Can you pick artificial flavours? We know Strawberry Quick and Fanta are not the real fruit!! And we know they contribute to hyperactivity reactions in ADHD kids and other symptoms. But has the flavour industry improved the flavours so much that they can make flavours that mimic wine so well that even experienced wine tasters cannot pick the difference. A start-up US company is making “replica flavours” that do just that. This shows how sophisticated the flavour industry has become. The new flavours may mean that there will be changes producing improvement in flavours in other foods too. Ari Walker of Replica Wine produces products that can compete in the wine market.
However, I am not sure they will pass the smell and taste test of food-sensitive people. Remember when “nature identical” flavours were invented. Small amounts of nature identical lemon and vanilla did not cause more symptoms than the real ones, but most other flavours did still cause headaches, eczema, gut pain or restlessness in food-sensitive people. Now there are many “natural flavours” available in “natural” lollies. When they were first available reactions were not great as the flavours were mild, rather like Turkish delight used to be. Now they are stronger so the amount needs to be limited to avoid symptoms occurring. I remember the boy who began testing yellow natural snakes first, then he had the green ones but his bad headaches came back before he began the red ones! In fact I had many families report more reactions to natural vanilla ice cream, as the flavour was strong, to the less strong (artificial) plain vanilla ice cream. It is only 15% of food sensitive people who react to vanilla, so some foods can be eaten in small amounts. Remember that flavour is used in ten times the dose of colour in coloured and flavoured foods so the flavour really matters. As flavours have no numbers on ingredient lists many people do not attend to them as much as is wise.
Overall this new direction in food flavours may mean the quality of additive flavours in foods mean less reactions. The usual rule will apply. If the quality of the flavour is good enough your tolerance will be better. Many food sensitive people can have a small amount of a good wine. Now the rule will have the addition “ Smell and taste each different food flavour and decide how much you think you will tolerate. Over time do share what you find when you try these new “fake wines” so everyone can learn if they are as well tolerated as “the real thing”!
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