Julie Eady - Additive Alert: Your Guide to Safer Shopping

Australia today is facing a health crisis such as we have never seen before. Rates of asthma, cancer, obesity ADHD and behavioural disorders in children are all alarmingly high. What is happening and what can we do to safeguard our own health and the health of our children? Our diets must be part of the problem and fixing our diets must be a large part of the solution.

The use of food additives in our everyday foods has increased so rapidly over the past 50 years that is getting increasingly difficult to find foods which are additive free. What is most concerning is the fact that there are many food additives used in our foods which are known to be harmful. Many are known to be bad for children and asthmatics, many are not recommended during pregnancy and some additives are banned overseas and yet still permitted for use in Australian foods. Additive Alert will tell you quickly and easily which ones you need to avoid, and why.

First published in September 2004, Additive Alert - Your Guide to Safer Shopping has become a best selling consumer reference about food additives in Australian foods. The book has sold more than 25 000 copies in its first year and thousands of families around the country have already discovered the simple steps they can take to avoid harmful additives and enjoy better health and happier kids as a result.

• What food additives are and why they are used.
• Which ones are safe and which ones are not.
• How additives are linked to health problems.
• How to read and understand food labelswhat the manufacturers do not tell you.
• Which additives are considered unsafe overseas yet still used in Australia.
• How to take control of your kitchen and make healthier choices for you and your family.
• Things you can do to help make a difference.

Tip from Tizzie: One of my clients who came to stay at my clinic and bought this book, went home and emptied 90% of her kitchen cupboards. Her husband was not impressed!!!

Comments from parents: I love the additive alert book. It made me feel good in some ways because there are so many of the bad foods we don't have; but then I realised how some 'bad' foods had slipped into our diet lately as I have been so busy and tired with our new baby and have been looking for quick meals. So it has been a good reminder to take a step back and I have been baking my own biscuits again and I have stopped buying the English muffins and crumpets (actually made some of mine own, which don't take too long). I knew about the 5% loophole already, but was shocked about the additives in oils and soy milk (switching back to low fat cows milk). You read about obesity in children so you buy some of the'€œlow-fat' foods, but then you realise to reduce the fat they often add a lot of other chemicals in the process! So I have decided the fat content is the lesser of the two evils, and believe there are 2 important rules to teach my kids; 1) A love of cooking and that tasty, good food needs to be cooked yourself (I think it is the fast foods and pre-packaged foods that are full of fats, plus of course all those additives) 2) Treats are OK as long as you have them occasionally and are being active enough to use the fuel they give you'¦ (Mum of Two in Melbourne)