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ADDITIVES: COUNTING THE COST

MANY parents try to avoid food containing E-numbers for their children, believing that such additives adversely affect their behaviour.

Certainly, a Food Standards Agency (FSA) study seven years ago linked certain additives to children's behavioural problems such as hyperactivity, lack of concentration, temper tantrums and allergic reactions.

However, the FSA judged the research, known as the Isle of Wight study, to be inconclusive, and commissioned a new study into the effects of the colourings tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), quinoline yellow (E104) and allura red AC (E129), and the preservative sodium benzoate (E211).

The results of the study, which tested both three-year-olds and eight-to-nine-year-olds, are now known, but won’t be released until they’re published in a scientific journal, which could take several months.

In the meantime, the FSA’s chief scientist, Dr Andrew Wadge, points out that the additives are approved for use in the UK under EU law, and adds: “Legislation demands these ingredients are clearly labelled so consumers can make an informed choice about including additives in what they eat.”

However, some of the colours are banned in Scandinavian countries and the US, and several food experts in the UK have advised parents to avoid foods containing them – such as many brightly coloured sweets and fizzy drinks – for their children, at least until the new research is published.

Ian Tokelove, a spokesperson for the independent food watchdog the Food Commission, says: “Many of the additives they’re looking at are completely unnecessary anyway. They just don’t need to be in children’s food — there are natural alternatives, but the colourings are added to disguise bland colours.”

And even the major supermarkets are starting to turn their backs on additives. Asda has just announced that none of its own-label food and soft drinks will contain artificial colours or flavours by the end of the year, and from  last June Sainsbury’s banned artificial colours and flavourings in its own-label soft drinks, using natural colours and fruit and vegetable extracts instead.

However, plenty of other brands containing additives will still be on supermarket shelves and that, Tokelove says, is where parent power comes in.

“Read the small print, and if there are lots of long chemical names you don’t understand, you have the choice to put that back on the shelf and choose something better.”

He warns that parents shouldn’t just go by what they read on the front of a food packet, and adds: “There does seem to be potential harm from some additives but some children will be more susceptible than others.”

And for parents who are unsure what, if any, additive is affecting their child’s behaviour, a food diary might give them the answers, says Fiona Hunter, a dietician from the British Dietetic Association.

"If a parent suspects that additives may be causing their child’s behaviour problems, they may detect a pattern by charting what the child eats and their behaviour for a few weeks.

"If you can identify a particular food or drink that’s causing it, then obviously cut it out of their diet.

"You have to be very careful with children’s diets, but cutting out foods that contain additives isn't going to make any difference to them."