Health Matters
From "Maple Street Co-op News", August/September 2008

"The Mood Swings That Bread Can Bring"
By Tim Maslen

Irritability; asthma; migraine; behavioural and learning difficulties; aggression; gastric irritation; headaches; skin irritations; depression; poor concentration; memory impairment; speech delay; tachycardia (fast heart beat); growing pains, loud voice (no volume control); restlessness; difficulty settling to sleep, night waking and night terrors.

This list sounds like the frightening side effects from a packet of heavy-duty pharmaceuticals. Instead, these common allergic responses have been linked to one of the most common additives to most bread and pastry products available on our supermarket shelves: 282, or calcium propionate.

282 is a mould inhibitor that is usually added to flour before it is processed into dough. It allows a reduction in costs by obviating the need for sterilising bread production machinery, as well as extending the shelf life of baked flour goods.

In a highly competitive market, the small savings achieved by using this dangerous and socially irresponsible additive are considered more important than the health risks to the consumer. In the past, and in current healthy alternative bread products, vinegar is used instead of 282, in conjunction with a rigorous cleaning regime.

The use of 282 as a preservative in bread became widespread in Australia in the early 1990s. According to the Food Intolerance Network: "In small amounts [propionates] are not harmful but, as with other additives, the effects are dose related. Very few people will be affected by two slices of preserved bread but effects are cumulative, so can build up slowly over days or weeks, varying with the dose. This makes identification of the cause of symptoms extremely difficult. Like all additives, this preservative was not tested before approval for its effects on children's behaviour and learning ability"1.

I have an allergy or intolerance to 282. I would say it is a food allergy, but it's not the food; it is the additive that triggers it. You'll find 282 in nearly all supermarket breads. Considering bread is one of the most commonly consumed food products in the western world, this is alarming.

My intolerance to 282 shows itself within 20 minutes of it entering my system. Like a drug, or a poison, it affects the way I relate to the world. I find myself unable to think clearly. I obsess about social interactions that I would normally not think twice about. I'm more likely to take offense and less able to forgive. My moods swing. I feel unstable. My friends tell me its as if I've been possessed. I used to think that I was bi-polar, until I got stomach ulcers. It was a blessing in disguise.

My sister had given me a gift voucher for Maple Street Co-op as a birthday present, which I used to renew my membership and which I think saved my life. For about six months I ate only organic greens, potatoes, eggs and oatmeal, which I purchased at the Co-op in an effort to heal my ulcers.

While this was occurring, I noticed a drastic change in my behaviours. I wasn't angry anymore. I could more easily handle unreasonable people and difficult situations. I could be in the presence of angry people without becoming angry myself. I could concentrate for more than five minutes at a time. I was a changed man.

Then I re-introduced standard supermarket bread to my diet. The mood swings and depression returned. I stopped, and within 24 hours the symptoms had gone. Now, after nearly three years of religiously checking packaging, of never eating out, of closely observing every food that I eat, I can detect the feel of 282 in my system within minutes.

I'm not sure how many other people suffer from this same intolerance. It has such a subtle effect, and with all the chemicals that are inserted into our food chain at every stage, who knows how many of our family and friends are being emotionally crippled by the interactions of all the additives? I sometimes wonder how many conflicts could have been avoided and how many friendships saved, had I not been under the influence of this insidious chemical. Rather than risk exposing my body to more chemicals, I try to avoid eating anything with a number. I check the packaging. It has transformed my life.Take a chance; a week without 282 might transform yours.

Reference: 1. www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Fact282.htm

Note:
Maple Street Co-op does not stock any bread containing the additive 282.

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", August/September 2008; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.coop@serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]