# Do you avoid food preservatives? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 21, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721 "2016-03-21T00:53:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/1 "2016-03-21T00:53:23Z")
If so, have you noticed a positive change in your health? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/2 "2016-03-21T01:00:06Z")
Yes. No. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/3 "2016-03-21T02:17:22Z")
no, and no. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/4 "2016-03-21T02:28:44Z")
No and that makes the rest irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/5 "2016-03-21T02:33:17Z")
Yes, in the sense that I generally avoid things that I know to be packed in metric assloads of hidden sugar and sodium, and yes, in that I tend not to feel like a constipated human dumpster fire after I eat most meals. Vinegar is cool though. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/6 "2016-03-21T03:04:05Z")
Of course not. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/7 "2016-03-21T03:19:51Z")
Yes, but it’s been so long I can’t really tell if there’s any difference any more, or if there was any difference in the first place. I’m not avoiding preservatives per se, but instead I’m trying to make all my own food so I know how many carbs are in everything I eat. I think if I ate enough food with preservatives in it for the preservatives to have an effect on me, the effect of that many carbs would overwhelm anything else I might feel in the change back to prepared food. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/8 "2016-03-21T05:01:12Z")
Nope. N/A ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/9 "2016-03-21T05:42:36Z")
No. Preserving food is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/10 "2016-03-21T10:54:24Z")
It’s not so much that I avoid preservatives as I try to mostly eat fresh foods, made from scratch, and so forth. On the other hand, I do eat things like sausage, cheese, pickles, etc. that do contain some preservatives. Don’t notice much difference either way. I figure avoiding spoiled food to be a bonus. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/11 "2016-03-21T11:25:41Z")
No, I figure it may preserve me a little. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/12 "2016-03-21T11:44:29Z")
At my age I need all the help with preservation I can get. I have not made any effort to avoid preservatives (I presume you meant artificial preservatives, and not pickling, salting, smoking, making jellies or jams, and any of the other traditional methods of keeping food from spoiling) but I do pay attention to what I eat. There are very few “ready-to-eat” things in our pantry but we do stock a lot of ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/13 "2016-03-21T16:55:45Z")
Another “nope, N/A” ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/14 "2016-03-21T23:26:48Z")
For those who say “yes,” which ones do you avoid? I don’t think I can look at an ingredients list and identify which substances are preservatives that should be avoided. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/15 "2016-03-21T23:36:36Z")
No; I don’t worry about preservatives, except to worry about things marked “no preservatives” tending to rot quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/16 "2016-03-21T23:53:50Z")
Personally, I don’t like to eat rotten food, so no… ---
**Author:** ![FreddyJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@FreddyJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FreddyJ)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/17 "2016-03-22T11:40:09Z")
Yes, but I think this is a long term investment ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/18 "2016-03-22T11:48:37Z")
I’ve not made a concerted effort to avoid preservatives, but I have moved to a low-carb diet that means I’m mostly eating fresh and unprocessed food, so I have lowered my preservative intake by default. I’ve noticed many improvements in my mental and physical well-being, but I’m not sure how much of that I could attribute to consuming less preservatives. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/19 "2016-03-22T15:01:47Z")
I don’t avoid preservatives so much as I focus on buying “real food” as opposed to “food-like substances” (to borrow a phrase from Michael Pollan). Some things, like bread, last fine if you freeze it so no need for preservatives. Haven’t noticed too much change, physically, other than it’s easier to keep the weight off. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721/20 "2016-03-22T15:52:43Z")
Yes, for medical reasons. I have to strictly watch my phosphates, sodium and potassium, so all meats are fresh, bacon is uncured, fresh or frozen veggies, only fresh fruits. I have not noticed much of a difference for myself (when you’re half-dead as it is, does it really matter?), but my daughter states she has much more energy and her anemia is gone. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-preservatives/749721.md?page=2)