FOOD COLOURS: Synthetic Vs Natural

The quality of food, other than microbiological aspects, is generally based on colour, flavour, texture and nutritive value. However one of the most important sensory quality attributes of a food is colour. This is because no matter how nutritious, flavoursome or well-textured a food, it is unlikely to be eaten unless it has the right colour.

The use of synthetic organic colours has been recognized for many years as the most reliable and economical method of restoring something of the food’s original shade to the processed product, such as in canned fruit and vegetables. Equally as important, is the use of colour in those products that have little or no natural colour present, such as mineral waters, desert powders, table jellies, ice-lollies, sugar confectionery and pickles.

Amarnath red, Allura red, Ponceau 4R, Sunset yellow and tartrazine, indigo carmine and brilliant blue are synthetic food dyes that can be found in common food products such as beverages, dry mix products, sugar confectioneries and bakery products. All of these colorants are permitted for use in most of the countries.

When compared to natural dyes, synthetic dyes show several advantages such as high stability to light, oxygen and pH, colour uniformity, low microbiological contamination, relatively lower production cost. On the other hand, over the last 20 years synthetic colourants have increasingly been perceived as undesirable or harmful by consumers and the Eurpeon Union and the United States have restricted the use of synthetic colourants as additives in food, banning the harmful ones, the application of natural pigments has become extremely important to the food industry.

Exposure to pesticides, dyes and pollutants that mimic the growth promoting effects of estrogen may cause breast cancer. DNA damaging activity, reproductive toxicity, immunosuppressive activity and inhibition of dopamine transport have also been reported in experimental animals following administration of synthetic food colours.

Certain food colours serve as prooxidants of lipids and therefore food products containing high percentages of unsaturated lipids with added food colourants, photosensitized lipid oxidation may shorten shelf life and contribute to their quality deterioration when the light passes through transparent containers under certain conditions.

The most important and most dramatic adverse reactions induced by synthetic colour are behavioral disturbances, scientists prove. We know that any chemical compound, natural or synthetic, has the potential to produce an adverse response in a susceptible individual. As drugs being low molecular weight active compounds can influence the behavior of animals and men. Accordingly, it is reasonable to expect food chemicals to cause behavioral modifications.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common neurological conditions found in children. The idea that artificial food colours may be linked to behavioral problems in children is not a new one, Ben Feingold made his initial claim of the detrimental effect of artificial colours on children’s behavior more than 30 years ago.

Since then a number of studies that followed this initial investigation proved significant improvement in the behaviour of children when the food colours were removed from their diet. Several reputed and recent research journals including Lancet, Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics and Journal of abnormal child psychology have documented the same effects.

In view of the findings it’s not very surprising if inspite of our best attention, training and atmosphere we observe learning disability and behavioral problems in our children as the food stuffs that have manufactured particularly for kids are extensively coloured to draw their attention and promote sale of the product.