Additives are substances intentionally added to foods to preserve them and prevent deterioration, as well as to give them color and flavor and maintain and improve their structure.

Additives are identified by the letter E, which indicates that the additive has been evaluated and accepted by the EU.

The number that follows the letter, the first digit, indicates the additive type: 1 – coloring. 2 – preservative. 3 – antioxidant. 4 – stabilizer or emulsifier. 5 and 6 – flavor enhancer. 9 – sweetener.

The second digit indicates the color or chemical group.
The third digit indicates the compound.
For example: E 102 is the yellow tartrazine food coloring. E 250 is the preservative sodium nitrite.

Additives can be natural or artificial.

The following are artificially synthesized additives: E 102, E 104, E 110, E 122, E 123, E 124, E 127, E 128, E 129, E 131, E 132, E 133, E 142, E 151, E 153, E 154, E 155, (E 160 b), E 180, E 210, E 212, E 213, E 214, E 215, E 216, E 217, E 218, E 219, E 220, E 221, E 222, E 223, E 224, E 225, E 226, E 227, E 228, E 230, E 231, E 232, E 233, E 235, E 239, E 242, E 249, E 250, E 251, E 252, E  280, E  281, E 282, E 284, E 285, E 310, E 311, E 312, E 315, E 316, E 320, E 321, E 432, E 434, E 435, E 436, E 450, E 451, E 452, E 472a, E 472b, E 472c, E 472d, E 472e, E 473, E 474, E 475, E 476, E 477, E 479b, E 491, E 492, E 493, E 494, E 495, E 520, E 521, E 522, E 523, E 535, E 536, E 538, E 541, E 554, E 579, E 585, E 900, E 950, E 952, E 953, E 965, E 966, E 967, 1505, E 1518.

Natural additives inspire more confidence, but their effects at high doses are not well understood. Artificially synthesized additives inspire less confidence; in many cases, it is impossible to know how they interact in the body or how they influence gene expression, but exhaustive toxicology studies have been conducted due to concern over their safety.

ADI.  Artificially synthesized additives are subjected to studies and strict controls. The ADI is the acceptable daily intake which does not cause health problems. But this can vary from one person to another and even in a single person if their conditions change, and combined intake from all food sources can be higher than the ADI. Furthermore, these additives are artificially synthesized substances and, as such, molecules that are foreign to the body and do not fit well in biochemical cell processes.

The questions many scientists ask about additives are: What happens when a person:

• consumes multiple types of additives frequently and over a long period of time?
• consumes a product that has been processed in ways than can cause unknown transformations in the additives it contains?
• metabolizes the additives in a different way?
• is deficient in basic antioxidant, antiglycation and anti-inflammatory micronutrients?
• has allergic sensitivity (25% of the population)?
• has a genetic predisposition to digestive problems?
• has a strong genetic predisposition to cancer?
• is exposed to toxins-pollutants (the vast majority of the western population) and other additives whose interactions are unknown?
• suffers from a chronic pathology?

A modern society without food additives is inconceivable, and it is nearly impossible to avoid ingesting artificially synthesized additives. Nonetheless, additives of natural origin, or obtained through synthesis but identical to natural ones, can preserve, stabilize, color and sweeten foods just as effectively but with much less risk. Perhaps these need to be studied more and manufacturers obliged to lower their prices so that they can take the place of artificial additives.