Customer Reviews

A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives: Descriptions in Plain English of More Than 12,000 Ingredients Both Harmful and Desirable Found in Foods

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was very disappointed when I received this book. I was hoping for something that would arm me with knowledge and enable me to make truly smart choices when reviewing the ingredients on packages. However, what I got was a very narrow, "FDA approved" listing of the uses and possible side effects of many ingredients. I have always been a label reader and I have done research on many chemicals and additives and know that there are 1000s of KNOWN carcinogens, mood destabilizers, & biological disrupters that are in our food and household products. But, when I looked them up in this book it would say something like : "used mostly as an artificial sweetener." Duh. Thanks. Now could you please tell me what it does to the human body?
I promptly returned the book. You can find less "censored" info with some research on the internet.

This book is incredibly informative, especially for those with special dietary needs like gluten intolerance, diabetes, or food allergies. However, it is also helpful for anyone who wishes to become more informed about what goes into our food. It's refreshing to read straightforward and factual information about food additives and the process by which those chemicals are introduced into the food chain, without the hyped-up scare tactics about "what the government doesn't want you to know" used in other books.

I found this book (and Winter's other books) to be thoroughly researched, well written, and intuitive to use. I appreciated the clear language and detailed references. By providing both the scientific terminology and the vernacular language, the author educates her audience on the many ways in which consumers may be getting MORE than they bargained for when they are selecting foods (and cosmetics).

This book has enabled me to read just about any ingredients list and understand it fairly well, and I have changed some purchasing habits for the better because of it.

if you need a quick overview and have no real knowledge about ingredients, this is helpful. but if you are looking for thorough definitions and origins of certain ingerdients, like i was, it's not the book to get. i thought the book would read more like a dictionary, with definitions and sources of ingredients found in many products; specifically i was looking to see from where ingredients were obtained, whether or not ingredients were animal based or animal by-products. unfortunately, this is not the case. the descriptions do not follow a pattern as far as including the same types of information for each entry. some will simply list other products which include the entry ingredient, other times you will find a random sentence fragment that goes no where. some definitions seem like the information was gathered from a number of reference materials and then thrown together in a gibberish mish-mash of words. there are apparently a lot of assumptions that the author made with regard to how much her readers already know about some of the entries. i think a better editting job would improve the book a bit, but this is the sixth edition, so it's not like they haven't had a chance to review the material. i really think referring to this book as a dictionary is inappropriate, it's more of a reference book.

This is a great book for anyone who is concerned about food additives. This is my second book. I use this book more than any other book that I have regarding additives. It is my food bible. It is the most informative book about additives that I have come across so far for the price.

I've used this book lots of times already and have found all of the additives I was looking for. The information lists both positive and negative properties of the items listed. It seems very thorough.

I believe this should be in averyone's kitchen! on page 390 i found the description for 'PECTINASE- Enzyme used as a clarifying additive in wine and juice from Aspergillus Niger or Bacillus Subtilis" WOW! that solved a huge mystery for me...I am intolerant to Aspergillus Niger AND could not figure out why I would get sick after drinking most White Wines/Juices...mystery solved! test: do you know which of these is naturally or artificially made? EPHEDRINE-IMITATION-LECITHIN-TENNIC ACID
...when it comes to our health - I believe in a proactive-long-term-investment approach. Do you love yourself enough to care?

This is a comprehensive list of good and not so good stuff that goes into your food. With this in hand everyone can make the best decisions of what to eat in order to stay healthy. See also her other books including her Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients.

I found the book to be extremely informative. It was well written, easy to understand and provided all the facts without bias.