High intake of added sugars increases the risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are widely used in many beverages and food products to reduce calories and sugar content. NNS have higher intensity of sweetness per gram than caloric sweeteners such as sucrose, corn syrup, and fruit juice concentrates. NNS approved for use have been tested and determined to be safe at levels that are within acceptable daily intake by the Joint Food Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives. The eight items of sweeteners are regulated as food additives in Korea. Dietary intake of the sweeteners was suggested as safety level by the ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2012. If substituted for caloric sweeteners without intake of additional calories from other food sources, NNS may help consumers limit carbohydrate and energy intake as a strategy to manage blood glucose and weight. Dietitians can provide guidance on the use of NNS that give the desired results in food preparation and use at the table.
Agriculture ; Blood Glucose ; Carbohydrates ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Energy Intake ; Food Additives ; Food and Beverages ; Fruit ; Joints ; Korea ; No-Observed-Adverse-Effect Level ; Non-Nutritive Sweeteners* ; Nutritionists ; Obesity ; Sucrose ; Sweetening Agents ; Zea mays

Many different additives are added to the food which we consume and the number of additives are estimated ranges from 2,000 to 20,000. These substances include preservatives, stabilizers, conditioners, thickeners, colorings, flavorings, sweeteners, and antioxidants. Despite the multitude of additives known, only a surprisingly small number have been associated with hypersensitivity reactions.
Antioxidants ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Food Additives ; Food Hypersensitivity ; Hypersensitivity ; Sweetening Agents

Many different additives include preservatives, stabilizers, conditioners, thickeners, colorings, flavorings, sweeteners, and antioxidants. Despite the multitude of additives known, only a small number has been associated with hypersensitivity reactions. A number of investigators have suggested that a significant population of patients with allergic diseases has symptoms related to the ingestion of food additives. However, the incidence and mechanism of reactions to additives in patients with chronic urticaria, angioedema, and atopic dermatitis remain unknown. A few studies of monosodium glutamate is reported to be associated with atopic dermatitis, but their relationship remains unknown. The best known dye is tartrazine. The group of azo dyes includes ponceau and sunset yellow. Amaranth (FD&C red no. 5) was banned from use in the US in 1975 because of claims related to carcinogenicity. Most of them are reported to be associated with aggravation of atopic dermatitis. Parabens are aliphatic esters of parahydroxybenzoic acid. Sodium benzoate is a closely related substance usually reported to cross-react with these compounds. These agents, which are widely used as preservatives in both food and drugs, are well recognized as causes of severe contact dermatitis. Additives would have to act as haptens to create a response mediated by IgE. The majority of these reactions are not of the immediate hypersensitivity type. Many cases of additive-provoked urticaria or dermatitis occur as late as 24 hours after challenge, arguing against an IgE-mediated mechanism. In conclusion, the exact relationship between food additives and the allergic diseases still remains to be solved.
Angioedema ; Antioxidants ; Azo Compounds ; Coloring Agents ; Dermatitis ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Eating ; Esters ; Food Additives ; Food Hypersensitivity ; Haptens ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Hypersensitivity, Immediate ; Immunoglobulin E ; Incidence ; Parabens ; Research Personnel ; Sodium Benzoate ; Sodium Glutamate ; Sweetening Agents ; Tartrazine ; Urticaria

Sweeteners are a kind of food additives, which can give food a sweet taste with little or no energy and provide a variety of options for people who have sugar control needs. Due to their stable process performance and good safety, they have been widely used in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries worldwide in the past 100 years. The safety of sweeteners is based on strict food safety risk assessment, which has been affirmed by many international organizations, national/regional food safety risk assessment agencies and food safety management authorities. The proper use of sweeteners can provide sweetness, be beneficial to control energy intake, reduce the risk of dental caries, and provide more food choices for people with hyperglycemia or diabetes.
Humans ; Consensus ; Dental Caries ; Food Additives ; Sweetening Agents ; Energy Intake

Many different additives are added to the food that we consume, and the number of additives is estimated to range from 2,000 to 20,000. These substances include preservatives, stabilizers, conditioners, thickeners, colorings, flavorings, sweeteners, and antioxidants. Despite the multitude of additives known, only a surprisingly small proportion of them has been associated with hypersensitivity reactions. A number of investigators have suggested that a significant proportion of patients with chronic urticaria, angioedema, atopic dermatitis, and asthma have symptoms related to the ingestion of food additives. However, the incidence and mechanisms of reactions to additives in patients with chronic urticaria, angioedema, and atopic dermatitis remain unknown. Monosodium glutamate(MSG) produces the flavor-enhancing properties of seaweed, the traditional component of Japanese and Chinese cooking. A few studies on MSG have reported an association between MSG and atopic dermatitis, but the exact nature of the relationship remains unknown. Dyes approved under the Food Dye and Coloring Act are coal tar derivatives, the best known of which is tartrazine(FD&C yellow no. 5). The group of azo dyes includes ponceau(FD&C red no. 4) and sunset yellow (FD&C yellow no. 6). Amaranth(FD&C red no. 5) was banned from use in US in 1975 due to the claims related to carcinogenicity. Most of them were reported to be associated with an aggravation of atopic dermatitis. Parabens are aliphatic esters of parahydroxybenzoic acid. Sodium benzoate is a closely related substance usually reported to cross-react with these compounds. These agents, which are widely used as preservatives in both foods and drugs, are well recognized as the cause of severe contact dermatitis. Additives can serve as haptens to create a response mediated by IgE. Only a few reports have suggested IgE-mediated reactions, notably to sulfites and parabens. Instead, the overwhelming majority of these reactions are not of the immediate hypersensitivity type. Many cases of additive-provoked urticaria or dermatitis occur as late as 24 hours after the challenge,arguing against an IgE-mediated mechanism.
Angioedema ; Antioxidants ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Asthma ; Child ; Coal Tar ; Coloring Agents ; Cooking ; Dermatitis ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Eating ; Esters ; Food Additives* ; Food Hypersensitivity ; Haptens ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Hypersensitivity, Immediate ; Immunoglobulin E ; Incidence ; Parabens ; Research Personnel ; Seaweed ; Sodium Benzoate ; Sodium Glutamate ; Sulfites ; Sweetening Agents ; Urticaria

PURPOSE: To review the role of food additives in asthma and provide a practical approach for evaluation, diagnosis, and management of additive-induced asthma. METHODS: Information was gathered from original articles, selected reviews and abstracts published in peer-reviewed journals and from selected textbook chapters, supplemented by the clinical experience of the authors. RESULTS: In some patients, food additive ingestion can induce bronchospasm or exacerbation of symptoms in patients with chronic asthma. The most implicated agents are sulfites, followed by tartrazine, monosodium glutamate and others. However, geographic variations exist depending on the dietary habits. CONCLUSION: Food additives are worth considering as possible causes of bronchospasm or worsening of asthma. The medical history may be suggestive, particularly when symptoms occur to commercially prepared foods or to multiple unrelated foods. Physicians should also think of food additives in patients whose asthma is poorly controlled in spite of appropriate routine allergy evaluation, environmental control, and optimal pharmacologic therapy. Except for a few natural additives, allergy skin test and in-vitro tests are unreliable. A titrated oral challenge testing, preferably in a blind fashion would be the definitive diagnostic procedure.
Asthma* ; Bronchial Spasm ; Coloring Agents ; Diagnosis ; Eating ; Food Additives* ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Skin Tests ; Sodium Glutamate ; Sulfites ; Tartrazine

The purpose of this study was to develop a risk communication material on artificial food color additives for elementary school students. The development was based on a previous study on the perception and information needs of elementary school students on artificial food colors including that the students usually were interested in artificial food colors, but didn't know about those well, and they wanted to get information on the safety of their intake, function and necessity of food color additives. Based on the above results, a comic book on artificial food colors was developed as a risk communication material for the elementary school students by brainstorming and consultation with experts. The book was titled as 'Variegated artificial food colors! Understanding and Eating'. It contained basic information on food additives focused on artificial food colors including definition, function, calculation of ADI, usage of artificial food colors, quizzes and useful web sites, etc. The results of field evaluation for the developed material by 101 elementary school students were very positive in getting the correct information, understanding artificial food colors and having proper attitude for healthy dietary life. Therefore, the developed material could be used to help elementary school students have proper perception on artificial food colors and facilitate the risk communication on food additives.
Food Additives ; Humans

160 coloured foodstuffs and 115 colouring agent sample were collected and analyzed. The results showed that 55% of coloured foodstuff sample and 92.2% of colouring agent contained nonpermitted colours.
Food Additives ; Utilization ; Safety ; Hygiene

The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness, attitude for using on food labeling such as nutrition labeling, organic food labeling and food additives labeling, and purchase intention in Korean housewives and university students. A total of 320 subjects participated in study from October to November in 2008. They answered to developed questionnaire and 300 subjects (149 housewives, 151 students) completed all questions. The statistical analyses were performed using by SPSS 17.0 package program. The rates of checking the nutrition labeling, organic food labeling and food additives labeling were 57.3%, 57.2% and 63.3%, respectively. Comparing housewives with university students, housewives showed significantly more positive usefulness, attitude for using, purchase intention in some questions about nutrition labeling, organic food labeling and food additives labeling (p < 0.05). Subjects who checked each food labeling on purchasing had more positive usefulness, attitude for using and purchase intention in all questions (p < 0.01). For nutrition labeling and organic food labeling, usefulness (each value of beta was 0.362, 0.354) and attitude for using (each value of beta was 0.336, 0.301) were independent factors for purchase intention (p < 0.001). For food additives labeling, only usefulness had an effect on purchase intention. In conclusion, usefulness, attitude for using food labeling and purchase intention were different between housewives and university students. Moreover, usefulness and attitude for using food labeling affected positively on purchase intention.
Food Additives ; Food Labeling ; Food, Organic ; Humans ; Intention ; Surveys and Questionnaires

The purpose of this research was to develop risk communication (RC) strategy and educational web-site on food additives for elementary students and their parents to improve their perception on food additives and dietary life. First of all, a survey was conducted from 1,200 elementary children and their parents to diagnose the perception and information needs on food additives. The survey revealed that most children and their parents did not have enough knowledge on food additives and demanded the safety information on food additives. Second, previous researches on food communication were analyzed to develop a risk communication model, and it was directly applied in this study. Third, a web site (www.foodnara.go.kr/foodaddy) was developed to upload the education materials along with up-to-date information and classroom activities for teachers on food additives. Fourth, the developed homepage was evaluated by applying to about 100 children and parents each, and majority of them showed high levels of understanding (children 85.7%, parents 79%) and satisfaction (children 77.2%, parents 64%), and the effect of getting over the prejudice against food additives was observed. The RC model developed in this study could be applied to any food risk communication, and the content and materials in this web site including booklets, animations, and quiz could be used effectively to promote the communication on food additives. In the future, it will be necessary to advertise the web site to be utilized by various consumer levels and to update the contents continuously by developing consumer-friendly communication materials.
Child ; Food Additives ; Humans ; Pamphlets ; Parents ; Prejudice