Flavour Enhancer 635 reaction!

[Mamaduke]

The other day I thought that Jesse had conjunctivitis as his eyes swelled, they were weeping, itchy and very red. Bathed them in my boobie juice and it was all good. At first I did think it was an allergic reaction/intolerance to something he'd eaten so gave him Zyrtec but all I could think of that was different to his usual diet was the Continental Side Dish of Oriental Fried Rice (the one with the Supernanny on the pack) but he'd eaten that the day before any signs showed up.
Yesterday I made the boys the rice dish for lunch and in the early hours of this morning Jesse was up with swelling, redness, itchiness of his eyes and an extremely stuffed up nose...AGAIN!
Fished the pack out of the bin and it has a preservative added called 'Flavour Enhancer 635' or 'Ribonucleatides'.
Got on the food intolerance website and this can cause allergic &/or intolerance reactions in people, especially children and the side effects may not be noticeable for up to 48 hours after they've eaten it!
I was under the impression that a reaction would be virtually instant!
I'm now going through the pantry and throwing anything that has this 'enhancer' in it. Another thing that the website mentioned was;

When problem foods are consumed frequently, symptoms can appear to be a chronic condition rather than a food reaction. and that could be...

asthma, stuffy or runny nose, frequent colds and infections Thought I would share this as everyone looks out for MSG and/or additive numbers beginning with a '2' but may not know about this one.

[elissas]

Yep, "flavour enhancers", numbers beginning with 6, they are called glutamates. MSG is a glutamate also, they are all part of the same family and can have similar side effects.

A company can market a product as MSG-free if it doesn't contain MSG (621), but can load the product with all its brothers, sisters and cousins - very frustrating.

Also be wary, as these are classified as "flavour enhancers" and not "flavours". So a company can also market a product as being free from artificial flavours and colours, but it can still be chockas with flavour enhancers, including MSG itself.

You will find these in almost all stock, flavoured salts etc, and most foods that contain flavour sachets, seasoning etc (from rice packets, to bags of chips and snack biscuits like Shapes etc, and most stock powders and liquids, gravy - they're everywhere!)

They are nasty. I break out in a rash when I have overloaded on glutamates, even if I have take away like KFC or Red Rooster a couple of times.

Additive 635 is nasty - on the Fed Up website it is called the "New MSG".

http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/FactMSG.htm

[elissas]

Got on the food intolerance website and this can cause allergic &/or intolerance reactions in people, especially children and the side effects may not be noticeable for up to 48 hours after they've eaten it!
I was under the impression that a reaction would be virtually instant!

Absolutely a reaction can happen a couple of days after. The other thing with reactions is that they can occur after crossing over a "threshold". So, we may have a certain tolerance level to something, and just go over it one day, and voila!

As well as this, several things could be at play together. With an intolerance or a reaction, it can also be the big mish mash of a number of additives from different groups.

Unfortunately when testing products for reactions prior to approval for use in foods etc, they only look for instant reactions. There is also no testing done on effects on behaviour or anything other than basic physical instant reactions.

Not much help huh? Confuses things more? Hopefully one day there'll be more regulation. Unlikely to happen for awhile though. Too many big fat greedy pockets to consider.

[TwoBlue]

Poor Jesse !

This is really great info for people to know about..
we avoid ALL flavour enhancers in this house, they make Samuel irritable and angry

[elissas]

Poor Jesse !

This is really great info for people to know about..
we avoid ALL flavour enhancers in this house, they make Samuel irritable and angry

Same with DH, he gets restless and cranky, gets the leg shakes and then his IBS flares up - all if he has flavour enhancers more than a couple of times a week. And when you see how much stuff they're in, that's hard to avoid for a grown man who loves quick and easy foods!

[Rell]

Glad you worked out the problem so early.
DS is sensertive to flavour enhancers, they cause him to have insomnia and it usually hits him the next day.
Flavour enhancers are everywhere so you really need to check everything out.

[ginajane]

I was googling for 632 info, and I came across this site.
Thought I'd join to let you know that I just purchased McKenzie's Chicken Sea Salt Grinder.
Never thought to look at ingredients until after I got home.
I was very annoyed to find it has milk products in it (the ingredients have flavor enhancer but doesn't tell you too much really).
Also, it contains 635.
So please, if you buy chicken salt, please please please make sure it is not McKenzies Seal Salth Grinder chicken Salt.
It's terrible that a company would even think about using this.

[MissSookyLaLa]

good that you discovered the reason and reaction....


I am keeping my little man away from all 'numbers' though...even ones not beginning with 6 can be incredibly harmful...

as an example...
this ingredient is in jars of pasta sauce...

NameProcessed eucheuma seaweedNumber407aSuspected carcinogen, linked to ulcerative colitus, damage to the immune system, concern about birth defects. New to standards - do not give to infants and young children

http://www.additivealert.com.au/search.php

[Penthesilea]

I don't eat anything with flavour enhancers - I can fell the reaction as soon as I put it in mouth - makes my mouth numb. Afterwards I feel shaky and spacey.

It is actually banned form food intended for infants, but then it is in all sorts of foods that people regularly feed to toddlers.

We avoid it - and yes, it is surprising how many packaged, processed foods it is in.