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Processed Foods  in Gluten-Free Diet 

Ms H

Foods prepared with physical or chemical treatments are considered as processed foods. They are almost always high in salt, which is their main negative point.  While salt in high quantities is unhealthy, small amounts are actually good for you and crucial for the function of all of our organs. However, the salt has its antibacterial properties, which make it ideal for preservation. Humans have been preserving foods for centuries. Your ancestors used to dry, freeze, can or pickle foods to extend their shelf life. Now with an increase in packaged foods also came an increase in different preservation methods. Chemical preservation is used to delay spoilage, enhance colour and flavour, and maintain consistency and texture of foods. The common preservative in many cured or smoked meats, such as bacon, jerky, deli meats and smoked salmon is sodium nitrate which helps to reduce colour changes.

Sodium nitrate in processed meat can damage the blood vessels around your heart, which can cause them to harden and narrow, which makes it more likely that you will develop heart disease. Eating regularly sodium nitrate with food you also increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in additional to these your chances of developing certain types of cancer increases too.

Processed foods include synthetic additives; E numbers are codes for substances that are permitted to be used as food additives with in EU and Switzerland. They are commonly found on food labels.  

Example cereals are very often fortified with calcium. Whenever cereals are refined the vitamins and minerals are removed and the companies must replace them later by law. This process is called “fortifying”. The nutrients that have been added to foods afterward they are less effective synthetic substances and often harder for the body to absorb. For instance, someone who has a lactose intolerance might use a water fortified with calcium. Temporarily fortification is the only way that vegetarians can get vitamin B12 in their diet, which is highly important for brain function and nerve health.

Many of the processed foods we get from fast food chains have added saturated fats and trans fats. While these aren't good for us, they do make us feel full for longer due to their slowest digestion.

Generally the processed foods are not as healthy as getting fresh foods. Some foods are worse for you than others and are increasing your risk of many conditions and diseases. While cancer is one of the worst, regularly eating the cancer causing foods can also lead to heart disease, diabetes, chronic inflammation, and so much more.

Here is the evil food list: canned foods, refined sugar, salted, pickled and smocked foods, grilled red meat, carbonated beverages, gluten-free starches, farmed fish, hydrogenated oil, microwave popcorn.

• Food additives again 

Series of  Articles on Food Additives in Gluten-Free Foods 

Ms H

Food Additive

Stabiliser; Xanthan Gum

Ms H

Xanthan gum is frequently used in gluten-free baking giving more elasticity and stickiness to the dough or batter. It has a property of increasing the viscosity of a liquids by adding a small quantity of it. Xanthan gum helps to prevent separation of oil by stabilising the emulsion so it is used in salad dressing keeping the mixture homogeneous. Summarising it is a very useful and safe food additive when it is taken up to 15g/day.

Xanthan gum is a indigestible polysaccharide secreted a by the Xanthomonas campestris bacteria, so it is  a fermentation product.

Despite of its wide use in the food industry it can cause some side effects such as intestinal gas and bloating.  Some people in a exposure of high doses of xanthan gum can experience flu-like symptoms; nose and throat irritation.

Food additives in gluten-free foods

Food colourings

Ms H

Food dyes are widely used and hazardous additives. Food colouring is any dye, pigment or substance that colours the food or drink. When foods are processed valuable nutrient, texture, flavours are lost and fibres removed so food dyes make them more attractive and appetising.

The European Union has recently placed regulations on labelling food dyes to inform consumers of the health risks. 

Natural red food colourings are annatto E 160b reddish orange, elderberry E163, paprika E160c, lycopene E160c and carmine E120. Natural yellow colourings are turmeric fluorescent yellowE100, and carotenoids yellow-orange- red E160, E161, E164. The chlorophyllin E140, E141 are green. Colours of betanin E162 and anthocyanins (flavonoids) E163 are changing with pH; betanin from bluis-red to blue-violet and anthocyanins pigments colour the fruit, flowers of many plants and autumn leaves form scarlet, magenta, purple and blue. EU permitted artificial colourings’ E number varies from 102- 143 quinoline yellow, ponceau 4R, patent blue V, green S and carmoisine.

A 2007 British study found that children who consumed a mixture of common synthetic dyes displayed hyperactive behaviour within an hour of consumption. The results, published in The Lancet, prompted Britain’s Food Standards Agency to encourage producers to find alternatives to artificial food dyes. Since July 2010, most foods in the EU that contain artificial food dyes have been labelled with warning tags stating the food "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children."