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

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.

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 am thrilled to find this gem for my library! If you are one of those people who have an inquring mind and want a a solid source of reference on food label ingredients/additives, then you will want this book. I was also tickled to find an additional section with a chart on food storage guidelines, such as how long food keeps in the refrigerator, pantry, and freezer.

I have just added the Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives to my library. I am saddened by the quick jump of some reviewers to post incorrect negative reviews on the book, such as the one commenting on the book entry of monosodium glutamate (MSG) and the other on aspartame. For instance, the reviewer writes, "according to Ruth Winter in her book [Aspartame] was considered a safe additive." This is absolutely NOT correct. Ms. Ruth does not PERSONALLY endorse, recommend, or reject any food additive she lists in her book, including aspartame. Simply, she presents the facts, findings (hers, the FDA's, or a reseach group's), and any controversies surrounding each additive, and leaves it to the reader to judge for him/herself the safety of accepting the additive in their diet, avoiding it all-together, or doing further research on it. This is the approach I am taking to the book, and thus find it an eye-opener when it comes to the characteristics of food additives I never knew about. My approach is, as soon as there is a health concern listed for an additive, confirmed or not by the FDA or else, I avoid it all-together. After all, MSG and aspartame are not necessary for my survival as mother nature intended, and the author does not fail to list the controversies surrounding these two and many others when applicable! In addition, the book is not intended to be an "extensive" study on each food additive as the reviewers wish it to be (one of them writing a 50-page thesis and the other a chiropractic student); rather it is merely a handbook/dictionary/quick-reference. Thus, it is serving its purpose well as it is presentd by Ms. Winter.I am glad that I was smart and decided to not be deterred by those negative reviews which I read before purchasing the book. Rather I decided to take a look at it myself first-hand, and hope future interested buyers do the same. I wish that reviewers will not jump to unfounded negative comments, because it is only taking an opportunity away from one consumer at a time to benefit from such an informative book if the latter weighs heavily on their reviews in his/her decision against acquiring the book.

This dictionary should be an essential part of every food allergic individual's home library. Simple, concise, and complete definitions assist in the indentifaction of possible hidden allergic ingredients. A great companion to take the supermarket for verifying source of unknown ingredients.