Synthetic additives in our food: their history and how they affect us now

By Ricardo Saenz-Arana

Synthetic additives are found in most of the processed foods we consume,

realizing different functions, such as making the food seem more
appealing, adding a nutritional or vitamin, conserving the food so that it
lasts more time. Most people believe that adding synthetic additives
because processed foods made at an industrial levelis a relatively new
practice, being developed in the 19 th and 20th centuries. However, synthetic
additives have been in our food for more time than everyone thinks. Since
the 1st century, Pliny the Elder, who was a Roman author and naturalist,
wrote an account of how the Gallic wine industry used smoke and aloe to
improve the appearance and taste of their products. In the 17 th and 18th
century, when the trade between Europe and Asia began to expand, there
were some merchants that adulterated their products with salts that we now
know are toxic. Some examples of this adulteration would be adding
copper carbonate to tea and sprinkling bread with calcium carbonate to
make it whiter in appearance. (Sharma, McKone, Markow, 2011)
The arguments related to synthetic additives began in the 19 th century. With
the development of scientific instruments such as the balance and
microscope, scientists began to find traces of foreign substances in food.
The media and other researchers began to criticize the food industry for
secretly contaminating food with compounds that were potentially toxic.
However, these additives were still salts like the ones used in the 18 th
century. It was until 1986 that the first synthetic additive was created by the
English chemist William Perkin. Soon after, the toxic salts that were once
used as additives were replaced by the colorful, organic based dyes.
However, there were still arguments concerning food additives, because
detractors argued that no research had been done to prove that these did
not cause secondary effects in long term consumption. (Sharma et al.,
2011)
Since the use of artificial dyes became more extended, various researchers
have reported the negative effects they have on a wide variety of
organisms. A recent study realized by Dwivedi and Kumar (2015) reported
that the synthetic food coloring azo dye had genotoxic (damage to genetic
information in a cell, possibly causing mutations and cancer) and cytotoxic
(damage to the cell, can cause death in severe cases) impact on the roots

of Brassica campestris, which isa type of plant. El-Wahab and Moram

(2013) reported that male rats that consumed food with synthetic colorant
suffered a decrease in weight compared to a control group of rats that was
fed with completely organic food. Kumbul-Doguc, Ishigame, Baxter and
Lisle (2006) reported that artificial foods caused an increase of plasma
cholesterol in a bird called the Australian magpie.
Apart from scholarly articles, the popular media has also been a heavy
critic to synthetic foods. One popular example would be a newspaper
article written by Mosko (2012) stated that several studies suggested that
artificial food dyes increases the symptoms caused by ADHD (attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder) in children.
An article written by McPherson (1965) supported synthetic additives and
synthetic food in general. His reasoning for doing so was that modern
medicine and improved sanitation had caused a great increase in lifespan
but the birthrate stayed the same. This resulted in a rapid increase of
population. Even though there have been efforts to control the population
growth and increase the food supply, these have not been very efficient due
to lack of education and large cases of malnutrition and under nutrition
present in some countries. He states that modification in the traditional
method of obtaining food, which is agriculture, is not enough to feed all the
growing population in underdeveloped regions, such as China and Africa.
He proposes that one way of being able to feed the growing population is
investing in the production of food by synthesis. Since all of the substances
necessary for human nutrition have been identified and successfully
synthesized, he considered that synthetic production of food would be
quicker and cheaper than traditional agriculture.
Some important science magazines have chosen to defend synthetic dyes.
New Scientist (2008) publishes an article criticizing the Soil Association on
their decision to put a ban on synthetic nanoparticles, but not on organic
nanoparticles. The author argues with this notion because stating that
something is safe because it is natural is a false assumption. There are
various examples of natural nanoparticles that are toxic, such as soot,
viruses and others.
Due to all the information I have gathered, I would say I consider that some
synthetic additives could be beneficial for us while the effects of others,

such as dyes, are still uncertain in the effects they could have in our health.
I can say that synthetic additives such as vitamins and preservatives.
Today, most countries have poor diets due to the popularity of fast food and
bad eating habits. Thats why the use of synthetic vitamins should be even
more extended than what it is now, if we had to rely only on the ingredients
in natural foods they wouldnt be enough, because most people dont really
have the knowledge of how to organize their diet with respect to the food
pyramid or in what aliments they can find the essential vitamins for
adequate functionality of the body. Preservatives are also very important,
because now with all the stress and fast paced society we have, cooking at
home is not an option for some people. That is why it is useful to be able to
preserve processed foods.
As a solution to the malnutrition in developing countries, I would propose
the same that McPherson proposed in his 1965 article. Synthetic foods
could indeed be the solution for world hunger. Even though in 1965, the
problem that was considered was if the future generations could produce
enough food to feed the rapidly growing population, today we know that
thanks to new technologies that have been implemented in the field of
agriculture, among other factors, we do have enough food to feed
everyone. The main reason for hunger in the world is poverty, and the worst
part is that an individual suffering from malnutrition has small body mass,
low levels of energy and limitations in mental functioning, which can only
contribute to deepening their poverty due to inability to work or learn. Even
though there have been continuous efforts to keep the international prices
for food at an accessible and stable price, there has been other factors that
have affected the price. In 2008, due to the worldwide financial crisis, the
price of basic aliments such as rice had tripled in some regions, which
affected both developing countries and advanced countries like Great
Britain and the US. (worldhunger.org, 2015)
Since poverty causes hunger, and hunger contributes to poverty, the only
solution is to make food more accessible to developing countries.
Considering the progress and development of synthetic additives
throughout the last decades, making entirely synthetic foods is a possibility
today. The industrial production of synthetic aliments rich in vitamins,
proteins and the rest of the substances needed for the efficient functionality
of the human body would have the potential of mass-producing accessible

and nutritional aliment that apart from reducing the number of people that
suffer from malnutrition, would also boost the economy, because those who
were not able to work due to poor health conditions would be able to
contribute to the economy and would have a brighter future ahead of them.
Now I would like to refer to the reasoning for my argument about how
synthetic vitamins and preservatives are beneficial to society, especially in
developed countries like the USA, where factors such as traffic and foods
like fruits and vegetables being too expensive make many parents opt for
not cooking in their house, but rather heating processed foods that are
already precooked or in a can.
In their study, Ames, Profet and Gold (1990), compare synthetic
substances to natural substances that are found in our food. Many
researchers argue that our defenses can keep us safe from the toxic
properties that belong to natural substances produced by plant as a
defense mechanism; however, they claim that our defenses cant keep us
safe from synthetic additives because they are unknown to our body. Ames
et al present evidence that even though man has evolved exposed to the
natural substances in food; many of these substances have still proven to
be carcinogenic.
Part of the reason why this happens is because we are not as adapted to
eating plants as we would like to think. Our diet has changed a lot in the
process of our evolution. The diet we have right now is much different than
what people used to eat 1000 years, and evolution is a process that can
take up to millions of years, so its not possible to assume that the natural
toxins than plants produce do us no harm.
Having stated this, I consider that having synthetic additives like vitamins
and preservatives in our food is not bad, These substances have proven to
be beneficial, because many people are not aware on what to eat to find
vitamins crucial to their health, they do not have the interest of looking into
what exactly they are eating and they are oblivious as to the amount of
vitamins they are consuming and whether its enough. In the study realized
by Devcich et al(2007), it is mentioned that those who prefer foods with
additional synthetic vitamins have less worries about health issues.
Therefore, I consider that synthetic vitamins are a good aspect of synthetic
additives.

On the other hand, I also believe it is important to invest on more research

concerning synthetic additives like dyes and others.
References
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Worldhunger.org