There are thousands of ingredients used to make foods. Natural ingredients are derived from natural sources. You might see ingredients such as beet powder, lecithin, garlic powder, black pepper, spices or vitamin C; all of which have been extracted from plants.Most plant-derived natural ingredients can be listed as a group on a food label using the words 'natural ingredients,' but that's not true for animal-based ingredients, which must be identified individually. Hydrolyzed vegetable proteins and monosodium glutamate (MSG) must also be identified individually on an ingredient list.
Artificial ingredients are created in laboratories. Examples include many food colorings and artificial sweeteners. Ascorbic acid, which is the scientific name for vitamin C, might come from a lab instead of extracting from a plant. In that case, it's an artificial ingredient.Artificial ingredients must be approved for use by government agencies such as the FDA. Plus, those ingredients only make up a very small part of the total processed food (and that processed food may not be good for you whether or not the artificial ingredients are present).
Vitamins may be artificially created in a lab (such as ascorbic acid and folic acid, the synthetic form of folate), and even through they're not natural, they're still beneficial.The word 'natural' doesn't mean the product is organic. It may or may not be -- while organic foods are natural, not all natural ingredients are organic, and many natural ingredients are extracted with chemical solvents and other processes that are not allowed in true organic foods.
If you wish to avoid artificial ingredients, you can look at the list of ingredients printed on any packaged foods (or just avoid most packaged processed foods). You can buy fresh fruits and vegetables, or fresh meats and seafood that have not been processed beyond simple packaging.It's not too difficult to avoid artificial ingredients at home, but many restaurants use processed foods that contain artificial ingredients, except for a few places that specialize in natural and organic dishes.
