Have you heard that food colors are linked to hyperactivity disorders and cancer?
Artificial coloring is a serious problem in fast food & fake food.
Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, called for a ban on the use of artificial dyes in food as they have claimed the risks to children.
Many Guises or different names are used though the names of the food color dyes are meaningless to most people eg yellow 5 or tartrazine, which is derived from coal tar, and blue 2 or indigotine, for example, their toxic effects are not.
These food color toxins are commonly found in concentrated fruit juices, condiments, and some cheeses, to name a few.
An article in the Globe and Mail reported that many popular snacks such as Smarties, Froot Loops, Cheetos, Doritos, and Reeses’ Pieces simply list colors without defining whether they are from a natural or artificial source. Some online info on these reveals the following:
Blue dye number 1 and 2 are linked with cancer in animal tests,
red dye number 3 causes thyroid tumors in rats.
Green dye number 3 is linked to bladder cancer,
yellow dye number 6 is linked to tumors of the kidneys and adrenal glands.
While these colors are readily used in most processed, prepared and packaged foods, and in the diets of children.
Most candy, cakes, cupcakes, baked goods, maraschino cherries, fruit cocktail, gelatin desserts, and soft drinks contain these food color substances, which serve no other purpose than to make so-called food look “pretty” and attract children whose bodies are particularly sensitive
While those in the natural health and nutrition fields are aware of the dangers of these dyes, a 2007 study in The Lancet, a reputable, mainstream medical journal, brought wider attention to this health concern.
Health Canada, the federal government health department in Canada has now required the labeling of colors in food using the specific name, but that doesn’t get the toxins out of the food. Knowing what it is doesn’t make it less dangerous, only avoidable for those who both read the label and know what to look out for. Sadly few 6 year-olds read labels. Not many adults do either probably.
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