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We are discussing Cooking for life
With Kurma Dasa, Sue Dengate, Dave Tuff, Jacinta Dugbaza, Roger Bayley

Question:
My wife is 56. After we saw your website, we stopped eating 282 preservative in bread and within a week she was free of urinary incontinence. We were very surprised by this result and wonder why more people don’t know about it?

Answer:
Sue - Consumers are generally unaware that calcium propionate (preservative 282) was introduced into most Australian breads in the 1990s. As with other additives, propionates were not tested for their effects on behaviour, learning ability or ‘minor’ health problems in children before approval.

Toxicologists now say that vulnerability to the adverse effects of chemicals is highest during early development and again later in life, which means that no one knows how seniors will be affected by recently introduced additives and other chemicals.

While studying the effects of 282, I found it could cause irritability, restlessness, inattention, difficulty falling asleep or night waking in some children, and some families reported health effects including headaches, stomach aches or severe bedwetting and daytime incontinence.

Consumers are rarely affected by one dose of 282, but if preserved bread is eaten every day, symptoms may build up slowly over days or weeks. Most people are not aware of the effects until they stop eating it for a week or two.

Due to consumer concerns, the bread preservative 282 has been withdrawn from many brands, however it is still used in some breads, wraps, rolls and crumpets, so you need to read ingredient labels.

The bread preservative is not the only additive that can cause adverse effects.

For more information, see Food Intolerance Network

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