Typically this section serves to decode the complicated and confusing ingredients found in food products. We’re going to take a different approach in this edition and explore an ingredient found in many health and beauty aids (HABAs). After all, it’s just as important to know what you’re putting on your body as it is to know what you’re putting in your body.

I recently picked up my bottle of cocoa butter body lotion and really took a look at the list of ingredients. Right out of the gate I thought the ingredients were crystal clear and made absolute sense. I understood what every word meant…until I got about halfway through and discovered dimethicone (among others). I thought, “What is this weird ingredient doing on this list of seemingly natural ingredients?” Surely something as pure and simple as cocoa butter would have a perfectly good excuse for containing something so obscure and scientific-sounding.

Dimethicone, or otherwise known as polydimethylsiloxane, is a silicone-based polymer. What the heck does that mean? Let’s start at the root. Silicon is a naturally occurring element. Silicone (with an “e”) is a polymer made up of silicon, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon that combine during a chemical process. A polymer is a large molecule that is composed of smaller molecules that are repeated, creating a molecular chain. So basically, dimethicone is a very complex polymer.

Silicones are often found in products such as detangling shampoo, conditioner, and hair gel for their smoothing and anti-frizz properties. When dimethicone is added to skin care products, it basically acts as a “sealant” to lock moisture into the skin. But because of this quality, dimethicone can lead to certain skin irritations. Infections can occur because the skin is not able to breathe and cleanse itself of toxins through sweat. Severe side effects can include hives, respiratory problems, and swelling of the mouth or face. Although the FDA has approved dimethicone to be used in cosmetic products as an emollient, pregnant or breast-feeding women are advised to consult their doctor before using products with dimethicone.

This one may not be hard to pronounce, but what exactly is enriched flour? You’ll see it on just about every cereal, cracker, and cookie box in the grocery store. But why not just say flour? What makes this flour so enriched as opposed to regular flour? The answers require a little history lesson.

White flour was adopted into many cultures during the Middle Ages because it was thought to be healthier than darker flours. They might not have known it, but white flour was actually beneficial to people at that time because mold and fungus found in the grains (that led to several diseases) was eliminated during the processing that yielded white flour. They just didn’t know how much nutrition was also eliminated from the flour during processing.

In the late 1920s, a man by the name of Benjamin Jacobs began documenting the essential nutrients lost during processing. He deemed these lost nutrients as good health-promoting nutrients that helped combat some diseases, and he eventually developed a way to put those lost nutrients back into the final product. The end resulting flour would be enriched with the lost nutrients. The birth of enriched flour.

Enriched flour became widely used during the 1940s in order to promote good health amongst all social classes of the British and United States populations while food was being rationed and alternative sources of the nutrients weren’t available. Then, in 1942, the U.S. Army decided it was only going to purchase enriched flour. That sealed the deal on enriched flour.

So what are the specifications for a white flour to be considered enriched? According to FDA requirements, each pound of enriched flour must contain 2.9mg of thiamine, 24mg of niacin, 0.7mg of folic acid, 1.8mg of riboflavin, and 20mg of iron. Except for iron, all of these nutrients are B vitamins. While everything up until now may seem harmless, here’s the kicker. The iron that is used to replace the natural iron lost during processing is actually a reduced version of metallic iron. The body has no use for metallic iron, and it may actually be toxic to your body.

Label Logic by Joann DiFabio-Klinkner is all about awareness of what is in the food you eat. How does this tie in to the Identity mission? Joann educates us in everyday language on ingredients so we can easily remember what is harmful to our bodies and what is okay for our bodies. What we eat can, in the short term, affect our mood and our energy, and in the longer term, have a major affect on our health.  That’s why it’s an important part of helping you to Feel Beautiful Everyday!™

By Joann DiFabrio-Klinkner

At a quick glance, inulin might look like the more familiar insulin, but the two are in fact very different. You certainly would never find insulin on an ingredient label, that’s for sure. But you may find inulin on certain labels, and sometimes even all by itself in supplement form. So what is it?

Inulin is a polysaccharide that is commonly found in many types of plants, but more specifically in roots and rhizomes. It is naturally occurring and helps the plants store energy. It is considered to be a carbohydrate fiber and is commonly found in things like wheat, onions, bananas, asparagus, and garlic.

While other carbohydrates are broken down in the small intestines and turned into fuel for the body, inulin passes through the small intestines and goes right to the colon where it interacts with the bacteria in the colon and stimulates the growth of “good bacteria."

Inulin is also used in place of sweeteners in some processed foods. Due to the body’s limited ability to process polysaccharides, inulin has very little effect on blood sugar levels and does not raise triglycerides, making it a suitable substitute for diabetics. Inulin has also been shown to increase calcium absorption.

Inulin is considerably safe for everyday consumption, but should be introduced into the diet gradually. Individuals who are not accustomed to higher levels of inulin may experience gas, bloating, flatulence, and diarrhea, specifically from the sweeter forms of inulin.

So whether you are aware of the insulin look-a-like, or this is the first time you are hearing of the polysaccharide, remember that it has many positive effects, and a few not so flattering side-effects. Feel free to share this nutrition information with friends and family and be aware of what is on the label of your foods.

Pectin. It sounds almost cute, doesn’t it? Odds are, if you’ve seen pectin pop up on a nutrition label you were probably holding a jar of jam. But what is pectin, and why is it found in almost every jam and jelly on the market? 

Pectin is a naturally occurring polysaccharide (polysaccharides are made up of sugar molecules). It most commonly extracted from fruits such as berries, apples, and citrus fruits. So it makes sense for pectin to be used in jams and jellies, right? But what really makes pectin useful for jam is its ability to gel. When pectin is heated with calcium water and then cooled, it takes on a gel-like consistency perfect for making jam.

Your grandmother might have spent hours over a pot of simmering fruit, getting splashed by the bubbles as she laboriously boiled it down to the perfect jam consistency. Lucky for us, we now have pectin readily available to cut the time (and hot jam burns) down in our jam-making process. Many of these pectin products can be found in supermarkets or specialty markets, and are also readily available on the Internet. And since different levels of gelling will occur when pectin is heated with ingredients of varying levels of sugar (standard, low, or no sugar applications), most pectin available to buy nowadays is versatile enough to be used universally in every sugary scenario.

Pectin isn’t just a one hit wonder, though. Besides jams and jellies, pectin can be found in anything from jellybeans, to yogurt drinks, to cosmetics, and even products to help with diarrhea and constipation! Foods high in pectin have also been proven to reduce nausea. Pretty versatile, huh?

If you’re like me, you probably would much rather buy your jam rather than make it yourself. So when shopping for jams, jellies, cough drops, candy, and pie filling, look for products that contain pectin as the stabilizer or gelling agent. It’s the most natural and healthy option.

Modified Food Starch

That fact that this ingredient has the word “modified” in it is rather disconcerting in and of itself. How can anything so vaguely “modified” be safe to ingest? What is modified food starch anyway?

Let’s start with the basics. For the most part, we all know what starch is. It’s found in potatoes, rice, tapioca, and corn, amongst other vegetables and grains. Starch has something of a firming or thickening quality. Men like the feel of a crisp, starched shirt fresh from the dry cleaners. And Mom always used cornstarch in her Thanksgiving gravy to thicken it up (but it always ended up lumpy, didn’t it?). So what happens when starch is modified? Why even bother to modify it in the first place? And most importantly, is it harmful after it’s modified?

Modified food starch is complex carbohydrate that has had one or more of its components altered physically, chemically, or enzymatically (using enzymes). Altering the composition of food starch gives it a more desirable texture, helps it hold up well against heat and acidic environments, and helps it dissolve faster.

The purpose of modified food starch in food is to act as a binding, thickening, or gelling agent. As was mentioned above, cornstarch can be used as a thickening agent for gravies and sauces. But Mom’s gravy was lumpy because regular corn starch does not dissolve well in high temperatures. Modified food starch, however, does dissolve well in higher temperatures and reduces the “lump-factor”, which is why it can be found in different kinds of canned or jarred sauces and gravies. Modified food starch is also used as a thickening agent in fat-free dairy products, and as a binding agent in low-fat deli meats.

Is this stuff safe? The accepted answer is yes. Modified food starch has virtually no nutritional value, which is why it is so widely used in processed foods. It doesn’t affect the nutritional value of the product it is used in. If there is anything to worry about with modified food starch, it’s that it can be derived from wheat. People with wheat or gluten allergies should take caution when ingesting a product containing modified food starch, unless the package states the source of the food starch, or is labeled as gluten-free.

Cellulose gum seems easy enough to pronounce. And typically the things in foods that are bad for you are hard to pronounce, right? Cellulose gum is also known as Carboxymethyl cellulose. Try saying that three times fast, and then ask yourself how safe it really is for you! 


Cellulose gum is generally used in food as a thickening, emulsifying, and stabilizing agent. Due to its high viscosity, or thickness, cellulose gum is also found in products like toothpaste, laundry detergent (it works as a suspension liquid to remove stains from natural fabrics), water-based paints, diet pills, and laxatives. It can also be found as a lubricating element in eye drops (artificial tears).


Cellulose gum is a polymer derived from cellulose. Cellulose is the main compound that makes up the outer wall of green plant cells. It is one of the most common organic compounds on Earth. Cellulose gum is synthesized through an alkalai-stimulated reaction between cellulose and chloroacetic acid. Confusing, right? Simply put, cellulose and chloroacetic acid (which is a result of the chlorinization of acetic acid) react with each other to form cellulose gum when alkali (a salt) is used as a catalyst. Nobody ever said chemistry was easy! 


Cellulose gum has an E number of E466.  E numbers are basically a food additive safety measuring scale used in the EU (European Union). Every food additive is assigned an E number. The European Food Safety Authority then deems them as N/A (permitted food additions), unpermitted (inconclusive test data to prove any harm), dangerous (may be harmful for people with diseases), and forbidden (proven beyond a doubt to cause disease). Cellulose gum is classified as N/A, meaning it is approved for use as a food additive.

There isn’t any conclusive evidence out there that proves cellulose gum is particularly harmful for us. It’s always best to consume foods with the most natural ingredients that are not the result of chemical reactions, but if you see cellulose gum on a particularly healthy nutrition label, don’t shy away from it by any means. It is technically considered a food additive, but not on a dangerous scale.

Maltodextrin
You may have seen maltodextrin pop up on nutrition labels for products such as pudding cups, soda, salad dressing, or candy. This is no surprise, as maltodextrin is considered a polysaccharide derived from starch. This also means that it is an alternative sweetener to fructose and sucrose, both of which have been designated as bad artificial sweeteners. But is maltodextrin really any better than fructose or sucrose?

Dextrins are carbohydrates derived from starch. Maltodextrin is typically made from rice, potato, or corn starch. It is heated through a process called hydrolysis, during which natural enzymes also help break down the starch even further. It is typically sweet, or has no flavor, and maltodextrin is very low in calories. One gram has only four calories, which is why it is a popular additive in many diet foods.

Because maltodextrin is considered a carbohydrate (part of the family of dextrins), it is also found in many energy drinks and weight gaining supplements for body builders. It is easily digested by the body, so it provides the energy that carbohydrates typically supply to the body, but without the high calories.

It can be argued that maltodextrin is safe because it is derived from natural sources. Its origin from potatoes, rice, or corn does make maltodextrin easier for the body to digest, in its solo form. However, maltodextrin is often not the only processed sweetener found in certain food products. It is the base ingredient for many artificial sweeteners, combined with other more harmful ingredients, such a sucralose. If you’re going to buy products with maltodextrin on the label, just be sure it’s the only artificial sweetener on the list.

With the growing awareness of the dangers of trans fats, many food manufacturers are removing them from their products and replacing them with different fats in order to maintain the same taste and texture integrity of their tried and true product. May food manufacturers are switching to palm oil and palm kernel oil, both of which are extracted from the seeds and the pulp of the fruit of the palm oil, a plant native to Africa, and also widely used in parts of Asia.

Palm oil and palm kernel oil are closely related, but the breakdown of their respective fatty acid composition is slightly different, making them nutritionally different. While both are high in saturated fat, which research has shown increases the risk of heart disease and high cholesterol, palm oil contains more palmitic acid than palm kernel oil (44% vs. 8%). Palmitic acid does not affect the blood the same way as other saturated fats because it gets evenly distributed between the three arms of the triglyceride molecule, rendering it neutral to blood cholesterol levels.

Palm kernel oil, on the other hand, absorbs differently and gets lumped under the same class as other more dangerous saturated fats that increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and atherosclerosis. The reason palm kernel oil is found in packaged food products more than palm oil? You guessed it. It’s cheaper to produce and more readily available than healthier palm oil.

On top of putting your health at risk, palm kernel oil also puts the environment at risk. The oil palm is now cultivated in many parts of Malaysia and Indonesia, which has significantly helped the economies of these two nations, but in order to make room for these oil palm plantations, many rain forests are being cleared. Deforestation not only disrupts the natural habitat for endangered species, it also increases greenhouse gas emissions. When the rain forests are cleared, the peat bogs that lie beneath the rain forests are exposed and they release large quantities of carbon into the atmosphere.

As long as palm kernel oil is cheap to produce and obtain, it will be found in many packaged food products like cookies and crackers. Bad news for the environment. But at least you can do your health a favor and avoid products with this oil and look for products with pure palm oil or other heart-healthier oils.

Odds are you probably haven’t heart of Sodium Nitrite unless you’re a meat eater. This chemical is commonly found in processed meats such as salami, bologna, hot dogs, bacon, and SPAM. Its principle purpose is to preserve processed and cured meats and prevent the formation of bacteria such as botulism. However, its pinkish color allows it to double as a colorant for meats to make them appear more appealing…you’d buy red meat as opposed to grey, wouldn’t you?

So what exactly is sodium nitrite? Essentially, it’s sodium chemically combined with nitrogen and oxygen to form a white crystal powder closely resembling table salt. It is slow to oxidize, which makes it good for preserving cured meats…and preventing corrosion in certain metals and alloys. Yup, you read that right! Not only is sodium nitrite used in the food industry to preserve processed cured meats and colorize them to make them more visually appealing to consumers, it is also used in photography labs and in the manufacturing of rubber chemicals and dyes for fabrics.

Generally, the levels of sodium nitrite in processed meat and fish products are low and deemed safe to ingest by FDA regulations (.0001% in cured fish and .0005% in cured meats). However, the major health concern with sodium nitrite lies in the reaction is sustains when exposed to high heats and other reactive agents…such as stomach acid. Sodium nitrite in cured meats can form carcinogenic (cancer-causing) nitrosamines when exposed to high temperatures, and when combined with the naturally occurring acids in the stomach. Sodium nitrite has also been linked to triggering migraines in people who already suffer from them.

The slightly reassuring news here is that more recent FDA regulations have required manufacturers to include specific levels of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in products containing sodium nitrite. Ascorbic acid, an antioxidant, inhibits the formation of nitrosamines. For the past 20 years, the cured meat manufacturing industry has cut back on the use of sodium nitrite and nitrate in cured meat products, and had significantly supplemented in ascorbic acid to deplete any residual nitrite and inhibit the formation of dangerous carcinogens.

Even with these changes and improvements in the cured meat and fish industry, the bottom line is that it’s best to stay away from any products containing sodium nitrite (or nitrate). Anything that has been proven to produce carcinogens when ingested and cause cancer should be avoided altogether.