The issue with additives in 'adult' foods is not so much that scientists fear they will give us all ADHD, but rather that they are strong indicators that the food we are eating is far from fresh. The party foods identified by our experts as being high in additives or highly processed, represent a small sample of the chemically-laden foods we could eat most days. As with additives in kids' food, scientists don't really know the long-term effects of eating highly processed foods, or what happens when lots of additives are consumed at the same time.
All the additives and processing methods used in the UK are approved by the Food Standards Agency and E numbers are approved by the European Union. None the less, some scientists and nutritionists still question their use and safety.
What is certainly true is that the increasing availability of processed food makes it easier for us to avoid the fresh produce we need while eating certain foods that may taste pleasant but are nutritionally suspect. Processed meats like cheap pâté are often simply saturated fats and salt mixed with preservatives, flavourings and bulking agents, and are relatively low in protein, essential minerals and vitamins. Full- or reduced-fat desserts can be empty of anything but calories.
It's hardly surprising then that nutritionists like Jane Clarke and Patrick Holford suggest avoiding additives like these in order to keep your diet as healthy as possible.
Maltodextrin is a sweet polysaccharide made from corn. Arguably, it has no real nutritional value beyond that of sugar as it is as rapidly absorbed as glucose. It is used primarily to give body, flavour and viscosity to foods like packaged desserts and crisps as well as having a nice 'mouth feel'.
Emulsifiers, thickeners and stabilisers are designed to add viscosity to liquids while still feeling right in the mouth, as well as binding or stabilising other ingredients. They are common in dressings, sauces and desserts. Many of these have natural sources, such as guar gum ( E412 from the guar bean), xantham gum (E415 from glucose), carrageenan ( E407 from seaweed) and pectin (from fruit).Mono and di-glycerides of fatty acids (and E numbers from 471-9) are sometimes derived from genetically modified soy beans. These products do not pose any specific health risks; they merely suggest the finished product is a processed one.
Potassium sorbate (E203) is an antifungal, increasing shelf life.
Dr Richardson has 'come across offenders who consume so much sugar in drinks that they are virtually flatline hypo-glycaemic, which can contribute to offending behaviours'.
Sodium acetate (E262i) is a chemical used in the paper industry and in heating pads. In food it is used as a preservative.
Flavour enhancers may be included in foods marketed for adults, such as disodium inosate (E631), disodium 5-ribonucleotide (E635), ordisodium guanylate (E627), which is not permitted in foods for infants and young children under the age of three in some countries.
Stimulants taurine, glucuronolactone andcaffeine are present in some fizzy and 'energy' drinks. Caffeine is the world's most popular psychoactive drug. Renowned nutritionist Patrick Holford points out that combined with large amounts of sugar it may have a 'behavioural effect causing aggression and irritability'.
'Reclaimed' meat, such as pork connective tissue, is common in cheap meat-based products such as paté and sausages. Made from the last scraps of meat and offal left on the carcass after the more nutritious cuts of meat have been removed, it goes through a number of processes in order to make it palatable.
Potassium nitrate (E249 or saltpetre) is a preservative, which also happens to be used in fireworks.
Sodium nitrite is a colour-fixative and preservative. It can only be used in EU countries in very tiny quantities as it is toxic to mammals and is banned in foods for under-threes.
Sodium metabisulphite (E223) is a preservative sometimes associated with skin reactions.
Phosphates are antioxidants and acidity regulators or raising agents.
Processed foods
Sainsbury's Strawberry Trifle
Maltodextrin, emulsifiers, gelling agents, red colouring, sodium citrate, plus trisodium citrate, tetrasodium diphosphate, dicalcium phosphate, and anti-fungal potassium sorbate. A serving gives you nearly 24g of your daily 90g of sugar as sugar, dextrose and strawberry juice concentrate, plus 9g saturated fat.
WeightWatchers from Heinz Chicken & Lemon Risotto
The 'cooked chicken' makes up 15 per cent of the dish as a whole, but in the ingredients list the 'marinated chicken' is listed as being made from 11 per cent chicken, potentially making the dish just 1.6 per cent actual chicken. There is, however, chicken stock and chicken fat in other components of the meal, which may make up the difference. Other ingredients include 'flavourings', tri and di- phosphates, carrageenan and xantham gum (naturally sourced gelling agents) and sugar under the names of milk sugar, sugar and dextrose plus maltodextrin and 2g of salt per serving.
Gourmet Pringles
MSG, sodium acetate, lactic acid, more maltodextrin, the emulsifiers mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (glyceryl monostearate, glyceryl distearate), 2g of salt per 100g and over 11g of saturated fat per 120g packet.
Jacobs Thai Bites with 'value' chicken liver pâté on top
The crackers contain flavour enhancers MSG, disodium inosinate (E631), and disodium guanylate (E627), pyroligneous acid, and a relatively high 1.5g salt per 100g. The liver pâté has pork connective tissue as its third ingredient, sodium nitrite (E250), mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, di and tri phosphates, and sugar in the guise of dextrose.
'Value' supermarket pizza
Along with sodium nitrate and more pentasodium triphosphate, there's also potassium nitrate, listed as saltpetre (E249), in this pizza, an ingredient also used in fireworks and nitrite salt. 'Ferments' are also listed, which in this case are presumably enzymes, but it's impossible to tell what sort. There's also 2.5g of salt per serving. In another similar pizza we found a mould inhibitor called calcium proponiate (E282).
Reduced-fat cheese-and-onion crisps
Flavour enhancers MSG and disodium 5'-ribonucleotide, natural colourings, plus some 'flavourings'.
Cheap sausages wrapped in cheap bacon
The bacon contains sodium nitrite, which prevents botulism in meats among other functions. The main additive is water, as pork only makes up 87 per cent of the final product - the next ingredients by volume are salt and sugar. Three rashers will give you 20.5g of fat. The sausages are 67 per cent pork, 11 per cent pork fat, rusk, and potato starch, wheat fibre and soya protein, sodium metabisulphite, a further shot of cochineal colouring and some 'flavourings'. Per 50g sausage you get 11g of fat, of which half is saturated. Two sausages give you nearly 2g of salt.
Crab sticks
Just 30 per cent actual fish, the rest of the bulk comes from wheat starch, sugar and soya protein. The pink colour comes not from crab, but from cochineal, and the white from calcium carbonate, otherwise known as chalk.
Irn Bru
Taurine, caffeine (the world's most popular psychoactive drug, also habit-forming) and glucuronolactone which are all stimulants. Sunset yellow (E110), cochineal (E124). Sugar and glucose are the second and third ingredients after water.
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