Gary Reineccius, a professor in the department of food science and nutrition at the University of Minnesota, explains.
Natural and artificial flavors are defined for the consumer in the Code of Federal Regulations. A key line from this definition is the following: "¿ a natural flavor is the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional." Artificial flavors are those that are made from components that do not meet this definition.
The question at hand, however, appears to be less a matter of legal definition than the "real" or practical difference between these two types of flavorings. There is little substantive difference in the chemical compositions of natural and artificial flavorings. They are both made in a laboratory by a trained professional, a "flavorist," who blends appropriate chemicals together in the right proportions. The flavorist uses "natural" chemicals to make natural flavorings and "synthetic" chemicals to make artificial flavorings. The flavorist creating an artificial flavoring must use the same chemicals in his formulation as would be used to make a natural flavoring, however. Otherwise, the flavoring will not have the desired flavor. The distinction in flavorings--natural versus artificial--comes from the source of these identical chemicals and may be likened to saying that an apple sold in a gas station is artificial and one sold from a fruit stand is natural.
This issue is somewhat confusing to the average consumer in part because of other seeming parallels in the world. One can, for example, make a blue dye out of blueberry extract or synthetic pigments. These dyes are very different in chemical composition yet both yield a blue color. Similarly, consider one shirt made from wool and another from nylon. Both are shirts, but they have very different chemical compositions. This diversity of building blocks is not possible in flavorings--one makes a given flavor only by using specific chemicals. Thus, if a consumer purchases an apple beverage that contains an artificial flavor, she will ingest the same primary chemicals that she would take in if she had chosen a naturally flavored apple beverage.
When making a flavor, the flavorist always begins by going to the scientific literature and researching what chemicals nature uses to make the desired flavor. He then selects from the list of flavor components found in, say, real apples, generally simplifying nature¿s list to eliminate those chemicals that make little contribution to taste or are not permitted owing to toxicity. (Nature has no restrictions on using toxic chemicals, whereas the flavorist does.) The flavorist then either chooses chemicals that are natural (isolated from nature as described above) or synthetic chemicals (made by people) to make the flavor.
So is there truly a difference between natural and artificial flavorings? Yes. Artificial flavorings are simpler in composition and potentially safer because only safety-tested components are utilized. Another difference between natural and artificial flavorings is cost. The search for "natural" sources of chemicals often requires that a manufacturer go to great lengths to obtain a given chemical. Natural coconut flavorings, for example, depend on a chemical called massoya lactone. Massoya lactone comes from the bark of the Massoya tree, which grows in Malaysia. Collecting this natural chemical kills the tree because harvesters must remove the bark and extract it to obtain the lactone. Furthermore, the process is costly. This pure natural chemical is identical to the version made in an organic chemist¿s laboratory, yet it is much more expensive than the synthetic alternative. Consumers pay a lot for natural flavorings. But these are in fact no better in quality, nor are they safer, than their cost-effective artificial counterparts.
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Add CommentSince cholesterol is a precursor molecule to vitamin-d what's the connection to CVD? I'd like to know what the correlation between high cholesterol ratios and vitamin-d deficiency are? How much sunshine would be needed to lower cholesterol by converting it to vitamin-d? Is this a viable way to lower cholesterol? How do you know? What is know about this? What studies have been done?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am chemically sensitive to artificial colors and flavors. If I ingest them, I get a long-lasting mild headache with brain fog. I do not get this reaction with natural flavors so I know there is a difference. I have sometimes wondered about some of the natural flavors but there is no way to find out which may be causing problems for me as there are no distinctions made on the label. Most of them do not cause me problems, however.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe author seems to have a bias toward the notion that artificial flavors and natural flavors are on the same footing, health-wise. First, the claim, implicit in this article, that flavor chemists limit themselves basically to a smaller set of chemicals that you would be eating anyway is simply false. Flavor chemists make regular use of chemicals that people's bodies have never dealt with before. Second, I found this: "(Nature has no restrictions on using toxic chemicals, whereas the flavorist does.)" to be an enormously weak point, because it juxtaposes <flavorists' additives to foods at the supermarket> with <(chemicals found in) Nature,> whereas the proper juxtaposition is <flavorists' additives to foods at the supermarket> vs <natural chemicals found in foods at the supermarket.> Sure nature produces toxins. But that's irrelevant because known toxins are ALWAYS forbidden in ALL foods sold to the public (with some irrelevant exceptions like nicotine gum, say). In general, foods filled naturally with toxins are not considered food. So the category of "natural flavors (which are poisonous)" that the author creates in order to contrast with flavor chemists' creations is in practice a void one. Then the author goes farther and opines that some foods may be *safer* in artificial form. That was quite an interesting claim, and I was really hoping for an example "for example, did you know that artificial carrot flavor is safer than natural carrots?" but none came, likely because the idea has no grounding in reality. At least it sounds plausible in the abstract.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is a very complex problem to understand the toxicity of the universe of new chemicals now in our food supply. While some chemicals we are exposed to (not all of them) are tested individually for short term, acute, toxicity in lab animals, the problem is massively more subtle. Some chemicals may be benign until they are taken with others, which together produce toxicity (alcohol+APAP). Some (ie popcorn flavoring) are toxic after long-term exposure. The only real guide to whether some chemical, natural or artificial, is a safe one, is practical experience. Fortunately, humans have many thousands of years' experience with traditional foods. They're basically safe. Let's stick to those.
The author seems to miss that there is more to the debate than simply the chemical composition. For example, real vanilla flavor comes from vanilla beans. An "artificial" source of vanilla flavor comes from castoreum, which is part of the anal sac of beavers. Now given a choice, I would rather pay more for ice cream containing real vanilla than eat vanilla containing beaver anus, regardless if the vanilla chemical composition is identical.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnfortunately, the debate gets even fuzzier here because castoreum, being animal derived, is considered a natural flavoring by the US FDA and therefore can show up on labels simply as "natural flavoring".
And for the vegetarians and vegans out there, products like this can mask the true animal-derived nature of certain foods.
Finally, FDA labeling rules only require an ingredient to be listed if it exceeds a certain quantity (some flavorings are so potent and used in such small quantities that they sometimes are listed on the label, including some artificial sweetners) and if it is considered to be part of the recipe (ammonia, which is used in the making of some ground beef and chicken nuggets isn't listed because it is considered to be part of the process, not the recipe).
Ultimately, it is up to each consumer to decide what they want to eat or not eat and then choose their processed foods carefully. Use the 800-numbers on food containers to contact the company, real labels carefully, and don't eat anything unless you're sure what's in it.
Sources:
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Castoreum
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?pagewanted=all
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Neotame