Happy Childhood Memories and Artificial Dyes
Which of these happy childhood memories do you have?
• Decorating Christmas cookies with brightly colored icing
• Dying easter eggs in different, fun colors
• Eating brightly colored cereal like Fruit Loops or candy like M&M’s
Do you know what all of these things have in common?
They require the use of artificial food dyes!
The History and Rise of Artificial Food Coloring
Adding Artificial Coloring to Food is Old News
In the early 1900s, it became common for U.S. food manufacturers to add artificial coloring or dyes to foods. Artificial food coloring has been steadily increasing since the 1950s—within the past 50 years, the amount of synthetic dye used in foods has increased by 500%!
Artificial coloring is used in thousands of foods, including soda, breakfast cereals, candies, snack foods, baked goods, frozen desserts, pickles, and salad dressings.
Although artificial coloring is commonly added to food, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is safe to eat. These dyes raise significant health concerns, especially with children.
Why Manufacturers Use Artificial Dyes
Why do Food Manufacturers Color Foods with Artificial Dyes?
First, using artificial dyes to color foods gives the food no nutritional value whatsoever and is used primarily for aesthetic purposes.
Specifically, artificial dyes are added to foods to:
• Make the food look more appealing and attractive to consumers, especially to children.
• Masks the absence of brightly colored natural ingredients, such as fruit.
• They are much cheaper, have a longer shelf-life, and are brighter than most natural food colorings.
Understanding Synthetic Food Dyes
What Exactly Are Synthetic Dyes, aka Coloring, Added to Foods?
The FDA defines a color additive as “any substance that imparts color to a food, drug, cosmetic, or human body.” This definition leaves out a crucial tidbit:
Food dyes are man-made, complex chemicals initially made from coal tar but now made from petroleum. Petroleum is a crude oil product commonly used to produce gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt (the sticky black stuff that a driveway is paved with), and plastic. Sounds pretty tasty, right?
What Food Dyes Are Currently Used in Food?
The FDA currently approves nine synthetic dyes for use in food products:
• Blue 1 (Brilliant Blue)
• Blue 2 (Indigo Carmine)
• Citrus Red 2
• Green 3 (Fast Green FCF)
• Orange B (No longer used in the U.S., but was never officially banned)
• Red 3 (Erythrosine)
• Red 40 (Allura Red)
• Yellow 5 (Tartrazine)
• Yellow 6 (Sunset Yellow)
Foods commonly contain a mixture of different colored dyes. For example, foods such as cereal, ice cream, candy, and toaster pastries contain all 6 of the most commonly used artificial food colors (Blue 1, Blue 2, Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, & Yellow 6).
Health Risks of Artificial Food Dyes
What Harmful Effects Do Artificial Dyes Have On Our Health?
Over the past 100 years, food dyes have been riskier to our health than any other category of food additives. Despite being commonly used in processed foods, the majority of artificial food colorings have been found to raise significant health concerns:
Inflammation and Immune System Disruption
Increases inflammation and disrupts the functioning of the immune system.
- Consumption of foods containing artificial dyes can cause an inflammatory response in the body, which leads to the activation of the immune system (increases the amount of white blood cells entering the bloodstream).
- Artificial dyes contain small molecules which can attach to proteins in our bodies. This can cause disruptions in the immune system since the immune system finds it difficult to defend the body against them.
Cancer-Causing Contaminants
Contain cancer-causing, toxic contaminants.
- Some of the most commonly used food dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6) are contaminated with known carcinogens or cancer-causing substances, such as 4-aminobiphenyl, 4-aminoazobenzene, and benzidine. According to the FDA, these contaminants are present in food dyes at “safe” levels.
- Red 3 was found to be an animal carcinogen way back in 1990, but for some reason, it is still allowed in our food.
Cancerous Tumor Development
May cause cancerous tumor development. Some of the most commonly used food dyes are linked to many different forms of cancer:
- Citrus Red 2 caused bladder and other tumors in mice and bladder tumors in rats.
- Red 3 caused thyroid tumors in rats.
- Blue 2 may cause brain and bladder tumors in rats.
- Red 40 may cause reticuloendothelial (immune system cells spread throughout the liver, spleen, and lymphatic system) tumors in mice.
- Yellow 6 may cause adrenal and testicular tumors in rats.
Hypersensitivity in Children
Causes hypersensitivity, especially in children.
- Red 40 has been shown to trigger hypersensitivity in children.
- Yellow 5 has been linked to hyperactivity, hypersensitivity, and other unfavorable behavioral effects in children.
- Studies have shown that eliminating artificial food dyes from children’s diets may help reduce symptoms of attention-related disorders and other behavioral problems in children.
Additional Health Concerns
Artificial food dyes have also been shown to:
• Negatively impacts the functioning of the liver and other vital organs
• Interfere with the digestive enzymes that our bodies produce to help properly break down the food that we eat
• Increases intestinal permeability, aka “leaky gut”
• Linked to respiratory disorders, such as asthma and bronchitis
• Negatively impacts nerve cell development
Choosing Safer Alternatives
A Safer Approach
When selecting food products, it’s crucial to prioritize products that derive their colors from natural ingredients.
To learn more about how food dyes affect your immune system, get a FREE Consultation with one of our doctors (D.C) here.
