At the end of September 2024, California banned six artificial food dyes from being served in the food at public schools as part of the California School Food Safety Act. At the same time, Vani Hari (The Food Babe) and followers have spent time standing outside of Kellogg’s headquarters demanding they remove artificial dyes and other harmful ingredients from their cereals and other food products. (Granted, Kellogg’s said they were going to do this by 2018 and didn’t).
The bottom line is there is a lot of interest right now in food colorings and the potentially harmful effects they might be having on our health and the health of our children.
While it’s easy to get caught up in the “we are being poisoned” headlines, let’s take an objective look into what are food colorings and dyes and how crazy do you need to be about avoiding these?
What are food colorings and dyes?
Food colorings and food dyes are colorings added to food to make it look more visually appealing. They are the reason why sports drinks are an unnatural yellow color or why when you eat Skittles you truly can “eat the rainbow”.
Food dyes and colorings are found in a wide variety of products, but mostly in processed foods. You might be surprised to learn that even foods we would consider “minimally processed” like salmon or sliced oranges, can be dipped in food dyes to make them uniform in color.
Food colorings were first used in 1856 and made from coal tar, but they are now mostly made from petroleum. The majority of dyes that have been used in food over the years have been eventually found to be toxic. There are only a handful that are still used in food and considered “safe” (for now). The dyes considered safe vary from country to country. Some dyes allowed in one country, may not be allowed in another, and there isn’t consistency across the board.
When food colorings are man-made they are typically referred to as artificial food dyes. But they can be naturally sourced as well. Many “healthy” brands are moving towards natural food colorings made from fruits and vegetables. However, brands tend to like using artificial dyes as they produce a more vibrant color.
With the amount of processed foods in our diet increasing over the last 50 years, so has our intake of artificial food coloring. It is estimated that we consume about 500% more food dyes than we did 50 years ago. Children are the biggest consumers of these food colorings due to their love of all things brightly colored.
Currently used food dyes
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies food colorings and dyes as “generally recognized as safe” or GRAS, which means there hasn’t been a significant problem associated with the food additive. The food dyes that currently have a GRAS status in the US include:
- Tartrazine/Yellow No. 5
- Sunset Yellow/Yellow No. 6
- Erythrosine/Red No. 3
- Allura Red/Red No. 40
- Brilliant Blue/Blue No. 1
- Indigo Carmine/Blue No. 2
Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 are the most commonly used food dyes in our food.
Health concerns
While the FDA says these dyes are “safe”, not everyone considers them completely safe, as they do have some potential health effects, particularly for children. Children tend to be more impacted by harmful ingredients due to their smaller body size.
Here are a few of the research-backed concerns about food dyes:
Hyperactivity
There has been limited research on the impact of food dyes and hyperactivity or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Most of the research has only found a small correlation between intake of dyes and hyperactive symptoms.
A small 1994 study found that removing dyes reduced ADHD symptoms in 73% of children. Other studies have found similar results. Tartrazine, in particular, has been associated with irritability, restlessness, and insomnia in children.
However, it appears that not all children react the same to consuming food dyes. There could be a genetic component involved in how the dyes affect their behavior. At the moment, the evidence is not strong enough for the FDA to connect food dyes to hyperactivity and recommend they be removed from food.
If you are a parent with a child with difficulty focusing and concentrating, take a look at how many food dyes they are consuming and consider reducing them in the diet to see if it improves their behavior. Anecdotally, in my experience, many parents have found reducing the consumption of food dyes makes a significant difference in their child’s behavior and ability to concentrate.
Allergies
Some people are allergic to certain food dyes. Yellow 5, in particular, may cause asthma or hives in sensitive individuals. Red 40 and Yellow 6 may also cause allergic reactions. These reactions may be more common in those who are already more prone to allergic reactions to other food ingredients or regularly experience hives or swelling.
A study on allergies to food additives in general, found that the prevalence of a sensitivity to food additives is likely around 1.2%.
Based on the available research, it seems like some people are quite sensitive to food dyes and colorings, but this is not a common reaction. Overall, food dyes do not seem to cause allergies, they just my trigger them in sensitive individuals.
Cancer
Cancer is a multi-causal disease making it challenging to evaluate what might cause it in humans. Most of the research relies on animal studies to determine the safety of food dyes, as animals are simpler to study and it is easier to control their intake.
Animal research has not found a connection between cancer and Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, or Red 40. But, the red and yellow dyes may be contaminated with certain cancer-causing substances, called Benzidine, 4-aminophenyl, and 4-aminoazobenzene. They are allowed in the dyes because they are not present in high doses, after all the dose makes the poison. But their presence remains a concern that while the dyes themselves don’t cause cancer, the additives might.
Blue 2 has been found in one animal study to cause brain tumors, but other research has not found the same effect.
Red 3 has been found to increase the risk of thyroid tumors in rats. The FDA issued a partial ban on it in 1990 but later removed the ban saying there wasn’t enough evidence to support it. Red 3 is less common in foods, compared to red 40. It is most commonly used in Maraschino cherries and candy.
In reviewing the research on this subject, it was interesting to see that most of the studies on the connection between food dyes and cancer were conducted several decades ago. There is limited research on this topic that is less than 10 years old, while the intake of these dyes has significantly increased during that time. Personally, I would like to see a reevaluation of this topic and the safety profile of the dyes.
Should you avoid food colorings and dyes?
There is no arguing that as a nation the United States is unhealthy. But are food dyes the cause of skyrocketing cancer rates, obesity, or autoimmune disease? Probably not on their own.
I think there is an argument for avoiding or limiting food dyes if your child is having difficulty concentrating or is struggling with hyperactivity. Most foods that contain food dyes are not healthy or nutritious foods, so cutting these foods out of the diet won’t impact nutritional status. In fact, focusing on eating more natural, unprocessed foods will benefit the health of the whole family.
If your concern is avoiding cancer, focusing on eating more unprocessed foods is also beneficial. However there isn’t strong enough evidence to say that dyes are the primary cause of cancer.
While I don’t think food dyes and colors need to be completely avoided, my question is why are they needed? They might have negative health effects and are not used as often in other countries, so why don’t we clean up our food too?
We can’t point the finger at ONE cause of chronic illness, but what if it is a combination of poor diet, exposure to chemicals, extreme stress, etc that is causing us to be sick? Why not just eliminate one of those variables? I think the move California made to eliminate dyes from school foods and the work Food Babe is doing with Kellogg’s is a step in the right direction. I hope the pressure remains on these companies to take a hard look at the ingredients they put in the food and ask themselves if even a small risk to our health is worth saving a few bucks.
Want to learn more about food dyes? We are working on a series on this topic. Read more here:
