E numbers & healthy eating

Essentially food additives, E Numbers have been passed for safety by the EU. The E originally stood for European Community, which is now known as the European Union.

By law, their presence has to be listed in the ingredients of products. While E numbers have passed scientific tests that are intended to prove they are not harmful to human health, there is still considerable debate over whether they can have negative consequences.

Some people suffer from allergies to certain additives and knowing which e numbers to watch out for can help you to avoid the ones that don't agree with you.

Food additives include preservatives, flavourings and colours, which are used to enhance the look of food or lengthen the amount of time it remains safe to consume. As food in the Western world is increasingly processed, as opposed to freshly produced, the amount of additives has steadily grown. While some experts point out that these help to avoid the dangers of food poisoning from produce that has gone off, others question whether the amount of chemicals added to our food has got out of hand.

Some food additives have been accused of causing hyperactivity in children while others of increasing the risk of developing cancer. The amount of danger involved is quite difficult to prove as different people can react differently to different chemicals. It's generally worth paying attention to what you are consuming, however, so that you can strike a balance between what's natural and what's artificial in your diet.