Additives-tonight on t.v

[doormat]

Is anyone going to watch this tonight at 8pm. It has a set of twins (one had additives for 2 weeks the other didnt)and the difference that additives make through behaviour and education. I read a report on it in the Mirror today and looks very interesting.
Just thought people might want to know.

Tonight with Trevor MacDonald ITV

I'll watch it now that you have altered me to it. I'm not a fan of Trevor's though.

Saw them on ITV this morning, looked really interesting. definitely will be watching it.

I watched Tonight. It was interesting but didn't tell us which E numbers to avoid. Anyone know?

wow, what an eye opener,as lollypop mentioned they didn't explain what additives.is it just all E nos or other additives,and are the additives always listed on packages.i for one will deffinately be changing my boys diets.

Missed this unfortunatley. I wait to hear from you all that did watch it.

just checked some crisp packets after watching this and no E numbers were mentioned on the list of ingredients. Is this because manufacturers have got wise to us checking for E numbers and so now they just list them with their full name instead?

What a load of rubbish! Before anyone jumps down my throat I have to say I don't give my kids much processed foods for health reasons, I dont give them sweets or crisps except in moderation at weekends and they have never had fizzy drinks so i am anti E numbers BUT that programme was really unscientific and I suspect most of the behaviour improvement for the twin with a changed diet was his mum and dad saying no to him for a change and setting some boundaries!

I saw a Trev MacD programme a few months ago that went down the same track but a whole class of school children was put on an additive free diet and saw huge improvements in health and behaviour. I do believe that a lot of people are adversely affected by additives in food and whilst they do make things look nice and last longer it makes you wonder how many problems in today's society are exaccerbated (sp?) by E numbers. Having a daughter on a special diet makes me a serial label reader anyway and I despair of all the E numbers in some products or the unpronouncable ingredients that are listed in place of the number. I really should be more motivated and do more home cooking and use fewer convenience foods.

There is more info about the programme on www.itv.com but I don't know how much as I haven't looked myself as yet.

mckenzie, yes, they often list full chemical names again now. You need an additive directory (eg 621 is monosodium glutamate and the hideous colours, c 110 - 124, are called things like poinceau and tartrazine).

I haven't watched the program yet but a natural health centre had already told me it is a good idea to avoid colours etc. Especialally as my son has ADHD. Although I have noticed if my daughter has a lot of colours she tends to get hyper active. And my friends daughter cant have any E's and you can tell if she does. A good book with all the info on the good and bad E's is one called E for Additives.

DS goes mental if he has quavers...

I didn't see the program but I agree 150 % with carriemac.

... but Quavers don't have any artificial additives - the colouring is from paprika.

Now Wotsits are another matter!

Is there any sites that you can find out all the E information without buying the book?

Sorry - I should have said "no artificial colouring" - I don't know if Quavers have have other artificial additivies. I just know that they don't using the nasty orange colouring that in some kids is supposed to cause a problem (although ds dosn't seem to be affected - not that he gets Wotsits - or even Quavers - often)

found a websit www.lactose,this lists all the E no's,but you can't look up a name of the additive without knowing the E no.!

I did see the programme and I completely agree with carriemac. The reason that his behaviour changed so quickly was definitely the boundary setting.

DD went VERY peculiar when a well meaning friend gave her a packet of Skittles....aggressive and then very passive all over the place - not like her at all.

doormat, try here:

www.bryngollie.freeserve.co.uk/Enumbers.htm

it's a very long list in numerical order but it does use colours to highlight the ones to look out for.

Or:

www.bryngollie.freeserve.co.uk/Brochure.htm

is the same list but can be downloaded into Word format and printed as a booklet.

(If you google "E-numbers" there are loads of sites.)

Rioja/Carriemac, but that doesn't explain why the non-additive twin did 25% better in the tests and the additive twin only did 10 % better?

Must add this - quote from the Guardian TV Guide a couple of weeks ago (and bear with me as it's not on their website so I can't paste it):

A whole generation of 1970s kiddies grew up learning to navigate the world of flavours by their synthetic equivalents: prawn cocktail crisps, strawberry cremes and Birds Apeel sachets of powdered orange "drink" - sensations you could enjoy secure in the knowledge that they'd gone straight from the laboratory to your mouth. Do we want to go back there? With the exception of Apeel, which kicked like a mule and and made you feel brilliant all the way to bedtime, probably not.

This is from somebody young enough to have been there and remember it - I wonder how different Apeel is from Wotsits etc?????

Thanx Janh and kathyleeO. Will look them up.

I taught a kid a while ago with ADHD, no problem in the morning but awful in the afternoon. It turned out that he had school dinners and the additives had a really bad affect on him, he was better once his mum gave him packed lunch.

Lil I'm not a statistician but i know 15% different is actually hardly statistically significant and if they tested them again, three or four times, the results would probably vary 20 % either way each time.
Dont get me wrong, i do believ in additive free food, I just hate pseudo tonight with trevor mcdonald science

I only saw bits of the programme but, could the big improvement in the test score at least partially be down to the possibility that Michael may be getting more attention from his mum/parents whilst he was on the diet?