[Food additives: effects on pregnancy and lactation]

Exposure to several substances in a critical period of life, as in perinatal age, could cause long-term effects. Among these agents we can consider food additives, defined as "substances used to conserve, colour or flavour ailments without nutritional effects". Food additives utilisation by women during pregnancy and breastfeeding has not to be considered completely safe; actually, current evidence suggests that these substances induce alterations of the differentiation of several cell-types, resulting in development of disease during the adult age. During pregnancy, for instance, E100 color additive, is suspected to be embryotossic, amaranth causes a reduced olfactory orientation in F1 generation mice and beta-cyclodextrin produces a transient neonatal growth retardation in rodents. The food additive methylmercury is excreted in human milk and causes neurotoxicity in breastfed babies. Steroids pass in human milk, too: they can inhibit lactation and cause newborn breast ipertrophy. Regulations to avoid these early exposures may contribute to an important improvement of health conditions of humankind.