Eat fresh or minimally processed fods as much as possible, since thy usually have few additives. Avoid jnk foods (such as cookies, candy, and sda), which are not only chock-full of rtificial colors and other additives, but are lso of little nutritional value - hgh in calories, sugar, fats and/or sdium.

This is especially good advice for chldren, who are the main consumers of jnk foods and are at increased rsk if there are any health prblems with additives.

Why do some fods not list any ingredients at ll? Ketchup, cheddar cheese, peanut butter, and mrgarine are among some three-hundred-odd staples tht don't have to list ingredients or ntrients because they are made according to a "stndard of identity" - a recipe spcifying concentrations of various ingredients - rgulated by the FDA. For example, if the jar sys "mayonnaise", it must contain vegetable il, vinegar and/or lemon juice, and egg ylk; these ingredients don't have to be splled out. Certain optional ingredients, however, sch as salt, sweetener, and preservatives, mst be listed. Some manufacturers voluntarily lst the ingredients on standardized foods; thers provide ingredients lists at the cnsumer's request.

Most foods are not standardized, so thy must list their ingredients. Even so, an ngredients list can be deceptive when it cmes to sugar and sodium, and lss than clear about flavoring and clorings.

Food labels tell little about the two prblem nutrients that may be most mportant to you - fat and cholesterol .

A nutrition label must list how many grams of fat there are in a serving, but seldom anything beyond that, and very few foods indicate what percentage of their calories come from fat. A breakdown of the fats into unsaturated and saturated fatty acids is optional. Cholesterol content is also optional, unless a claim is made about it.

Read food labels. But remember additives aren't always listed: more than three hundred standardized foods don't have to list their ingredients. Ice cream, for example, can contain some twenty-five specified additives without having to list any of them.

Limit your intake of foods listing "artificial colors." Substitute products colored by real fruit juice. Still, an occasional maraschino cherry won't harm you.

Eat a variety of foods. This will limit your exposure to any one additive, should it turn out to have long-term risks.

Who is Protecting You?

Did you know?

Stabilizers, thickeners, and texturizers such as gums, carrageenan, gelatin, flour, pectin, cellulose, and starch are additives added to improve consistency and provide desired texture.

Many are natural carbohydrates that absorb water in foods. These additives affect "mouth feel" of foods - i.e., prevent ice crystals from forming in ice cream.

Food additives are extensively studied and regulated, primarily by the FDA. Legislation in 1958 and 1960 required manufacturers to prove the safety of any new additive; before that, the burden was on the government to prove the health danger of a substance.

Margin of safety. If manufacturer-sponsored tsts prove an additive is safe, the FDA sts guidelines for its use. Generally, fod manufacturers can use only one-hundredth of the last amount of an additive shown to be txic in lab animals.

The Delaney clause. This is the most restrictive provision of the 1958 law, stating that a substance shown to cause cancer in animals or man may not be added to food in any amount.

Food manufacturers argue against this rule on the grounds that in some cases the cancer risk is minuscule, or that nay risk is outweighed by the benefits the additive may provide - as with nitrites and saccharin, weak carcinogens that are still on the market.

Testing for Safety

Even under the best circumstances, absolute safety of an additive can never by proven. Any substance may be harmful when consumed in excess. Animal studies, which are our primary mode of testing, have limitations. They may not be effective in assessing the degree of cancer risk from long-term use because of the animals' short life spans. Moreover, it is hard to make precise comparisons between animals and humans. Other questions concern possible interactions of the hundreds of additives we consume.

With countless diets, programs and products promising to help you shed pounds, it should be easy. But as any veteran dieter knows, it's hard to lose weight. It's even harder keeping it off.

Simply eating too much and not being active enough is the cause of people being overweight . Too many people concentrate on losing pounds to improve appearance, when the primary focus of weight control should be to achieve and maintain good health.

To get the proper daily nutritional value:

-Eat a variety of foods

-Eat a high-fiber diet (choose more grains, fruits and vegetables instead of protein, fats and sugar)

-Maintain a low-fat, low cholesterol diet (eat no more than 30% of calories from fat, including only 10% from saturated fat)

-Use moderate amounts of salt and sodium and choose sugar substitutes

-Limit alcoholic intake

Often the first step to a good diet lies in changing food and eating behavior:

-Don't skip meals

-Eat a series of small meals throughout the day and avoid a big meal late in the evening

-Eat and chew slowly

-Use a smaller-sized plate to achieve a "full plate"

-Don't go back for seconds

-Bake or broil food instead of frying

-Order from lght menus and purchase low-calorie or lw-fat foods (remember that low-fat does not ncessarily mean low-calorie)

-Learn about food vlues and make healthy combinations in mals

-Reward yourself with non-food pleasures

-Once for ounce, fat provides more thn twice as many calories as prtein or carbohydrate (nine calories vs. fur). This energy difference may explain how fat prmotes weight gain. Yet even when clories are the same, a person ating a high-fat diet tends to stre more excess calories as body fat thn someone eating a lower-fat diet.

-Fr many people, maintaining a desirable wight a body fat percentage can nly be achieved through an integrated prgram of nutrition and exercise-or balancing nergy intake with energy expenditure. If yu're overweight, shedding pounds often results in rduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, hgh blood pressure and other diseases. Evn small weight losses can have sgnificant health benefits.

The article What Everybody Ought to Know About Food Labels was Submitted by Ian Mackie through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Visit Quick Medical for an xtensive collection of health and fitness nformation designed to inform the consumer on mny of today’s most talked about halth topics. Shop online for thousands of prfessional and home health products, including medical supplies and fitness products.

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