We often get people ask us about information for E Numbers - while we don't really have that much information on this there is below an extract from a very good source below which has been sent to me by a member of our Forum, who hopes that this will help people to check out which additives correspond to each of the E numbers.
That will help others to decide if there is something they feel that they would like to try to eliminate from their child's diet.
One thing however we need to make very clear is that to remove anything from a child's diet can be dangerous or have adverse effects so we would always encourage that you seek expert advice from a professional before embarking on any form of elimination diet.
This is extracted from the book E For Additives about elimination diets
"First, this means cutting out all food and drink containing synthetic colours or flavours, avoiding glutamates, nitrites, nitrates, BHA, BHT and benzoic acid. Second, for the first four to six weeks, foods containing natural salicylates (like aspirin chemically) should be avoided and then re-introduced one at a time to see if they cause problems. Such foods include almonds, apples, apricots, peaches, plums, prunes, oranges, tomatoes, tangerines, cucumbers, most soft fruits, cherries, grapes and raisins.
The additives that are recommended should be avoided are:
E102 Tartrazine
E104 Quinoline Yellow
E107 Yellow 2G
E110 Sunset Yellow FCF
E120 Cochineal
E122 Carmoisine
E125 Amaranth
E124 Ponceau 4R
E127 Erythrosine
E128 Red 2G
E132 Indigo Carmine
E135 Brilliant blue FCF
E150 Caramel
E151 Black PN
E154 Brown FK
E155 Brown HT
El60(b) Annatto
E210 Benzoic Acid
E211 Sodium benzoate
E220 Sulphur dioxide
E250 Sodium nitrate
E251 Sodium nitrate
E320 Butylated hydroxyanisole
E321 Butylated hydroxytoluene
Plus another antioxidant preservative not used in the UK TBHQ (Monotertiary butylhydroxylquinone)
Additives which are either dangerous to asthmatics or aspirin-sensitive people, and could reasonably be added to the listing, or should not be used in food intended for babies or young children are:
E212 Potassium benzoate
E213 Calcium benzoate
E214 Ethyl 4-hydroxybenzoate
E215 Ethyl 4-hydroxybenzoate, sodium salt
E216 Propyi 4-hydroxybenzoate
E217 Propyi 4-hydroxybenzoate, sodium salt
E218 Methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate
E219 Methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate, sodium salt
E310 Propyl gallate
E311 Octyl gallate
E312 Dodecyl gallate
E621 Sodium hydron L-glutamate (monoSodium glutamate)
E622 Potassium hydrogen L-glutamate (monoPotassium glutamate)
E623 Calcium dihydrogen di-L-glutamate (calcium glutamate)
E627 Guanosine 5'-(diSodium phosphate)
E631 Inosine 5'-(diSodium phosphate)
E635 Sodium 5'-ribonucleotide
Source: "E for Additives" by Maurice Hanssen with Jill Marsden"
© adders.org 2004