Hi my name is Pam. My journey into food additives began some 20 years ago. As a young woman fresh out of high school, I had a keen interest in beauty, health and nutrition. This led me to undertake a Diploma in Beauty Therapy. I quickly realised that although external treatments on the body were helpful in improving the skin's appearance and elasticity, it was what we put inside our body that really made the difference. With this focus in mind, I enrolled myself at a leading naturopathic College and studied a Diploma in Nutrition.

Have you ever thought about where food additives actually come from? They can be made from plant, animal, insect, chemical, or even synthetic substances.

Take Cochineal (E120), for example. It is a natural red colourAdded to change or intensify colour in food. derived from the insect Dayctylopius coccus, which feeds off various cacti plants. The body and eggs of the insect are crushed to extract the carminic dye. Apparently cochineal gatherers take special care to harvest the pregnant females, which have the highest concentration of carminic dye.

Sometimes additives have unexpected side effects.

I thought this study was particularly interesting:

Rats dosed with the dye — known as brilliant blue G — after injury showed greater improvement in motor skills than rats not receiving the dye. And assuming the food colorant’s low toxicity holds true for brilliant blue, the research suggests a new approach for treating spinal cord trauma in humans, injuries for which there are few therapies.