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Sulfites may cause allergy symptoms in some people,but most antioxidant preservatives are generally recognized as safe.So should you be worried about preservatives?Well, they're usually near the end of the ingredients list because they're used in very small amounts determined by the FDA to be safe.Nevertheless, some consumers and companies are trying to find alternatives.Packaging tricks, like reducing the oxygen around the food can help,but without some kind of chemical assistance,there are very few foods that can stay shelf stable for long.

Like the compounds in smoke,these sop up free radicals and stave off rancid flavors that can develop in foods like oils,cheese,and cereal.Other antioxidants like citric acid and ascorbic acid help cut produce keep its color by thwarting the enzyme that causes browning.Some compounds like sulfites can multitask.They're both antimicrobials and antioxidants.

Meanwhile, antioxidant preservatives prevent the chemical changes that can give food an off-flavor or color.Smoke has been used to preserve food for millennia because some of the aromatic compounds in wood smoke are antioxidants.Combining smoking with salting was an effective way of preserving meat before refrigeration.For antioxidant activity without a smoky flavor,there are compounds like BHT and tocopherol,better known as vitamin E.

Of course, too much sugar and salt can increase your risk of heart disease,diabetes,and high blood pressure,so these preservatives are best in moderation.Antimicrobial nitrates and nitrites,often found in cured meats,ward off the bacteria that cause botulism,but they may cause other health problems.Some studies linking cured meats to cancer have suggested that these preservatives may be the culprit.

Are they safe?Some studies suggest that benzoates,related to benzoic acid,contribute to hyperactive behavior.But the results aren't conclusive.Otherwise, these acids seem to be perfectly safe.Another antimicrobial strategy is to add a lot of sugar, like in jam,or salt, like in salted meats.Sugar and salt hold on to water that microbes need to grow and actually suck moisture out of any cells that may be hanging around,thus destroying them.

For thousands of years, people preserved food using bacteria that produce lactic acid.The acid turns perishable vegetables and milk into longer lasting foods,like sauerkraut in Europe,kimchi in Korea,and yogurt in the Middle East.These cultured foods also populate your digestive track with beneficial microbes.Many synthetic preservatives are also acids.Benzoic acid in salad dressing,sorbic acid in cheese,and propionic acid in baked goods.

Preservatives can prevent both types of deterioration.Before the invention of artificial refrigeration,fungi and bacteria could run rampant in food.So we found ways to create an inhospitable environment for microbes.For example, making the food more acidic unravels enzymes that microbes need to survive.And some types of bacteria can actually help.

There are two major factors that cause food to go bad:microbes and oxidation.Microbes like bacteria and fungi invade food and feed off its nutrients.Some of these can cause diseases,like listeria and botulism.Others just turn edibles into a smelly,slimy, moldy mess.Meanwhile, oxidation is a chemical change in the food's molecules caused by enzymes or free radicals which turn fats rancid and brown produce, like apples and potatoes.

Food doesn't last.In days, sometimes hours,bread goes moldy,apple slices turn brown,and bacteria multiply in mayonnaise.But you can find all of these foods out on the shelf at the grocery store,hopefully unspoiled,thanks to preservatives.But what exactly are preservatives?How do they help keep food edible and are they safe?

That's why sugar is hiding everywhere.Actually, it might be easier to list the foods that added sugar isn't hiding in,things like: vegetables, eggs, meats,fish, fruit, raw nuts, even your kitchen sink.Simply choosing water over soda, juices, and sports drinks is a great way to avoid hidden added sugar.At the very least,try to pay attention to food labels,so you can keep your sugar intake at a healthy level.Because in this game of hide and seek,every time you don't find added sugar,you win!

Fresh fruits actually contain fructose,but it's naturally occurring and doesn't cause an overload because the fiber in fruit slows its absorption.This gives your liver the time it needs to do its job.It's sugar that makes cookies chewy and candy crunchy.It even turns bread crust a beautiful, golden brown.It's also a great preservative;it doesn't spoil or evaporate,so the foods it's added to are easier to store and ship long distances and tend to be cheaper.

Well, both are carbohydrates with the same chemical composition of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.But they have very different structures and behave quite differently in our bodies.Glucose is the best source of energy for nearly all organisms on Earth.It can be metabolized by all organs in the body.Fructose, on the other hand,is metabolized primarily in the liver,and when your liver gets overloaded with sweet, sweet fructose,the excess is metabolized to fat.

Currently, the FDA doesn't suggest a recommended daily limit for sugar,so it's hard to tell if this 65 grams in a bottle of soda is a little or a lot.But the World Health Organization recommends limiting sugar to just 5% of your total calories,or about 25 grams per day.So, 65 grams is well over twice that amount.But just what is sugar?What's the difference between glucose and fructose?

And even though organic evaporated cane juice sounds healthy,when you evaporate it,you get sugar!Chemically speaking, it's all the same.And even trickier,when multiple added types of sugars are used in one type of product,they get buried down in a long list of ingredients,so the sugar content might appear to be okay,but when you add them all together,sugar can be the singlebiggest ingredient.

Just like your friend Robert might go by Bob, Robby, Rob, Bobby, or Roberto,added sugar has a lot of aliases.And by a lot, we don't mean five or six,try fifty-six.There's brown rice syrup, barley malt,demerara, Florida Crystals, muscovado,and, of course, high fructose corn syrup,sometimes called HFCS, or corn sugar.Even sugar's tricky nicknames have nicknames.Grape or apple concentrate has the same effects on your body as its 55 sugary twins.

Check the ingredients on ketchup, bologna,spaghetti sauce, soy milk, sports drinks,fish sticks, and peanut butter.You'll find sugar hiding in most of those products.In fact, you'll find added sugars in three-quarters of the more than 600,000 items available in grocery stores.But how is sugar hiding?Can't you just look on food labels?It's not that easy.

Sugar is playing hide and seek with you.You'd think it would be pretty easy for you to win,considering all the sugar in sodas, ice cream, candy, and big white bags labeled sugar.People get about half of their added sugars from those drinks and treats,so it might seem like sugar is hiding in plain sight,but like someone in the witness protection program,the other half is hidden in places you'd least suspect.