Difference Between Natural and Artificial Flavors

Difference Between Natural and Artificial Flavors If you read the labels on food, youll see the words natural flavoring or artificial flavoring.. Natural flavoring must be good, while artificial flavoring is bad, right? Not so fast! Lets take a look at what natural and artificial really mean. There are two ways to look at natural and artificial flavors. First, there is the formal definition of an artificial flavoring, as defined by the Code of Federal Regulations: ... a natural flavor is the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional. Anything else is considered artificial. That covers a lot of ground. In practice, most natural and artificial flavors are exactly the same chemical compounds, differing only by their source. Both natural and artificial chemicals are processed in a lab to ensure purity. Safety of Natural Versus Artificial Flavors Is natural better or safer than artificial? Not necessarily. For example, diacetyl is the chemical in butter that makes it taste buttery. Its added to some microwave popcorn to make it butter-flavored and is listed on the label as an artificial flavoring. Whether the flavor comes from real butter or is made in a lab, when you heat diacetyl in a microwave oven, the volatile chemical enters the air, where you can breathe it into your lungs. Regardless of the source, this can cause health problems. In some cases, natural flavor might be more dangerous than artificial flavoring. For example, natural flavor extracted from almonds can contain toxic cyanide. The artificial flavor has the taste, without the risk of contamination by the undesirable chemical. Can You Taste the Difference? In other cases, you can taste a world of difference between natural and artificial flavors. When a single chemical (artificial flavoring) is used to mimic a whole food, flavor is affected. For example, you can probably taste the difference between blueberry muffins made with real blueberries versus muffins made with artificial blueberry flavor or real strawberry ice cream versus artificially flavored strawberry ice cream. A key molecule might be present, but the true flavor may be more complex. In other cases, the artificial flavor might not capture the essence of the flavor you expect. Grape flavoring is a classic example here. Artificial grape flavor tastes nothing like grapes you eat, but the reason is that that molecule comes from Concord grapes, not table grapes, so its not the taste most people are used to eating. Its worth noting a natural flavor must be labeled as an artificial flavor, even if it comes from natural sources if it is added to a product to impart a flavor that isnt already present. So, if you add blueberry flavor, from real blueberries to a raspberry pie, the blueberry would be an artificial flavoring. The Bottom Line The take-home message here is that both natural and artificial flavors are highly processed in a lab. Pure flavors are chemically indistinguishable, where you would not be able to tell them apart. Natural and artificial flavors diverge when artificial flavors are used to try to simulate complex natural flavors rather than one single chemical compound. Natural or artificial flavors may be safe or dangerous, on a case by case basis. The complex chemicals, both healthful and harmful, are missing from any purified flavoring compared with the whole food.

Finding Conditions for Factor Returns and Scale Returns

Finding Conditions for Factor Returns and Scale Returns A factor return is the return attributable to a particular common factor, or an element that influences many assets which can include factors like market capitalization, dividend yield, and risk indices, to name a few. Returns to scale, on the other hand, refer to what happens as the scale of production increases over the long term as all inputs are variable. In other words, scale returns represent the change in output from a proportionate increase in all inputs. To put these concepts into play, lets take a look at a production function with a factor returns and scale returns practice problem. Factor Returns and Returns to Scale Economics Practice Problem Consider the production function Q KaLb. As an economics student, you may be asked to find conditions on a and b such that the production function exhibits decreasing returns to each factor, but increasing returns to scale. Lets look at how you might approach this. Recall that in the article Increasing, Decreasing, and Constant Returns to Scale that we can easily answer these factor returns and scale returns questions by simply doubling the necessary factors and doing some simple substitutions. Increasing Returns to Scale Increasing returns to scale would be when we double all factors and production more than doubles. In our example we have two factors K and L, so well double K and L and see what happens: Q KaLb Now lets double all our factors, and call this new production function Q Q (2K)a(2L)b Rearranging leads to: Q 2abKaLb Now we can substitute back in our original production function, Q: Q 2abQ To get Q 2Q, we need 2(ab) 2. This occurs when a b 1. As long as ab 1, we will have increasing returns to scale. Decreasing Returns to Each Factor But per our practice problem, we also need decreasing returns to scale in each factor. Decreasing returns for each factor occurs when we double only one factor, and the output less than doubles. Lets try it first for K using the original production function: Q KaLb Now lets double K, and call this new production function Q Q (2K)aLb Rearranging leads to: Q 2aKaLb Now we can substitute back in our original production function, Q: Q 2aQ To get 2Q Q (since we want decreasing returns for this factor), we need 2 2a. This occurs when 1 a. The math is similar for factor L when considering the original production function: Q KaLb Now lets double L, and call this new production function Q Q Ka(2L)b Rearranging leads to: Q 2bKaLb Now we can substitute back in our original production function, Q: Q 2bQ To get 2Q Q (since we want decreasing returns for this factor), we need 2 2a. This occurs when 1 b. Conclusions and Answer So there are your conditions. You need ab 1, 1 a, and 1 b in order to exhibit decreasing returns to each factor of the function, but increasing returns to scale. By doubling factors, we can easily create conditions where we have increasing returns to scale overall, but decreasing returns to scale in each factor. More Practice Problems for Econ Students: Elasticity of Demand Practice ProblemAggregate Demand Aggregate Supply Practice Problem