We all have seen the incredible lists of ingredients on so many food labels. It has become standard to not comprehend even half of what is written there, but what consumers often do not realize is that what they do not understand may be more harmful than they think.

Throughout the last century, the food industry and the technological industry began collaborating to develop new ways to use science to improve the appearance and shelf-life of food. The hope was that people would be more inclined to buy an apple with flawless color and could be stored a long time before it decomposed. Scientists knew it was the enzymes and bacteria in the apple that caused it to break down, in much the same way that dead bodies do. They discovered if they pumped the apple full of embalming fluid, as they did with dead bodies, the decomposition would be halted and the fruit would be preserved. They proceeded to apply this "technology" to agriculture, but were careful to avoid the term "embalming fluid," referring to it instead as a "preservative." While most preservatives are not literally embalming fluid (although formaldehyde is approved for use as a preservative), they all perform essentially the same function: preventing food from going bad while robbing it of its nutritionally redeeming qualities.

Today, food in the typical American diet is loaded with all kinds of additives intended to increase shelf life, improve appearance, enhance flavor, and lower cost. The FDA's Web site provides a list of approved additives, which companies can legally include in food products. The length of this list is enormous - there are over a thousand different additives that all have foreign-sounding names. Unfortunately, the list does not include a description of the possible side effects associated with these additives. According to Dr. William Rice, a licensed Nutritional Consultant, many common additives have been linked to cancer, allergies, migraines, liver and kidney damage, birth defects, brain damage, and the list goes on. To make things worse, many additives do not appear on labels. According to Rice, food manufacturers are not required to list all the ingredients on certain foods like ketchup, mayonnaise and ice cream. 93 additives may go unlabeled in bakery products, 76 in soft drinks, 58 in frozen desserts, and 31 in cheese.