Diseases Caused by Artificial Food Colours and How to Prevent Them

Food lovers worldwide tend to get attracted to eatables that are vibrant in colour. Additionally, convincing your kids to eat healthy meals becomes more manageable if a food item is colourful.

For this, numerous edible food colours are available in the market. However, some of them can cause severe diseases.

Keep on reading to know which diseases are caused by artificial food colours.

Artificial colours are chemical substances that enhance foods’ colour and appearance. The usage of food dye is increasing and becoming an integral part of the food industry. However, studies prove most of them to be harmful to human health in the long run.

Followings are the diseases that artificial colours can cause you, especially the synthetic ones -

• Cancer: Some primary food dyes contain benzene, which is known as a carcinogen. In addition, several other contaminants are present in edible dyes. Most studies show that these substances result in cancer and tumours.
• ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder): It is still controversial that artificial food colouring causes ADHD. Nevertheless, most studies say that synthetic food dyes have a high probability of causing ADHD.
• Allergies: Many instances proved that artificial food colourings cause allergies. For example, many studies prove tartrazine, a yellow dye, to be a cause of asthma and hives.

Since synthetic dyes are toxic for health, India’s Food Safety and Standards Authority set specific regulations. Therefore, the food dye must meet the required specification as per the regulation.

Accordingly, manufacturers use certain natural and synthetic dyes in the food industry to add artificial colour.

Natural Food Colours

Natural edible colours are usually less vibrant and healthier. Manufacturers extract the substance from natural elements like vegetables, flowers, and minerals. Sometimes, the source can be fruits, seeds, herbs, algae, and insects. Some of the colours are as follows:

• Anthocyanins in raspberries, red cabbages, and beetroots can provide red, blue, and violet colours.
• Manufacturers use carotenoids of tomatoes, carrots, and apricots to derive red, yellow, and orange food colours.
• Chlorophylls in green vegetables are helpful to manufacture green colourants.

Synthetic Food Colours

Manufacturers create these types of edible colourants with the help of chemical reactions. They involve various kinds of minerals and petroleum in the making process. The most commonly used synthetic colours are as follows:

• Sunset yellow
• Quinolone yellow
• Amaranth
• Tartrazine
• Brilliant blue
• Indigo Armine
• Allura red

Kids are at most risk of diseases caused by artificial food colours. However, consuming these colourants to a greater extent can affect people of any age, especially older adults.

Some preventive measures are as follows:

• Eat Whole Food: Try to avoid processed food as much as you can to avoid food colourings. Most of the time, manufacturers use artificial colours to dye processed foods to make them look fresh. Whole foods are safer as they are all-natural, fresh, and free from food dyes.
• Choose Healthy Food Items: Soft drinks and beverages, candies and several different foods contain synthetic colours. Therefore, avoiding those foods and choosing natural drinks and sweeteners is helpful to avoid food dyes.
• Read the Food Labels: Reading the labels on your packaged foods will help you determine if it contains synthetic food dye. Pick out foods that have more natural colouring extracted from fruits, vegetables and flowers.
• Cook Food at Home: Cooking food at home is the best measure you can take. You can control the usage of colour or even restrain from using it. You can enhance the colour of your food by adding herbs and spices. It will also elevate the taste and nutritional value of your food.

You hopefully got your answer to which diseases are caused by artificial food colours. But the points mentioned above also guide you through the preventive measures. Now you can pick specific foods from the store or cook them at home to avoid harmful dyes.