What Are Food Dye Doing to Us?

Food dyes, what are they? Why do we use them? And most importantly, why are so many people up in arms about their use in our food supply?

Well, I’m happy to take this on, and at the end of the article, I won’t be surprised if you’re suddenly on the side of RFK Jr. on most food dyes (he doesn’t like them).

I’ll say this much…

Food dyes aren’t necessary for human health, so I don’t support ones that show a propensity to be harmful when included in our food supply.

I don’t support the use of most artificial ingredients in our foods.

However, the only purpose of dyes is to make foods look better.

Now, I understand why people care about what their food looks like, but I think it’s far more important for food to BE good than to look good!

Now, let’s get into what makes many of the prominent food dyes used in America enemies of human health.

What Are Food Dyes (Really)

Food dyes are added to foods and beverages to enhance or restore color lost during processing, improve appearance, and influence consumer perceptions.

Sounds nice, huh?

Now, dyes can be either natural or synthetic, but most of the time, they are synthetic due to the cost and ease of manufacturing.

Most of the time, synthetic does not mean good for you.

Natural dyes are derived from plant, animal, or mineral sources (think beet powder for red coloring). In contrast, synthetic dyes are typically made from petroleum-based chemicals and are known for their vibrant and consistent colors.

The synthetic food dyes we use are created through a series of chemical reactions that involve petroleum derivatives.

Some of the synthetic dyes commonly used in foods include:

1. Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue FCF): Made from aromatic hydrocarbons derived from petroleum.
2. Blue No. 2 (Indigo Carmine): Also derived from petroleum sources and chemically similar to indigo dye.
3. Green No. 3 (Fast Green FCF): A triphenylmethane dye derived from coal tar.
4. Yellow No. 5 (Tartrazine): A widely used azo dye made from benzene.
5. Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow FCF): An orange azo dye derived from aromatic hydrocarbons.
6. Red No. 40 (Allura Red AC): An azo dye made from aromatic hydrocarbons from petroleum.
   
   

You likely recognize many of these, so let’s understand what can be so detrimental.

What Are The Dangers of Food Dyes?

While we’ve been using food dyes for a long, long time (natural ones have been used for centuries), the use of synthetic dyes in American life is only a bit over 100 years old. 

Even when they were first introduced, laws were put in place over safety and health concerns.

That’s because they were derived from coal and tar, and people even then realized they were potentially dangerous.

Today, many of the synthetic ones I mentioned are being used in food everywhere.

Problematically, many of them are in food aimed at kids.

And many people are concerned about how they may affect hyperactivity in children.
A study published in "The Lancet" in 2007 associated the consumption of certain food colorings with increased hyperactive behavior in children (McCann et al., 2007).

This study introduced the hypothesis that food dyes may impact neurotransmitter function.

The theories are that artificial dyes might influence the levels of certain neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, which plays a role in regulating attention and behavior.

Additionally, there's a possibility that food dyes trigger hypersensitivity or allergic reactions in certain individuals, potentially leading to behavioral changes.

But it’s not just how they affect behavior that we have to worry about…

Many synthetic dyes are likely carcinogenic.

For instance, certain dyes like Red No. 3 have been shown to cause cancer in animal studies, prompting partial bans and restrictions (IARC, 1990).

Yellow No. 5 is known to cause allergic reactions and asthma in sensitive individuals (Kobylewski and Jacobson, 2012).

Regulations Around Food Dyes

The United States is one of the few countries that barely limits the use of food dyes, and also one of the only nations that doesn’t put warnings on the synthetic dyes that are used.

Here’s a list of the ones we use and how the rest of the world reacts to them.

1. Yellow No. 5 (Tartrazine)
   U.S.: Legal, no warning label
   Elsewhere: Requires warning labels in the EU; banned/restricted in some countries due to allergies.
2. Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow FCF)
   U.S.: Legal, no warning label
   Elsewhere: It requires warning labels in the EU and is banned in Norway and Finland.
3. Red No. 40 (Allura Red AC)
   U.S.: Legal, no warning label
   Elsewhere: It requires warning labels in the EU but is restricted in some countries.
4. Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue FCF)
   U.S.: Legal, no warning label
   Elsewhere: Requires warning labels in the EU.
5. Blue No. 2 (Indigo Carmine)
   U.S.: Legal, no warning label
   Elsewhere: Requires warning labels in the EU.
6. Green No. 3 (Fast Green FCF)
   U.S.: Legal, no warning label
   Elsewhere: Limited use due to health concerns.

In some countries (like Norway and Austria), synthetic dye has long been prohibited due to health concerns (Maggini, S. et al., 2010).

When you see how other countries react to artificial food dyes and then our response (as well as the research indicating how harmful they can be), you understand why there is an increasing awareness surrounding food dyes has shifted consumer preferences.

Today, a growing demand for natural alternatives derived from plant and mineral sources leads companies to innovate and reformulate products.

Multinational corporations have begun to eliminate synthetic dyes from products to maintain their consumer base in more health-conscious markets…and now, at the end of 2024, there’s a chance we will see many of these limited in use entirely through executive legislation.

If you’re interested in an article about natural food dyes and their health impact, would you reply to this email?