Additives are synthetic drugs which give color and flavor to food. These have practically replaced the safe natural colors and flavors used previously and their number today ranges around four thousand.

An additive should not be condemned without knowing its exact composition, function, and level of safety usage. In products produced by reputable firms, each additive serves a purpose and is carefully screened for its suitability and its safety under predictable patterns of consumption.

The symptoms that an additive may cause are hyperactivity and psychoneurotic behavior (such as headaches, hostility, slow learning, restlessness, and reduced attention span). All such symptoms have been attributed in the past to allergies, to wrong family upbringing, or to both. We know now that most of these symptoms are caused by additives contained in canned foods.

Besides psychoneurotic behavior, other allergy-similar reactions to food additives are rhinitis, nasal polyps, cough, laryngeal edema, hoarseness, and asthma; pruritis, writing on the skin, localized skin lesions, hives, angioedema; enlarged tongue, flatulence, and acid eructation; constipation; mouth chancres; pain in the joints with edema.

The treatment of symptoms caused by additives rests on psychotherapy, tranquilizers, and a diet called the salicylate-free diet. This diet was originally designed for the management of the aspirin-sensitive child. It has now been expanded to include all foods containing additives because flavors and colors which constitute 80 percent of all food additives are based on salicylates and tartrazine, which is a remote relative of aspirin.

The following are foods and products that should be avoided in the salicylate-free diet.

Foods Containing Natural Salicylates

almonds     nectarines

apples     oranges

apricots     peaches

blackberries     plums or prunes

cherries     raspberries

currants     strawberries

gooseberries     cucumbers and pickles

grapes or raisins     tomatoes

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Apart from depression and anxiety, the following mental symptoms are reported in cases of food intolerance: fatigue, mental exhaustion and confusion, inability to concentrate, poor memory, insomnia, tension, dizziness, disorientation, over-excitement, ‘nervousness’, irritability, violent mood-swings and aggressive behaviour. In children, hyperactivity is frequently reported, while in adults the most common symptom is excessive fatigue that is not relieved by rest. Children may also show great lethargy and drowsiness. Some doctors interpret both fatigue and hyperactivity as part of a common set of reactions which they describe as the ‘tension-fatigue’ syndrome, in which the patient may be profoundly tired or tense and irritable, or both. For many, the fatigue is worst in the morning, so that the patient has difficulty in waking up and feels ghastly on getting out of bed. As the day progresses the fatigue begins to clear.

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