Equal® for recipes where sugar is used primarily for sweetness such as salads, beverages and sauces.
Sucralose is the newest of the low-calorie sweeteners and the only one made from sugar. It can be used anywhere sugar is used, including cooking and baking. Sucralose is marketed as Splenda® and is actually 600 times sweeter than sugar! Unlike sugar, the body doesn't recognize sucralose as a carbohydrate so it doesn't promote tooth decay and supplies no calories and passes through the body unchanged.
Splenda® may produce baked products with less volume that in some cases may not rise as high as full-sugar versions. To keep the texture in cookies, replace only the white sugar with Splenda® and leave the brown sugar in the recipe. Also, bake time may need to be shortened if using Splenda®.
For more baking and cooking tips using Equal® and
Splenda®, visit these websites: www.equal.com
and www.splenda.com.
(KW)