FOOD INTOLERANCE NETWORK FACTSHEET
Dangers of dried fruit
Dried fruit is probably the single biggest source of
sulphur dioxide your children will ever encounter, although if they are
affected, it is unlikely that either you or your doctor will make the
connection.
In
• dried fruit 16 mg in one dried apricot
• sausages 8 mg in half a thin sausage
• drinks 5 mg in one glass of cordial
• hot chips 1 mg in half a cup of hot chips
To put that into perspective, the Acceptable Daily
Intake for a 10-year-old weighing 21kg is just 15mg of sulphite per day.
The facts
• a national
study published in 1996 found that Australian two-year-olds ate seventy times more dried fruit than
12-year-olds per kg of body weight
• in 1999, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned
that up to 20-30 per cent of childhood asthmatics may be sensitive to sulphite
preservatives, and recommended that the use of sulphite preservatives should be
reduced or phased out wherever possible
• in 2005,
re-analysis of the same data above using a different method found that high
sulphite consumers of nearly all ages consume more than the Acceptable Daily
Intake for sulphites - especially children in the 2-5 age group where on
average boys have an intake of approximately 3 times the ADI
• the highest sulphited food consumed by children was
dried apricots
• the survey was based on now outdated nutritional
data from 1995
• schools across Australia promote dried fruits for
snacks according to new anti-obesity canteen guidelines; packet snack foods and
drinks including flavoured water sold in school canteens often contain
additives associated with asthma
• parents of asthmatic children are rarely warned by
their doctors about the effects of sulphites on asthma
• despite the WHO warning, the National Asthma Council
says that diet does not affect asthma
• asthmatics do not see a connection between what they
eat and asthma unless the effect occurs within 30 minutes
• only a few severely sensitive asthmatics have an
immediate reaction to sulphites and are thus aware of their sulphite
sensitivity - asthmatics with milder sulphite sensitivity do not have an
immediate reaction, and are generally unaware of their sensitivity. However,
sulphites are likely to cause irritated airways with no obvious symptoms until
the person is exposed to an asthma trigger such as cold air, running around
(exercise) or a virus. When sulphites (and possibly other additives or natural
food chemicals, see Asthma factsheet) are eliminated from the diet, the person
is less likely to have asthma when exposed to a known trigger.
Some excerpts from reader
stories
With
the knowledge I gained from your books I was able to trace which foods did
what. The cause of my 3-year-old's asthma became obvious (sulphites) when he
would eat something out of the ordinary such as two apricot fruit bars (which
he had not eaten in ages), come home, run around outside and have an asthma
attack, which he has not had in ages. –
Elisa, TAS
I
read the story on your website about the soccer player who was eating lots of
muesli bars and developed exercise asthma. The same thing happened to my
daughter. We thought she had outgrown her asthma but it came back when she
started eating muesli bars recommended by her swimming coach. Her asthma got so
bad she had to give up swimming with the squad. - Reader, by email
I am an adult with asthma. I went off milk and sulphite
preservatives about 6 months ago, I have not had asthma since (unless I am
'naughty' and have some sulphite). - Elizabeth, ACT
[527] Maya’s story (January 2007)
One mother reported that her two year old daughter
Maya was a “huge dried fruit eater”, consuming two or three packets of dried
apricots or similar and two or three fruit bars per week. At three packets of
dried fruit per week that’s roughly 250 mg per day, or 20 times the Acceptable
Daily Intake for an average two year old (0.7mg per kg bodyweight or half a
dried apricot for a 2 year old) set by the World Health Organisation. Sulphites
are associated with both asthma and cough.
Maya had been diagnosed with suspected bronchiolitis
at nine months. “Ever since then, she has had bouts of coughing on a regular
and frequent basis, often only two or three weeks apart, usually with a cold
but occasionally following a slight fever,” wrote Maya’s mother. “The coughing can
last all night at its worst - but usually is about 40 minute bouts every few
hours. There is no apparent wheeze, although sometimes doctors have found a
slight wheeze with a stethoscope. Very occasionally, it will resolve gradually
after a week or two but usually becomes worse and requires antibiotics”. When
Maya’s cough was diagnosed first as asthma, then as hypersensitive cough
receptors, “the paediatrician advised that there was no link to diet and that she would probably grow
out of it”. Although her mother had never noticed any connection,
since avoiding sulphites Maya has been free of cough.
Preservative-free dried fruit
is available
Dried tree fruit such as apricots, peaches, apples and
pears are usually heavily sulphited unless from specialty stores, see below.
Dates, prunes, figs, sultanas and raisins may be sulphite-free (read the
ingredients list) but contain high levels of natural salicylates that can
affect about 20 per cent of asthmatics and over 70 per cent of children with
behavioural problems. Pears, banana and pawpaw are the only fruits low in
salicylates; pears are the only fruits low in both salicylates and amines;
mangoes are amine free and lower in salicylates than most fruit except pears.
Drying will concentrate salicylates.
Crispy mango and crispy banana (freeze-dried fruit
chips) from Lion of Sahara Crispy Fruit in Woolworths and selected Franklins
dried fruit sections. http://www.fmpmarketing.com.au/crispyFruit/crispyFruit.htm
Totally Pure Fruits freeze dried pears and others,
direct from the Chamber Door 1095 Mornington-Flinders Road Red Hill Victoria or
from Bio-Dynamic Marketing: 03 5966
7370.
Bega Dried foods, Tathra NSW, Ph/Fax 02 6494 1995, www.begadriedfoods.com.au Fruit is
dried in an air tunnel without preservative so it looks more as if it has been
freeze dried. Cost: $14 for a 200g packet, but bulk prices are much more
reasonable at $32 per kilogram of dried pears plus freight. Pears includes skin
on but slices are done across the fruit so it is possible to remove the skin.
Kakadu Dried Fruits sell preservative free dried
mango, banana, paw paw and other tropical fruits, www.kakadudriedfruits.com.au
Goulburn Valley Fruit Leathers, Shepparton, Vic Ph/Fax
(03) 5829 2338. Preservative and chemical free pure fruit leathers including
pears. The fruit is
picked ripe and peeled by machine. Cost: $1.20 per
20gm roll. There are leaflets with more information.
References
·
‘It is unlikely you or your doctor
will make the connection’ – based on research in Corder EH, Buckley CE, 3rd.
Aspirin, salicylate, sulfite and tartrazine induced bronchoconstriction. Safe
doses and case definition in epidemiological studies. J Clin Epidemiol
1995;48(10):1269-75, and also stated by an FDA spokesperson: ‘you can take
steps to minimize your contact with sulfites if you are diagnosed with asthma
or sulfite sensitivity … But you may not
even know you have a problem with sulfites until a reaction occurs. Undiagnosed
people are at risk because even if they know that sulfites can cause adverse
reactions, they often don't associate sulfites with their own health problems."
– FDA consumer safety officer Dr JoAnn Ziyad,
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/096_sulf.html
·
‘Dried fruit can contain extremely
high amounts of sulphites’, at the legal limit which is very high, or even
above – see the Dried Tree Fruit Annual Industry Report, 2004, www.horticulture.com.au/docs/
industry/annualreports/driedtreefruit.pdf
‘…an increased emphasis on monitoring sulphur dioxide
levels in the fruit during the drying process has controlled residues to within
acceptable levels, overcoming last season’s compliance issues’; Rigg, A.
Sulphur dioxide in sausages and other products. ACT Health services. Food
survey reports, 1996-7 www.health.act.gov
: ‘some of the
·
sulphites in hot chips – from
the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries
and Food. Dietary intake of food additives in the
·
‘A national study published in 1996’
- Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA). 1994 Australian Market Basket
Survey.
·
‘The World Heath Organisation
warned’ - Fifty-first meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food
Additives (JECFA), Safety Evaluation of Certain Food Additives: Evaluation of
national assessments of intake of sulfites, World Health Organisation, Geneva,
1999. www.inchem.org; Australian research
found over 65 per cent of asthmatic children were affected by sulphites: Towns
SJ, Mellis CM. Role of acetyl salicylic acid and sodium metabisulfite in
chronic childhood asthma. Pediatrics 1984;73(5):631-7.
·
‘Re-analysis of data’ and ‘dried
apricots were the highest’ - Food
Standards Australia New Zealand, The 21st Australian Total Diet Study: a total
diet study of sulphites, benzoates and sorbates, FSANZ 2005, http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/newsroom/publications/21staustraliantotald2963.cfm
·
anti-obesity canteen guidelines
-www.schoolcanteens.org.au
·
‘National Asthma Council says that
diet does not affect asthma’ – www.nationalasthma.org.au
accessed December 2006
·
‘Asthmatics do not see a connection
…unless the effect occurs within 30 minute’ -
McDonald JR, Mathison DA, Stevenson DD. Aspirin intolerance in asthma.
Detection by oral challenge. J Allergy Clin Immunol 1972;50(4):198-207.
Asthmatics were given an aspirin tablet they were told was not aspirin. Those
who reacted within 30 minutes blamed the aspirin. Those who reacted more than
30 minutes later (up to hours later) didn't make the connection.
·
Sulphites associated with severe
cough - Steinman HA, Le
Roux M, Potter PC. Sulphur dioxide sensitivity in South African asthmatic
children.
See also:
The information given is not intended as
medical advice. Always consult with your doctor for underlying illness. Before beginning
dietary investigation, consult a dietician with an interest in food
intolerance. You can find a supportive dietitian through the Dietitians
Association of
© Sue Dengate
update January 2007
