Have you ever looked at the ingredient list on a packaged food and found yourself reading a list of words you can't quite pronounce — and wondered what they actually are? You're not alone. The modern food supply contains thousands of approved additives and preservatives, and most of us consume them daily without much thought. It's worth knowing what they are and why they matter.
What Are Food Additives?
Food additives are substances added to food during processing for reasons that have nothing to do with nutrition. They extend shelf life, improve texture, enhance colour, prevent separation, and make food taste more appealing — all of which serve the manufacturer's needs. Some are derived from natural sources; many are synthetic. Health Canada permits thousands of them, which means a food can carry an "approved" label while still containing a long list of substances worth paying attention to.
The most commonly encountered categories include preservatives (sodium benzoate, BHA, BHT, nitrates/nitrites), artificial colours (tartrazine, Red 40, Yellow 5 and 6), flavor enhancers (monosodium glutamate, or MSG, and its many disguised names), artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-K), and emulsifiers and stabilizers (carrageenan, polysorbate 80, carboxymethylcellulose). Each category has its own mechanism and its own body of research.
What They're Doing in Your Body
The concern with food additives isn't usually one exposure — it's the cumulative, daily load across dozens of foods over years. Your body processes these substances through the liver, and while it handles the occasional unfamiliar compound reasonably well, a constant stream of synthetic chemicals is a different matter. The liver has real work to do.
Emulsifiers — specifically polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), two of the most widely used — have attracted significant research attention in recent years. A 2015 study published in Nature found that these compounds disturbed the gut microbiome in mice, thinning the protective mucus layer that lines the intestinal wall and increasing intestinal permeability — what's commonly called "leaky gut." Subsequent research has pointed toward similar effects in humans. A compromised gut lining allows partially digested food proteins and bacterial fragments to enter the bloodstream, triggering a low-grade systemic inflammatory response that can manifest as digestive issues, skin conditions, fatigue, or mood disturbances.
Artificial colours are derived primarily from petroleum and have been linked in multiple studies to hyperactivity and attention difficulties in children, as well as allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Tartrazine (Yellow 5) in particular is a known trigger for hives and asthma in people with aspirin sensitivity. Sodium nitrate and nitrite, used to preserve processed meats, convert in the body to nitrosamines — compounds classified as probable human carcinogens by the World Health Organization.
What You Can Do
Eliminating all additives is neither realistic nor necessary. The goal is reducing your overall daily load — particularly the compounds with the strongest evidence of harm — and giving your gut and liver the support they need to handle what you do consume.
- Read the ingredient list, not just the nutrition panel. The nutrition facts panel tells you macronutrients. The ingredient list tells you what's actually in the food. If you don't recognize the majority of items — or if the list runs to 20+ ingredients — it's a sign the product is heavily processed. Ingredients are listed in order of quantity, so what appears first matters most.
- Prioritize whole, single-ingredient foods. An apple has one ingredient. Oats have one ingredient. When the base of your diet is foods without ingredient lists, the cumulative additive load drops significantly without requiring you to scrutinize every label. This is not about perfection — it's about shifting the ratio.
- Avoid the "dirty dozen" of additives where possible. The most evidence-supported ones to reduce: sodium nitrate/nitrite (deli meats, bacon, hot dogs), BHA and BHT (crackers, chips, cereals), artificial colours (tartrazine, Red 40, Yellow 6), carrageenan (plant milks, yogurt, deli meats), polysorbate 80 and CMC (ice cream, salad dressings), and MSG under its various names.
- Support your gut lining with fermented foods and probiotics. If emulsifiers and preservatives have been a regular part of your diet, restoring the mucus layer and microbial diversity in your gut is worth addressing directly. Daily fermented foods — plain yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi — and a quality probiotic can help rebuild what processed food disrupts.
- Support your liver with cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli, kale, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts contain compounds that support phase I and phase II liver detoxification — the two-step process your liver uses to neutralize and clear synthetic chemicals. Including these daily gives your liver better tools to handle what comes in.
- Filter your water. Many municipal water supplies contain chlorine and chloramines, which can disrupt the gut microbiome with regular consumption. A carbon block filter addresses this cost-effectively.
- Consider food sensitivity testing if you have unexplained symptoms. If you're experiencing chronic digestive issues, skin flare-ups, headaches, or fatigue without a clear cause, an IgG food sensitivity panel through LifeLabs can help identify specific foods or additives triggering a reaction in your system. This takes the guesswork out of elimination.
It's also worth noting that organic certification limits — though does not entirely eliminate — synthetic additives. Choosing organic versions of the foods you eat most frequently is one of the more practical ways to reduce exposure without overhauling your entire diet.
If you've been eating a heavily processed diet for years and are dealing with symptoms that haven't responded to other approaches — digestive issues, fatigue, skin conditions, brain fog — what you're eating daily is worth looking at closely. We can help you identify what your body may be reacting to, support your gut and liver, and build a realistic eating pattern that works for your life.