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Bright-red soda, rainbow-hued kid's cereal, electric-yellow popsicles...most of us have eaten them. But unlike the public health uproar over salt and trans fats, there hasn't been much said about the dangers of food dyes. Fed up with consumer apathy, The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is calling for a complete government ban of food dyes. The advocacy group says the three most widely used dyes -- Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 -- contain cancer-causing substances. Another dye, Red 3, has actually been identified as a carcinogen by the FDA, but you can still find it on supermarket shelves.
"These synthetic chemicals do absolutely nothing to improve the nutritional quality or safety of foods," says Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the nonprofit group. "[They] trigger behavior problems in children and, possibly, cancer in anybody."
Think you're immune to the problem because you don't gobble Fruit Loops in the morning? Think again. The dyes are in a staggering array of foods, from salad dressing to matzo balls. In fact, manufacturers put about 15 million pounds of eight synthetic dyes into the food supply each year, according to CSPI. Even scarier? Per capita consumption of dyes has risen five-fold since 1955. A lot of it has to do with the kinds of foods now marketed to children. The wilder the color, the more cash a product often brings in.
"Dyes add no benefits whatsoever to foods, other than making them more 'eye-catching' to increase sales," says James Huff, the associate director for chemical carcinogenesis at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' National Toxicology Program. "CSPI's scientifically detailed report on possible health effects of food dyes raises many questions about their safety. Their continued use presents unnecessary risks to humans, especially young children."
But are the risks real? Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 have long been known to cause allergic reactions in some people. CSPI says that while those reactions are not common, they can be serious. Numerous studies have shown that dyes can cause hyperactivity in children.
But cancer is the biggest worry. In 1985, the acting commissioner of the FDA said that Red 3, one of the lesser-used dyes, "has clearly been shown to induce cancer" and was "of greatest public health concern." The dye was never banned, however, and according to the CSPI, manufacturers use about 200,000 pounds of Red 3 every year in foods like fruit leather and frozen meals marketed to children.
Tests of Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 showed signs of causing cancer in lab animals, according to CSPI. Yellow 5 also caused mutations, an indication of possible carcinogenicity.
In addition, according to the report, FDA tests show that the three most-widely used dyes, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6, are tainted with low levels of cancer-causing compounds, including benzidine and 4-aminobiphenyl in Yellow 5.
Freaked out yet? Suddenly, Jacobson's request sounds reasonable: "The Food and Drug Administration should ban dyes, which would force industry to color foods with real food ingredients, not toxic petrochemicals." Not convinced? Eat those jellybeans at your own risk.
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6-30-2010 @3:15PM Rob O. said... Given that there are viable, safer food coloring choices that can be made, I don't understand why companies would still rely upon questionable chemicals to do the trick.
Hibiscus flowers, beet juice, blueberry extract, green tea powder, turmeric, saffron, and other natural ingredients can be used to give foods vibrant hues. No doubt, these might be a bit more expensive than their artificial chemical counterparts (which are often derived from petrochemicals & coal tar) but they sidestep all of the potential health hazards too. Indeed, some of these natural coloring options actually offer some minor health benefits!
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7-02-2010 @1:38AM Rose said... Menadione was banned by the FDA (Wikipedia) but it is still put in cat food (Fancy Feast and many others). When I asked them about it they were not concerned. They said it was needed as a precursor for Vit. K. Why not use natural sources of Vit K? I agree with your comments.
7-02-2010 @11:48AM Mark said... True, natural colors could be used, but they are necessarily any safer than their artificial counterparts. Additionally, the 'natural' components often fade or lose their color completely in 3-7 days after they have been introduced into a food system. As for the 'fact' that they offer health benefits, that thought process is quite misleading. You will need to consume pounds of the color per day to receive any noticeable health benefit; by that point your skin would actually turn color as well if it were a fat soluble colorant.
As for the belief that artificial colors cause adverse health effects in people...blah blah blah. There is no sound link that the chemical itself is the cause. I am sure in quantity it will do something nasty to you, but at the same point it only takes 10 ounces of water in a properly shaped container to drown someone. Point being....anything in excess quantity or used improperly is bad for your health. Did you ever stop to think that the reason why the colors cause children to be hyper is the fact that they are bright and vibrant and kids react to this? How does a child react when stuck in a bright yellow room vs. a light pink room?
6-30-2010 @3:55PM Tracy - theshadyspot.wordpress.com said... Many of these dyes have already been banned in other countries, including the UK. Yet, though our FDA admits there may be some link between food dyes and cancer/ADHD/etc, they claim the dyes have not been proven to be harmful. I wonder why utter proof is necessary here? The worst case is that we have slightly less colorful cereal, medicines, soaps, etc. The value of chemical dyes is minute compared to the harm they may cause.
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7-01-2010 @10:31PM Virginia Ekelund said... Get a clue. The FDA is not working for me or you. They are in the pockets of the corporations who make millions on poisening us with their synthetic food additives, drugs, chemicals etc.
7-01-2010 @10:41AM A Holiday said... Those fake colors make the junk food look so good and they taste so good that I do not mind all of that bad stuff in them. But now I avoid all kinds of food like that because I am on a diet. I am trying to lose 30 pounds in 30 days. I do not know how possible this is, however, I lost 8 pounds my first week. I have a blog that talks about everything I do on my diet. Check it out at http://zellersdiet.blogspot.com/
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7-01-2010 @2:47PM Sanura said... What does this mean for the popular Red Velvet Cake that has a lot of red dye? What's a healthy and/or organic alternative for red dye that could be used in its place?
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7-01-2010 @8:19PM Kaleigh said... Sanura fresh beets are a healthy alternative and not just for red velvet cake but for other baked goods as well.
7-01-2010 @10:24PM colleen said... Real Red Velvet Cake gets its color from Hershey Chocolate!
7-31-2010 @5:05PM Robert Lloyd Wheelock said... You have your choice of some fruit-based zests: strawberry, cherry, currant, cranberry... . Any of those can be used to give a red hue to things like Red Velvet Cake without altering the taste.
7-02-2010 @1:34AM mandy said... some places use a type of beetle when crushed it makes the red color they also use it in some yogurts as well
7-01-2010 @8:22PM Doc G said... Is Food Dye Just a Colorful Killer?
Is this an oxymoron?
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7-01-2010 @8:28PM Erica said... Well then ... unfortunately I guess I might as well then consider myself dead, along with millions of other people who grew up on Froot Loops, Trix, Lucky Charms, Gummy Bears ... Geez. They might as well say "everything" causes cancer nowadays, what else is new ? : (
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7-01-2010 @11:43PM Rich said... We continue to allow food companies to put anything and everything into the food we eat. And we continue to eat more and more processed foods. While medical advances have extended our lifespan, the crap we now eat is making us sick. This in turn is driving up healthcare costs. Some of the answers to our most complex problems involve somewhat simple solutions. Unfortunately, most of us continue to buy into all the crap advertising that leads us to purchase things we don't need and things that are not good for us.
7-01-2010 @9:00PM FOXYLYNX said... WHY DON'T WE JUST TAX THE HELL OUT OF IT LIKE WITH CIGS LOL
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7-01-2010 @9:04PM J.E.Buckingham said... Someone at Baskin-Robbins told me many years ago that they were no longer selling Black Licorice ice cream (my fave) because it causes cancer. I was SO bummed!
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7-01-2010 @11:59PM roseyoung said... Not true about Black Licorice ice cream causing cancer. If it was true black licorice would not be available in candy form. Why would you spread such a stupid rumor? Do you believe everything that everyone tells you? Well then believe this... Licorice in large quantities depletes the body of potassium which in turn can cause heart arrythmias.
7-01-2010 @9:28PM Gary said... This is an interesting posting. Here in the UK it was consumer power that forced most if not all the questionable dyes out of food, in fact it has forced a lot of chemical additives out of food even when they serve a useful purpose. A large number of food stuffs have " NO ARTIFICIAL ADDITIVES" printed on the labels.
So people you have the power to get rid of this problem, look for food that have no unwanted dyes in them then buy them. Ok I'll give you orange juice isn't bright orange anymore, peas aren't bright green either but do they need to be? If you give the food companys a reason to change the dyes they use, they will and you don't need legislation to do just the power of your Dollars.
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7-01-2010 @10:42PM TerryJ2 said... This is an interesting posting. Here in the UK it was consumer power that forced most if not all the questionable dyes out of food, in fact it has forced a lot of chemical additives out of food even when they serve a useful purpose.
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Really? I've been reading about UK and European Union bans for yrs, and they ban things way b4 the general public causes an uproar. It's usually the opposite.
I hate it when the govn't has to ban things ... I want to think that people can make their own decisions. But lately, there have been so many additives in so many foods that people just cannot or will not take the time to read labels and make their own meals.
It's a shame that we need one branch of the govn't to do what another branch won't do.
It would be so much nicer if we could just have a free marketplace.
After attending a Feingold Diet lecture, I was alarmed enough that I gave up my bad M&M habit. 1 yr ago, I gave up Red Hots (little cinnamon candy). We not longer buy artificially colored cereal.
I hope it makes a good difference in the long run.
I am a bit disappointed that this author was so flippant in his writing style. This is actually a serious subject and doesn't deserve the "Freaked out yet?" slams.
7-05-2010 @7:33AM Amy said... Terry: "I hate it when the govn't has to ban things ... I want to think that people can make their own decisions."
Me too, which is all the more reason for these chemicals to be taken out of my food--I never decided I wanted that crap in my food to begin with. If the government is going to allow food companies to put poison in our food in the first place, they can also be the ones that force the companies to stop.