Loose Women: Dr Hilary discusses how to live longer
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Living a healthy life means being clued up on the foods you consume and what potentially harmful ingredients they may pose. Manufacturers are renowned for pumping many of their products with harmful flavourings and colourings which could drastically affect your health in the long run. With this in mind, what are two added ingredients you should avoid in order to help reduce your cancer risk and boost your longevity.
Artificial food dyes are responsible for the bright colours of candy, sports drinks and baked goods.
Artificial food dye consumption has increased by 500 percent in the last 50 years with children being the biggest consumers.
Food dyes are chemical substances that were developed to enhance the appearance of food by giving it artificial colour.
Over the years, hundreds of artificial food dyes have been developed, but a majority of them have since been found to be toxic and could majorly impact your longevity.
Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 food dyes may contain contaminants that are known cancer-causing substances.
Benzidine, 4-aminobiphenyl and 4-aminoazobenzene are potential carcinogens that have been found in food dyes.
The FDA calculated in 1985 that ingestion of free benzidine raises the cancer risk to just under the “concern” threshold.
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In a study published in John Hopkins, caramel colour in soft drinks and its exposure to 4-methylimidazole cancer risk was investigated.
“Soft drinks, including sodas, are widely consumed throughout the world with the common ingredient in many soft drinks being a caramel colour produced with ammonium compounds,” began the study.
It continued: “The use of these compounds to manufacture caramel colour can result in the formation of 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI).
“Caramel colour is added to many widely consumed beverages as a colorant.
“Consumers of these beverages can be exposed to 4-MEI, a potential carcinogen formed during its manufacture.
“The study assessed 4-MEI exposure and resulting cancer risks attributed to the beverage consumption.”
It was concluded that the caramel colour used to give colas and other soft drinks their dark hue can harbour a known carcinogen.
Added sugar
Sugar-rich diets have a negative impact on health independent of obesity.
Researchers discovered that the shortened survival of fruit flies fed a sugar diet were more prone to an early death.
High sugar diets positively correlate with age-related diseases including diabetes and heart disease, so reducing sugar in the diet may delay ageing in humans by preventing metabolic diseases and improving general health.
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