Are natural flavors better than artificial? | Nourishable Raw Episode 6

The information in this video is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this video is for general information purposes only.

References

What’s the difference between natural and artificial flavors? Does the difference matter for our health? Artificial flavours sound kind of scary, like they’re full of chemical names we can’t spell or pronounce. Natural flavours have an aura of purity and health, making me think of fruits glistening with morning dew. Gut instincts are that natural is good and artificial is bad. But do these gut instincts actually translate to nutrition science? Now let’s look at the definitions according to the FDA: Any added flavour is a substance that is added for flavouring rather than nutritional purposes. Natural flavours are originally derived from plant or animal matter. This means that the starting materials are spices, fruit, vegetable, juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or other plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products or fermentation productions from these sources. They can be in the form of essential oils, extracts, proteins or distillate, or any product from heat or chemical processing. Artificial flavours then are substances added to impart flavour that are not originally derived from any of these products.
Here are three reasons that the difference between natural and artificial flavours are pretty arbitrary. Natural flavours don’t need to be from the same product that they are simulating. For example, natural watermelon flavouring is often derived from African violets. Or some naturally flavoured foods containing flavours that don’t exist in nature, like Polar Seltzer’s unicorn kisses. Even foods that are typically vegetarian or vegan can contain natural flavours derived from animal products. This is the case for some wines that use egg or shellfish products in the fining process. Side note - products that use any of the top 8 food allergens in their natural flavour are required by the FDA to have an allergen warning. If the idea of eliminating artificial flavours is to restrict synthetic chemicals then you’re going to get another surprise.The extraction can use synthetic chemicals and complex processes, and some of these synthetic chemicals may remain in the final product. Both artificial AND natural flavours are chemicals produced in a lab. Frequently the artificial version of the flavour is more pure. Natural vanilla contains lots of the chemical compound vanillin, plus a bunch of other chemicals. Artificial vanilla is a pure synthesis of just vanillin. Or the end product of the natural flavour process could be chemically identical to the artificial flavour, they just got to that end product with different starting materials and through a different process. A chemical is a chemical. Vanillin is the same chemical whether it started as an orchid or in the lab. Chemicals don’t need to be scary! I aim to mostly consume whole food that doesn’t have any added flavours at all - think fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds. Minimally processed whole foods will make the healthiest diet foundation. When I do consume processed foods containing added flavors, I don’t differentiate between natural or artificial. Their processing methods make their differences arbitrary. Both natural and artificial flavors fall under the generally recognized as safe, or GRAS status - meaning that there isn’t any evidence to indicate that they’re dangerous, though they haven’t really been researched. I consider the difference between natural and artificial flavours as more of a marketing health halo than a relevant healthfulness indicator.

[jackanddan]

Nice video...GRAS...same thing the FDA categorizes non nutritive sweeteners under...totally sketchy...I wouldn’t buy a car if the seat belts were Generally Recognized As Safe... keep up the good work and we will too, so people can learn more about what they putting in their bodies👍

[cristianguiducci]

Vanilline like real madagascar vsmanilla??? Do you have some taste or just industry lobby connections?

[littlevoice_]

Can you review the different decaffination processes used for coffee and if decaf is better please?