I've read some interesting positions about food additives:

1. Food additives do not cause allergic reactions bc/ the reactions are non IgE-mediated. Instead, food intolerance to additives is the preferred diagnostic.

2. Yes, you must eliminate additives and preservatives from your diet to treat this form of food allergy.

3. Skin prick test and blood (RAST) tests are unhelpful in diagnosing these reactions.

4. Like all food intolerances, the only way to diagnose adverse reactions to food additive is to perform an Elimination Diet followed by Double-blind Placebo-controlled Food Challenges

How will your doctor diagnose you?

my dr did food allergy tests and when they came back normal, said it had to be preservatives. Also said FDA doesn't really let them "test" for them specifically. I have just had a bad reaction to sodium Benzoate and sodium metabisulfate that was in a bottled lime juice-grrrr. Be careful. My best advice is to avoid ALL preservatives. FDA has a good list that I download to sd card for my smartphone so I can look them up to see if it's a preservative, levening agent, etc... Best of luck!