Nutritional supplements

The era of synthetic food additives has opened newopportunities for food producers. Thanks to stabilizers and preservatives, the products do not spoil for months, thanks to dyes - it has an appetizing color. Sweeteners allow you to save sugar mountains, because instead of kilograms of natural sugar, it's enough to put in a product only a couple of grams of sugar substitute.

Code mark of the type "Exxx" for synthetic food additives was introduced in1953 - until this time, the names of additives on the labeling of products were indicated completely. The letter "E" in this code name is traditionally deciphered as "Europe", i.e. Europe.

The digital code identifies the group to which the particular add-on belongs. There are 10 such groups:

• Е100-Е182 - dyes;


• Е200-Е280 - preservatives;


• Е300-Е391 - antioxidants;


• Е400-Е481 - stabilizers, emulsifiers, thickeners;


• Е500-Е585 - different: acidity regulators, flour improvers, disintegrating agents, moisture regulators;


• E600-E699 - flavor and flavor enhancers;


• E700-E799 - antibiotics;


• E800-E899 - spare range of designations (in case of appearance of new additives);


• E900-E999 - sweeteners, antiflamens (defoamers);


• Е1000-Е1521 - substances for glazing, separators, gas compressors, sealants, texturizers, salt-smelters.

Food additives are divided into natural, identical to natural and artificial. Natural food additives as, for example, dye curcumin Е100, are made by a physical method (extraction, distillation) from plant and animal sources.

Identical natural supplements Are substances completely identical to natural substancesanalogues in their properties, but obtained by chemical or microbiological means. As a rule, such a method of obtaining a substance is cheaper or more efficient, so it is often used.

Artificial or synthetic food additives Are compounds that do not exist in nature. These compounds are designed and created by man.

How do food additives affect the human body?

Conducted clinical trials of differentfood additives have shown that they are far from harmless to the human body. Some additives contribute to the formation of cancerous tumors, i.e. are carcinogens, others violate the natural microflora of the gastrointestinal tract and provoke the development of ulcers. A number of supplements are contraindicated in asthmatics, allergies.

Therefore, some food additives "E" are forbidden to use. So, in Russia the dye is officially bannedЕ121 - it increases the risk of oncological diseases, dyes E123, E124, E127, E128 - they cause allergic reactions. Also, preservatives E216, E217, E240 are forbidden - they have a pronounced oncological effect.

The food coloring tartrazine E102 (causesasthma attacks) is banned in a number of European countries, but is permitted for use in Russia. This dye is used to tint products in yellow. Its presence must be indicated by the manufacturer on the product packaging.

In small doses, dietary supplements are not capable of causing significant damage to health. However, many of them have the property cumulativei.e. can accumulate in the body. Therefore, even if the manufacturer does not exceed the maximum admissible concentration of the additive in the final product, the "effect" from the use of food additives may appear with time.