Food Dye, A Rainbow Of Poison.

What are food dyes?

Artificial dyes are found in thousands of foods — Fruity Pebbles, gummy bears, soda, vitamins, you name it — and some sources estimate their consumption has increased500 percent in the past 50 years. That bag of skittles may be a go-to movie theater snack, but take one look at the label and taste a rainbow of lab-made colors from Red 40 to Yellow 5 to Blue 1. In The FDA has banned specific artificial colors in the past, but plenty remain approved and on the market. Is it safe to eat all those artificially bright foods just because they look pretty?

Why Dye?

By adding dyes and coloring to foods and a variety of products, companies can make them look more tasty or appealing to consumers. Companies have relied on this technique for ages in order to save money and sell more products.

For centuries, we've used natural dye from natural ingredients to color food, clothing, and other products. Around the turn of the 20th century, scientists began formulating synthetic colors, derived from coal tar and other alternatives. This was done in order to reduce costs and avoid possible toxins in some of the natural compounds, such as mercury, copper or arsenic.  However, the safety of this technique has come into question. These synthetic ingredients have been proven to have their own slew of problems. Some claim that these dyes are toxic – possibly toxic enough to cause cancer. While some dyes have been banned from use in the United States, seven dyes remain on the FDA’s approved list for use in the United States. These food dyes include Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2, Green No. 3, Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5 and Yellow No. 6.Two dyes that have come under recent attack are Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. Other countries, like the UK, have required that food companies label products containing Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 with a warning that says: “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” Hence, some companies, like Kraft, have switched to using paprika and beta carotene in products like their mac and cheese (to preserve the yellow appearance) in those countries.

Color additives are used for a few reasons beyond painting Easter eggs. Rainbow hues are pumped into the foods we eat to offset color lost when food is exposed to light, air, extreme temperatures, moisture, or storage conditions. The additives can enhance naturally occurring colors or add whacky, totally unnatural colors a la royal blue ice-pops (or that horrifying purple ketchup from the turn of the millennium). But it’s not just brightly tinted red velvet cake or every variety of Kool-Aid that gets the Crayola treatment. About two billion fresh Florida oranges are dipped in synthetic dyes to brighten them and provide uniform color, and hot dogs and sausages often get a squirt of fake color to make them look more appetizing 

While food manufacturers in some countries stick to plant-based colorings for certain foods, U.S. manufacturers often choose not to Fanta in the U.K., for instance, gets its color from pumpkin and carrot extracts. The U.S. version? Red 40 and Yellow 6 (a dye that causes mild to severe hypersensitivity reactions in a some people). And a strawberry sundae from McDonald’s is solely strawberries in Britain, but here petroleum-based Red 40 — which is the most-used dye — gives the sundae its hue. Kraft’s macaroni and cheesewas recently under fire for using yellow dyes 5 and 6 in the U.S. version while the English version uses no dye. While “natural” can often be a very broad term, but in the case of dyes generally refers to plants, and even insects, rocks, and soil components, whereas artificial dyes are made from synthetic chemicals.

One of the main concerns about food coloring is a purported link to adverse behavior, especially hyperactivity, in children. While previous studies on the topic were far smaller in scale, a study of 1873 preschool children found significant reductions in hyperactive behavior when food coloring was removed from the diet All this hyperactivity talk may get you riled up, but it’s not to say that eating gummy worms will directly cause ADHD (though they do seem to affect children regardless of whether or not they have the disorder) Research shows that restricting the diet of artificially colored foods benefits some children with ADHD But, it’s important to note that many of the studies linking the colored stuff to behavioral problems were made up of small samples. And remember kids, correlation does not mean causation: This study may have confounding factors such as other common ingredients in frequently dyed foods, like sugar. So is it time to ditch all colored grub?

The Food and Drug Administration is meeting this week to discuss the latest science on artificial food dyes. Could they be causing harm, particularly increased attention deficit problems in children? Should foods carry warning labels? Should some synthetic dyes be removed from foods completely? These are some of the questions on the agenda.

For context, we look to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a group that has been vocally arguing for stricter regulations of artificial food additives for years. It was the center's petition that prompted this FDA review. There is little chance that the government will adopt the group's recommendation, namely that "food dyes—used in everything from M&Ms to Manischewitz Matzo Balls to Kraft salad dressings—pose risks of cancer, hyperactivity in children, and allergies, and should be banned." The food and chemical industries, of course, stand behind the safety of their products, and point out that American consumers like brightly colored foods that appear either more fun or more healthy and fresh than their un-colored counterparts.

Still, the high-profile review by the FDA is focusing attention on the issue. So let's look at the Center for Science in the Public Interest's main arguments, set out in a 2010 report, Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks:

Cancer: Citrus Red 2, Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3, — which include some of the most commonly used synthetic food dyes — have been identified as being, or being contaminated with, potential cancer-causing chemicals. The potential carcinogenity is largely based on small-scale animal testing in laboratories.

Allergies: Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 are known to trigger reactions in those with allergies.

Hyperactivity: In 2009, Britain asked food companies to phase out the use of most food dyes in children's food over concerns some studies had raised about their link to hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder and related health issues. (Other experts in the field have questioned the results of those studies.)

Children: Overall, 15 million pounds of synthetic food dyes are added to foods annually. The per-capita consumption of dyes has increased five-fold since 1955, and part of the reason is that the food industry markets brightly colored candies, beverages and cereals to children. As with most chemical exposures, the risk to children is greater than the risk to adults, because their organs and body systems are still rapidly developing, and their smaller size means smaller exposures can have an outsized effect.

Nutrition: Food dyes add no nutritional value; their value is purely aesthetic. Should the FDA be so permissive with chemicals in food, suspect or not, that amount to little more than marketing? The Center for Science in the Public Interest doesn't think so.

Substitutes: When Britain told food makers to stop using many food dyes, the same variety of foods, in many of the same colors, stayed on the shelves at the same prices. Natural dyes were substituted. For instance, McDonald's strawberry sundae is colored with strawberries, not red 40 as it is in the U.S., and Fanta orange soda gets its color overseas from pumpkin and carrot extracts, rather than Red 40 and Yellow 6, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Besides healthy, whole foods, there are other naturally-dyed alternatives to some of the junk foods we've become accustomed to. Expect to hear more about Surf Sweets, for instance, an organic candy company which is broadcasting the message that it does not use artificial dyes, and never has.

A Break Down

Blue #1 (Brilliant Blue)

An unpublished study suggested the possibility that Blue 1 caused kidney tumors in mice. What it's in: Baked goods, beverages, desert powders, candies, cereal, drugs, and other products.
• Blue #2 (Indigo Carmine)
  Causes a statistically significant incidence of tumors, particularly brain gliomas, in male rats. What it's in: Colored beverages, candies, pet food, & other food and drugs.
• Citrus Red #2
  It's toxic to rodents at modest levels and caused tumors of the urinary bladder and possibly other organs. What it's in: Skins of Florida oranges.
• Green #3 (Fast Green) 
  Caused significant increases in bladder and testes tumors in male rats. What it's in: Drugs, personal care products, cosmetic products except in eye area, candies, beverages, ice cream, sorbet, ingested drugs, lipsticks, and externally applied cosmetics.
• Red #3 (Erythrosine)
  Recognized in 1990 by the FDA as a thyroid carcinogen in animals and is banned in cosmetics and externally applied drugs. What it's in: Sausage casings, oral medication, maraschino cherries, baked goods, and candies.
• Red #40 (Allura Red)
  This is the most-widely used and consumed dye. It may accelerate the appearance of immune system tumors in mice. It also causes hypersensitivity (allergy-like) reactions in some consumers and might trigger hyperactivity in children. What it's in: Beverages, bakery goods, dessert powders, candies, cereals, foods, drugs, and cosmetics.
• Yellow #5 (Tartrazine)
  Yellow 5 causes sometimes-severe hypersensitivity reactions and might trigger hyperactivity and other behavioral effects in children. What it's in: Pet foods, numerous bakery goods, beverages, dessert powders, candies, cereals, gelatin desserts, and many other foods, as well as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
• Yellow #6 (Sunset Yellow)
  Caused adrenal tumors in animals and occasionally causes severe hypersensitivity reactions. What it's in: Color bakery goods, cereals, beverages, dessert powders, candies, gelatin deserts, sausage, cosmetics, and drugs.

A detailed list of health effects.
http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/food-dyes-rainbow-of-risks.pdf

When it comes to food there is no neutral; either it's good for you or it's not.