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Title: Why is silicon dioxide written as an ingredient in countless food items? Post by: Anonymous on Oct 5, 2018 From what I learned in high school, silicon dioxide is SAND. So why do foods contain sand?!
Title: Re: Why is silicon dioxide written as an ingredient in countless food items? Post by: graceynt on Oct 6, 2018 You're right, it is sand, but not as long as a grain of sand -- we're talking nano-particles here (100 nm). While I'm not sure why it exactly would be an *additive*, I do know that many people commonly ingest it - in the form of vegetables. Silica is fairly common in plant cell walls. One study I know of (there might be more) suggests that silicon dioxide may help lower cholesterol.
One theory says that silica is added to increase the crunch. Silica is poorly absorbed by the body, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue (and again, it's commonly found in edible plants). I'm guessing that the danger with eating those silica gel packets found in beef jerky packages and other snacks (used to keep the pack dry) is the possibility of *inhaling* it. That would cause silicosis, which would be bad, but far chance from that happening because it's incorporated into the food. Title: Re: Why is silicon dioxide written as an ingredient in countless food items? Post by: klcarrasquillo on Oct 6, 2018 It is used as a drying agent in powdered typed foods.
Title: Re: Why is silicon dioxide written as an ingredient in countless food items? Post by: habiba on Oct 12, 2018 I was also looking it up to see why it is used in food, but found no answer. I noticed it's the last ingredient in Nestea iced tea mix, and that can't be for "crunchiness" since liqueds aren't normally crunchy.
Title: Re: Why is silicon dioxide written as an ingredient in countless food items? Post by: Amber1706 on Oct 12, 2018 silicon Dioxide is used in the making of bread, made and baked in Wal-Mart Stores in the Northeast US. The bread ingredients label says "& Not more than 2% Silicon Dioxide added (as an anti-caking agent)" It also appears again in the same list saying "Not more than 2% each of Calcim Silicate & Silicon Dioxide added (as an anti-caking agent)"
Title: Re: Why is silicon dioxide written as an ingredient in countless food items? Post by: Madresa on Oct 13, 2018 Silicon dioxide is also added to many foods and supplements. As a food additive, it serves as an anticaking agent to avoid clumping. In supplements, it's used to prevent the various powdered ingredients from sticking together.
Title: Re: Why is silicon dioxide written as an ingredient in countless food items? Post by: mdagenh1 on Oct 17, 2018 I know that inhaling crystalline silica DUST can cause silicosis. The gel packets don't have dust, they typically have beads. If you want to see why you should not eat them, pour a fresh dry pack of the beads into water and watch them explode :yelling:
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