Food Dye in Your Food: Do You Know What You're Eating?

This morning, I was happily munching away on my colored Goldfish crackers when I innocently turned the bag to read the ingredients. I shouldn't have been surprised by what I saw there, but somehow I was anyway. Not one, not two, but five different food dyes were in my Goldfish. That got me wondering: How many of us are eating food dyes that aren't good for us, and what can food dyes do to our body? Here is what I found out.

Food Dye Ban Requested in 2008

In June of this year, a consumer advocacy group called the Center for Science in the Public Health requested the FDA to ban eight specific food dyes: Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, and Yellow 6. How common are these food dyes? Well, if it gives you any idea, four of those eight were listed as ingredients on my Goldfish package.

The reason the Center for Science in the Public Health wants these eight banned is that studies have shown them to cause attention deficit and hyperactivity in children (Source: WebMD). One doctor - Dr. David Schab of Columbia University - even stated that removing certain food dyes from a child's diet could have the same affect on the child's behavior as administering a drug like Ritalin.

Red 40 Food Dye - One of the Most Common Complaints

Red 40 food dye is one of the dyes that receive the most numbers of complaints. In children it has been linked to hyperactivity disorders, and in adults it has been known to trigger migraines (Source: Red40.com). Its molecular structure is quite similar to Yellow 6, a food dye that has been accused of causing kidney tumors, and to Sudan 1, a food dye that has been recently banned in Europe. Sudan 1 food dye and Red 40 food dye are different by only a few atoms. And why was Sudan 1 food dye banned? It was shown to be a carcinogenic! Yikes!

Yellow 5 Food Dye - Hyperactivity?

Another food dye that the Center for Science in the Public Health wants to ban is Yellow 5, also known as tartrazine, because of its strong association with hyperactivity in children, as well as causing hives in other individuals. (Although most of the studies have focused on the effects of food dye in children, do you really want to put these food dyes in your body as an adult, either?)

Where can you find Yellow 5? It turns out it is common in breakfast cereals, jellos, drink powders, candy, ice cream, pudding, and even pasta.

Blue Food Dye - Causing Death? No Way!

Believe it or not, Blue 1 food dye has been implicated in the death of two hospital patients. In 2000, doctors writing to the New England Journal of Medicine claimed that blue food dye had infiltrated the blood stream of two already sick patients, and this contamination led to their eventual death (Source: ASHA.org). The FDA even issued an advisory on Blue 1 in 2003, but only as associated with enteral feeding solutions. Granted, when we eat Blue 1 in snack foods we are not injecting blue food dye directly into our bloodstreams... but considering the fact that it is a known death-causing substance, why ingest it at all?

Meanwhile, Blue 2 food dye has been shown to increase brain tumors in animals.

Why haven't these food dyes been banned already?

Think about the types of foods where you can find food dye: soft drinks, sports drinks, snack foods such as chips, candies, breakfast cereals, and medicines (yes, medicines!). After you've thought that through, think who would stand to lose from a ban on these eight food dyes. That's right - some of the biggest and richest corporations in America and elsewhere are the ones who are using these food dyes and selling their "food" products to both children and adults. Anyone who has visited an elementary school lately knows that most of what parents pack in their children's lunch boxes have at least one or two of the dyes that have been targeted by the Center for Science in Public Health.

As Michael Jacobson of the Center told the Washington Post on June 4, 2008: "The purpose of these chemicals is often to mask the absence of real food, to increase the appeal of a low-nutrition product to children, or both. Who can tell the parents of kids with behavioral problems that this is truly worth the risk?" (Source: WashingtonPost.com)

Apparently, big business and the FDA can.