I found out a few weeks ago that I am high allergic to something all bakeries are now putting in the bread, cake, donuts and any baked goods they make: Ascorbic acid, aka
DOUGH ENHANCER. After eating one small cinnamon roll yesterday morning, I went to bed around 11:00 a.m. but found it was harder and harder to breathe.

For some reason, the chemical used in this small cinnamon roll cut off my ability to breathe. I sat up in a chair all night, drinking hot coffee to open my airways. No one knows how frightening this is.

I’d really like to know WHY the baking industry can’t bake a loaf of bread or make a cupcake, donut or bagel now without dumping more and more chemicals into the mix?

I’m disgusted with all of them as they do not seem to realize there is a penalty for consuming such un-needed chemicals in something as simple as bread!! GRRRRRRRRRRR

People have been baking bread for thousands of years, all without these added chemicals. WE DO NOT NEED THEM. I can just hear my grandmother, who baked her own bread, asking what in the world is bread dough enhancer?, then shaking her head in disbelief!

When is the food industry going to stop this nonsense?

I picked up a pkg. of cookies the other day at the local supermarket and in reading the label, I discovered, amongst
the dozens of chemicals in the cookie, “Carnuba Wax!!!!!” i SUGGEST EVERYONE START READING LABELS BEFORE YOU PURCHASE BAKED GOODS. You will be horrified to learn what they are using in foodstuffs, one being “sawdust” so grated cheese does not stick together! Another is red insects in a popular brand of yogurt to color it a strawberry color! This is not acceptable!

That’s it, folks, I’m never buying another loaf of bread or cookies and from now on, I’ll bake my own. Others should follow suit if you want the lives of your family to remain safe from cancer and all the dredded diseases we see cropping up in children as young as 1-2 yrs. old. We then ask why? ……duh!

P. S. - BTW, who wants a loaf of bread to remain “fresh” and embalmbed for a month anyway? The Country of France has no such thing as “day-old” bread because it is against their laws to add chemicals or preservatives to their food. Too bad we don’t learn from them, at least when it comes to the food they eat.

The list of “chemicals” in the article is about as natural a list of ingredients as you will ever find! I am continually amazed at new-age sheep wringing their hands at the thought of ‘added chemicals’ in food. I guess they have been brainwashed by nut-jobs with pet theories purporting that this or that is killing us. EVERYTHING is made up of “chemicals”! Have you ever seen the chemical composition of a fresh orange? Did your Granny ever add buttermilk to her bread? If so, she tried to poison her family with ACID WHEY. How about adding an (even a free-range farm hen’s) egg? Uh-oh . . . your chemically polluting Gran just added LECITHIN to your food. I’ll bet dear old grandma even used potassium bitartrate in her Lemon Meringue Pies. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. If you bake from scratch, you don’t need to worry about sawdust, red bugs, wax, the French, or what Oprah thinks, etc. BUT YOU WILL BE ADDING AND CONSUMING CHEMICALS, just like you do each and every day. Get a life.

hi, I’ve never heard of a vitamin C allergy. Are you sure it wasn’t something else you ate?

Yes we live in a world where a lot more chemicals are used in the production of our food than were used in the time of our grandparents. I hear many people who jump on the nutrition bandwagon and parrot what they have heard other people say, knocking all the chemicals and preservatives found in our foods today.”They are killing us”. We are constantly on information overload with all the testimonials we are given in the media and shows like Opera. Who do you believe? As part of my nutrition degree I received at a university I took a food additives class because I was interested about the topic. Points of interest: thousands of people died in Granny’s day due to food poisoning, but due to the lack knowledge at the time it was not always diagnosed as such. Today the foods we have available to us as consumers year round are often due to chemicals. Most things have a chemical composition, so do not get hung up on the word “chemical”. I thought Heather and Scott made some extremely valid points and at no time felt they were belittling Earlene’s bad experience with breathing so found her name calling emotional response to be a bit of a shock. There are lots of things contributing to our diseases today that go beyond just the food we eat. As consumers all we can do is keep an open mind and become as knowledgable as we can from “credible” sources and updated information. Different foods have differing effects on people as will differing chemicals. Never be so closed minded as to believe the truth you have discovered contains the whole truth or the only truth.

Another thing my Grandma used to add to a loaf of white bread was a little less then 1 teaspoon of vinegar. You couldnt taste it but she said it would help the bread stay fresh. Who knew?!! The fresh bread that grandma made never seemed to last more then a day anyway.

I used to live next door to a little girl who was allergic to ascorbic acid/vitamin c. It is very possible. Also depending on where your immune system is at, you can live many years with no reaction/allergy to something and suddenly the next tine you ingest it you react.
As far as chemicals in food I understand that there are naturally occurring chemicals in food. I believe what Earlene was referring to mostly is the man-made chemicals.(Although there are naturally occurring chemicals that are poisonous) And yes they are harmful and can cause cancer. (even though the AMA may not tell you that) I happen to have cancer right now and have done lots of research. Check out the book “Cancer, Step Out of the Box” It’s pretty amazing what we put in our bodies.

I am a big proponent of the idea that using as few ingredients as possible in foods, and one of the reasons I love to make most of what we eat from scratch is to avoid “mystery ingredients”. However, I have no qualms about using a safe additive that can lighten the texture of my whole wheat loaves. I think people forget that EVERYTHING we eat, drink and breathe is a chemical. Think hard before you condemn something for being a chemical, because, frankly, that could lead us to run screaming from something as basic as “dihydrogen monoxide”, commonly known as WATER. I’m not a scientist, but since many, many people take a vitamin C tablet as part of their daily supplements, I’m guessing that these mysterious vitamin C allergies are exceedingly rare. I’ve staved off many a cold from a high - but not dangerous - dose of it when I feel the symptoms coming on. Most vitamins supplements really just become expensive pee anyway, since your body flushes out the nutrients it doesn’t use. Very few of us are going to have adverse effects from crushing a vitamin C tablet into our dough. Also, yes, there is synthetically produced ascorbic acid, but it does occur naturally in fruit. I think Lisa means well, but making vitamin C sound like crystal meth is a bit excessive. These negative effects she describes most likely occur in cases when a huge amount of the vitamin is ingested. That being said, I’m gonna go try out a crushed vitamin C tablet in my bread dough!

Lindsay do you have any nutritional or medical background? Coffee actually is extremely helpful for an acute asthma attack.

While dough conditioners are for the most part benign, some people actually have allergies to what’s called sulfites which are used in everything that is processed, including dough conditioners. So knowing what dough conditioner is being used in your bread can make the difference between an enjoyable food or a trip to the emergency room. Much like a gluten allergy, with sulfites/dough conditioners & many other ingredients, people should be aware of what is in their foods and any potential effect it could have on them. While I’m not in total agreement with Earlene’s philosophies, some have credence. Enjoy your bread with crushed Vitamin C, but I’ll pass.