[Sca-cooks] The dangers of synthetic dyes

[Laura L]

I'd like to point out that when I was in college and we were doing
analytical chem, one of the things we did was to see how much food dye was
on a "tounge splasher" piece of gum. We had the pure food grade food color
to use for comparison.

1 "tounge splasher" had approximately a .3 mm^3 bit of the powder, which
massed less than .001 milligrams (.00001 grams). I don't remember how much,
because I don't have my 7 year old lab books with me. (1 mg ~ .000002lbs)

Per the information from OSHA, it takes more than 1 gram of food coloring
per gram of rat to cause cancer.

So... that's a whole heck of a lot of food coloring to cause cancer.

I think we figured out that one package of Kool Aid (red flavors) has about
twice the amount of colorant as a tounge splasher.

-Irmgart

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sca-cooks-bounces at ansteorra.org
> [mailto:sca-cooks-bounces at ansteorra.org]On Behalf Of Christine
> Seelye-King
> Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 10:57 AM
> To: SCA Cooks
> Subject: [Sca-cooks] The dangers of synthetic dyes
>
>
> With all the discussion of food colorings, I felt the need to type in the
> relevant sections from a bood by Dr. Andrew Weil I just recently finished
> reading.
> Christianna
>
> >From "Natural Health, Natural Medicine" by Andrew Weil, MD.:
> "A dangerous class of additives and one of the easiest to avoid are dyes.
> Chemicals that create color by reflecting light are energetic molecules,
> many of which are capable of interacting with and damaging DNA.  Anything
> that damages DNA can injure our immune systems, speeding up
> aging, and push
> us in the direction of cancer.  I advise you not to eat foods made with
> artificial colors.  Watch out for labels that use any of the following
> terms: "artificial color added", "U.S. certified color added", "FD&C red
> no.3" (or green or blue or yellow followed by any number; these are food,
> drug, and cosmetic dyes approved for use by the Food and Drug
> Administration), or simply "color added" with no explanation.
> 	Many synthetic food dyes that were considered safe for
> years have turned
> out to be carcinogenic.  Some dyes approved for use in Europe are
> considered
> unsafe here and vice versa.  Dyes are added to foods for the
> convenience of
> the manufacturer, not for the health of the consumer.  You do not add dyes
> to food you make at home (at least I hope you don't), and you
> should not eat
> them in foods you buy.  Try to convey to your children that
> garishly colored
> snack foods are weird and unhealthy rather than attractive.
> Simply stated:
> do not buy or eat foods with artificial colors.  This is an easy rule to
> follow.
> 	Some foods contain natural colors obtained from plants; I
> have no objection
> to these.  The commonest is annatto, from the reddish seed of a tropical
> tree.  Widely used in Latin American cooking to make yellow rice
> and breads,
> annatto is universally added to cheese to make it orange and
> butter to make
> it yellow.  A red pigment obtained from beets, a green one from chlorella
> (freshwater algae), caramel and carotene from carrots are also safe."
> 	"Alcoholic beverages, which are exempt from labeling
> requirements, may
> contain harmful additives....Liqueurs may be dyed with artificial colors."
> 	From the chapter "How Not To Get Cancer":
> 	"Beware of products containing dyes and colorings.  Dyes
> are also among the
> chemicals most suspected as cancer causers.  I have already
> mentioned their
> dangers as food additives.  Few people stop to think that blue, pink,
> yellow, and green medications do not get that way by themselves.  Colored
> pills, capsules, and liquids are dyed with the same suspect chemicals, and
> if you consume a lot of them, you are adding to your risk of cancer.  Dyes
> are also used in cosmetic products like shampoos, lotions, and
> makeup.  They
> are less risky when applied topically but still may be absorbed
> through the
> skin.  I recommend minimizing your use of all artificially
> colored products
> intended for use in or on the body."
>
>
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