My week of additives

It is enough to put you off your food. Last week's Which? report showed just how widely spread is the use of unappetising additives in the staples most of us think are mercifully free of potentially-damaging E-numbers. But do you really know how many you consume in a typical week, even if you try to eat healthily?

Catherine Hancock, 37, works at designer fashion shop Charlotte Smith, in Chelsea. Like many, she needs a quick breakfast, a convenient lunch, something to bolster her blood-sugar levels during the afternoon, and has little energy to bother with a "proper" evening meal.

For the Evening Standard, she kept a record of what she ate over a week, and found that, like many of us, she frequently eats the same snacks during the day - compounding the additives she is eating.

"My diet is usually quite healthy and I try to stay away from processed foods," she says. "But seeing what I really eat in a week shocked me." This is what she ate on a typical working day last week.

Breakfast:

Bran Flakes with semi-skimmed milk. No additives.
Low-fat fruit yoghurt (contains maize starch, flavouring, citric acid, and E163 (plant pigments extracted from cell-sap of grape skins).
Catherine ate three yoghurts over the week.

Lunch:

A long, white bread roll containing emulsifiers E472e (made from tartaric acid) and E471 (from glycerin); preservative E282 (calcium propionate, which occurs naturally in human sweat and is used to inhibit mould growth); E260 (acetic acid, an antibacterial agent from methanol), E281 (a sodium salt preservative) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

Processed turkey slices containing E407 (carageenan, a stabliser, made from seaweed) E451 (triphosphates), E450 (diphosphates) and E452 (sodium polyphosphates) used as colour enhancers; E150 (caramel colour; some have produced gastro-intestinal problems).

Chicken- flavour Cuppa Soup: monopotassium phosphate, E471 (an emulsifier made from glycerin), flavour enhancers E621, E635 (a sodium salt isolated from sardines and yeast extract); colour, E150c (ammonia caramel).

Snack

Low-fat muffin: E450i (raising agent), E500ii (baking soda); emulsifiers E475 (polyglycerol esters of fatty acids), E471 (glyceryl monostearate, used in cakes to retain the foaming effect), lecithins (soya-derived emulsifiers), E492 (an emulsifier synthetically prepared from stearic acid), colours, E171 (titanium dioxide), stabilisers, E412 (guar gum, a thickening agent), E330 citric acid (made from fermented molasses), E410 (locust bean gum, a texture modifier), dextrose monohydrate, E202 (the preservative, potassium sorbate). Catherine ate three muffins during the week.

Packet of crisps (contain a variety of additives; Hulahoops contain MSG as flavour enhancer; Skips contain sodium diacetate as acidity regulator, fish oil and citric acid among the flavourings); M&S crisps contain E471 (an emulsifier); E341 (an antioxidant) and E535 (sodium ferrocyanide, an anti-caking agent). Catherine ate a packet of crisps each day.

Dinner

Tinned tomato soup: contains stabiliser - polyphosphates and sodium phosphates. Thickener - xanthum gum. Colour - beta-carotene. Catherine ate tinned soup twice last week.

White Toast. Contains E170 (calcium carbonate, a white colouring made from snail shells) and E636 (a flavouring agent which imparts a "fresh-baked" smell).

Tuna and frozen mixed vegetables (no additives).
Apple.

Late-Night snack:

Small packet of wine gums. Contains glazing agent carnauba wax and colours including E104 (quinoline yellow, one to avoid), E142 (lissamine green), E122 (carmoisine), E129 (allura red, an artificial dye which used to be banned in EEC countries).

Two Digestive biscuits. Contain emulsifiers E322 and E476. Catherine ate a dozen such biscuits over the week.

The Additives to avoid:

Many of the E-numbers above are said to be harmless. But others can pose a danger. Colourings such as amaranth (E123), sunset yellow FCF (E110) and tartrazine (E102) which can cause skin rashes.

A study has suggested that these and other colourings - Ponceau 4R (E124), carmoisine (E122) and the preservative sodium benzoate (E211) can affect children's behaviour.

Sulphite preservatives (E-numbers 220-227) found in wine, beer and dried fruit, can trigger asthma.

Monosodium glutamate, or E621, has been linked with episodes of headaches and numbness (sometimes called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome because of its use in Chinese cooking).

Aspartame (E951) has allegedly caused tumours, but the EC ruled it safe in 2002.