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A life without artificial food coloring would be incredibly dull. You may not know it, but you likely consumed a product today that contained allura red or a mix of artificial colors. Allura red can be found in most cereals and candies, dairy products, soft drinks, and medications (9). So, what is allura red? Allura red is a chemical that was historically produced from coal tar, but is now produced from nitrogenous petroleum compounds forming a dark red powder (1,5). Allura red has a very large chemical structure, preventing uptake in the stomach (1,2). As a result, allura red will not be distributed throughout the body and the majority is excreted (1,2). If it is not absorbed and primarily excreted, how could it possibly be toxic? Allura red is rapidly metabolized to two carcinogenic metabolites (1). These metabolites are responsible for a lot of allura red’s side effects (1,2)
While the deadly dose for the average high school student
may be 300, 000 mg per day, side effects are observed at a much lower dose,
between 54, 060 and 169, 740 mg per day (1). Currently, allura red is exempt
from the tolerance requirement for food products (1,8). This means that
manufactures can use any amount of allura red and are not required to report it
(8). If the side effects were minor, maybe we would be okay with using the
deadly dose as the maximum allowed dose. But with side effects including
hyperactivity (ADHD), allergic reactions, cancer, DNA damage, decreased body
weight and hormone disruption, it may be safer to use the side effect dose
level (1,3–7).
If we can't consume allura red, maybe we can substitute it
for erythrosine artificial food coloring. Think again – the allowed dose is
much lower and we might develop thyroid tumors (2). Or maybe we could try
natural food colors. Everyone loves the thought of crushed up beetles,
increased prices and unappealing food, right (4)?
While allura red seems like a shady ingredient, the real
culprit is manufactures. More transparency in food labels and better regulation
would increase the likelihood that people do not consume enough artificial food
coloring to cause serious side effects.
(1) National Center for Biotechnology Information. CID=6093299
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/6093299#section=Solubility (accessed
Feb 27, 2016).
(2) Amchova,
P.; Kotolova, H.; Ruda-Kucerova, J. Health safety issues of synthetic food
colorants. Regul. Toxicol. Pharmacol. 2015, 73 (3),
914–922 DOI: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2015.09.026.
(3) McCann,
D.; Barrett, A.; Cooper, A.; Crumpler, D.; Dalen, L.; Grimshaw, K.; Kitchin,
E.; Lok, K.; Porteous, L.; Prince, E.; et al. Food additives and hyperactive
behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a
randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 2007,
370 (9598), 1560–1567 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61306-3.
(4) Kobylewski,
S.; Jacobson, M. Food dye: A rainbow of risks; Center for Science in the
Public Interest, 2010.
(5) Sabnis,
R. Handbook of biological dyes and stains: synthesis and industrial
applications; John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
(6) Tsuda,
S.; Murakami, M.; Matsusaka, N.; Kano, K.; Taniguchi, K.; Sasaki, Y. DNA Damage
induced by red food dyes orally administered to pregnant and male mice. Toxicol.
Sci. 2001, 61 (1), 92–99 DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/61.1.92.
(7) Honma,
M. Evaluation of the in vivo genotoxicity of allura red AC (food red no. 40). Food
Chem. Toxicol. 2015, 84, 270–275 DOI:
10.1016/j.fct.2015.09.007.
(8) Need for
tolerances and tolerance exemptions for minimum risk pesticides. United
States Environmental Protection Agency. 2015.
(9) Red #40
https://sites.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/you-are-what-you-eat/home/food-ingredients/red-40
(accessed Mar 1, 2016).
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