Coloring for cake icing
I saw these ingredients in a bottle of icing for a cake. Can anyone tell me ifthese are okey for the diet?Water, corn syrup, glycerine, high fructose corn sytrup, sorbitol, modified foodstarch, FD&C U.S. certified colors, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (aspreservatives), agar and carrageenan gums and citric acid.
This post tagged as: corn syrup, corn
Santina Winkelbauer said,
Wrote on January 13, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
As far as the diet, it looks ok to me (no gluten or casein) except you need todetermine what the “modified food starch is” i.e., corn, wheat, or somethingelse. However, there are several other problem items if your child is sensitive(and, by extension, probably not good for the rest of us either):
Corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup causes problems for many kids who cantolerate other corn products. Possibly because there are sulfites(preservatives) in them that are not listed on the label (added by the cornsyrup manufacturer, not the icing maker) that can be a problem.
Sorbitol: artificial sweetener, but one of the milder ones, as I understand it,as far as risks. Still, if you’re trying to keep only natural things in yourchild’s diet, I don’t think this would qualify.
FD&C colors (did they list which ones?) as I understand it are petroleumbyproducts. They are on the “never again” list for those following the Feingolddiet (artificial colors/flavors, preservatives, etc.).
Some kids react to sodium benzoate, but I’m not sure how.
Carageenan may or may not be problematic. I think it causes intestinal issuesfor me and possibly for my daughter, and there have been several exchanges aboutit over the past few months.
A lot of children who respond to the GFCF diet are sensitive to one or moreother ingredients in things, and, as I mention above, some of the things thatthe government lists as “GRAS” (generally regarded as safe) may actually beanything but for the rest of us also. I think there are several icing recipesout there, and natural colors are usually available from Ms. Robens(www.allergygrocer.com) although when I looked a couple of days ago they weresold out (not surprising with the baking season upon us).