It’s completely natural to worry about what’s in your child’s food, especially when it comes to additives. From bright colours to preservatives that keep foods fresh, these ingredients serve a purpose, but they can also raise real concerns for parents. Questions about hyperactivity, allergies, and long-term health effects are common and valid. 

The good news? With a little knowledge, you can make confident choices about what’s reasonable, what to limit, and how to find healthier alternatives. In this post, we’ll break down the most common additives to watch for, how to spot them on labels, and simple ways to swap processed foods for fresh, balanced options your family will love.

What are food additives?

There are many types of additives that are used in our foods for a variety of reasons. They are controls and limits set in place for particular ones. They all serve a purpose in food and here are the main ones and what they do.

Preservatives – Keep foods fresh for longer and prevent spoilage from bacteria, mould, or yeast. Examples: Sodium benzoate, nitrates/nitrites and sulfur dioxide

Colourings – Add or restore colour lost during processing to make foods more appealing, especially to children.
Examples: Tartrazine (E102), Red 40, Caramel colour

Flavourings & Flavour Enhancers – Add, boost, or mimic natural flavours.
Examples: MSG (E621), artificial vanilla and  disodium inosinate

Sweeteners – Replace sugar to reduce calories or make “sugar-free” products taste sweet.
Examples: Aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame K and stevia

Emulsifiers – Help mix ingredients together that normally separate, like oil and water.
Such as lecithin (E322), mono- and diglycerides, polysorbates

Stabilizers & Thickeners – Improve texture and consistency so foods stay smooth and uniform. Such as carrageenan, guar gum and xanthan gum

There are others including antioxidants, acidity regulators, anti-cake agents and raising agents. 

Common additives to watch for

Below are some of the more common ones used in childrens foods and could be potential concerns. 

Common Food Additives & Possible Effects

• Artificial colours – The Food Standards Agency carried out some research into the effects of some artificial food colours and hyperactivity in children. They found some of them to increased hyperactivity in children. These include: 

• sunset yellow FCF (E110)
• quinoline yellow (E104)
• carmoisine (E122)
• allura red (E129)
• tartrazine (E102)
• ponceau 4R (E124)

Any foods or drink that contain any of these six colours must carry a warning on the packaging. That says ‘May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children’.

• Sweeteners (e.g., aspartame, sucralose) there is no clear evidence of studies in humans only animals. EFSA (2023) consistently reviews aspartame for safety levels. If you are concerned you could choose to limit diet/sugar free type products in children. You will find some more tips further down. 

Particularly for younger children more recently, SACN (2025) specifies “Not giving them drinks sweetened with sugar or non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) and giving them unsweetened food (not sweetened with either sugar or NSS).”

What about glycerol in slushies?

Glycerol is used in slushie drinks as a substitute for sugar. It is also known as E422.

Slushies should not be given to children under 7 years of age due to the potential side effects such as headaches, sickness, even loss of consciousness. 

How to spot additives on food labels

When reading food labels, a few quick checks can help you spot unnecessary additives and make smarter choices for your family:

Check the ingredient list

• Ingredients are listed in order of quantity, so  the first few make up most of the product.
  
• Be cautious of long ingredient lists with names you don’t recognise or wouldn’t use in home cooking (like sodium benzoate or Sunset yellow E110).
  

Watch for key words

• Phrases such as “artificial,” “enhanced,” “flavoured,” or “fortified” often signal added colours, flavourings, or preservatives.
  
• Look out for E-numbers (e.g. E102,)  these are approved additives, but some may cause more hyperactivity in children.
  

Use a food label app

• Apps like FoodSwitch UK let you scan barcodes and instantly see a product’s health rating, sugar/salt/fat content, and whether it contains additives or sweeteners.
  
• Yuka is another popular option that rates foods for both nutritional quality and additive safety, giving you simple traffic light style feedback.
  

How to reduce food additives

1. Read food labels as I advised above and get familiar with what foods have additives in them and you can compare brands etc. 

2. Prepare foods from scratch by making simple versions of snacks and other meals without the additives.Here are some recipe ideas:

• Tuna pasta
• Cottage pie
• Courgette fritters
• Gingerbread cookies
• Bliss balls
• ABC muffins
  

3. Make use of fresh and frozen produce: fewer additives, same nutrients.
   
4. Choose minimally processed foods: typically these will be whole food ingredients. If you are confused about ultraprocessed foods then check out my definitive guide to ultra processed foods and easy swaps
   
5. Batch cook: make and freeze meals to save time and money. Then you have meals for busy days when you don’t have time to cook and are less reliant on ready prepared shop bought meals.

Practical Tips

• Swap out processed snacks that contain additives with simple snacks. Check out my crunchy and healthy snack ideas.
  
• Involve kids in cooking meals and getting used to home cooked meals.
  
• Limit use of diet/“sugar-free” products in children. Very young children should avoid having sugar or non sugar sweeteners in foods and drinks.

• Monitor individual sensitivities and hyperactivity (some children might react differently) particularly to those artificial colours listed above.
  

Conclusion

Having occasional additives in foods isn’t disastrous. It is more about balance than trying to gain perfection. There are a variety of additives in foods ranging from sweet and savoury foods for many purposes and it is hard to avoid them completely. Try to include mostly home cooking with fewer processed foods.