Since we have a child with peanut allergies and a child with celiac disease we are avid label readers. If you are, too, you might have noticed an ingredient in many packaged foods (crackers, microwave popcorn, soups, etc.) called TBHQ, as well as one called BHT. And, like myself a few years ago, you may not know what they are.

TBHQ, or tert-Butylhydroquinone, is a preservative that:

is a highly effective preservative for unsaturated vegetable oils and many edible animal fats. It does not cause discoloration even in the presence of iron, and does not change flavor or odor of the material to which it is added (Wikipedia)

BHT is another synthetic preservative. Per Wikipedia,

Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), also known as butylhydroxytoluene, is a lipophilic (fat-soluble) organic compound that is primarily used as an antioxidant  food additive (E number  E321) as well as an antioxidant additive in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, jet fuels, rubber, petroleum  products, electrical transformer oil,[2]  and embalming  fluid.

From what I have read, most of the evidence is anecdotal (many people have headaches or gastrointestinal ills from consuming them) and some speculate that they may carcinogen in nature. I understand that there is not enough evidence to say for sure one way or another but we choose to avoid these preservatives because of that simple fact — why should we be test subjects for food manufacturers? My family is not made up of lab rats. Is yours?

I know that growing up I grew to accept the long, unpronounceable names that comprised the ingredient lists on my favorite foods. Now that I’ve noticed these preservatives that have cute acronyms, we should be even more wary of consuming them.

I don’t think that calling attention to TBHQ and BHT is scaremongering. I think that eating cleaner, less processed and packaged foods is the ideal way to avoid the issue completely, and it’s a healthier practice anyway. We’ve decided that we’d prefer to not take the chance with our health and that of our children. It’s not known whether these chemicals have a cumulative effect or not (particularly in the body of a small child), so event though you might have to eat hundreds of chicken nuggets to experience a negative effect, who’s to say that eating hundreds of nuggets over a lifetime doesn’t build up in your body? We don’t want to find out the hard way 20 years down the road.

Posted on June 16th, 2010 by monica
Filed under: Food and Beverage Safety