Don’t you hate it when people lie to you? What about when companies lie to you?
I’m not naming anyone in particular here, you know who you are, but I would like to address why companies use food coloring, and why it’s important to consider the relationship between corn syrup to food coloring.
Ok, so why color food? Isn’t food already bursting with the beauty of the rainbow?
Fruits, vegetables, and what you would define as “natural” produce tend to produce their own color as a result of phytonutrients;
• chlorophyll – the pigment that makes plants green, everything from tree leaves, to spinach, to broccoli.
• lycopene and anthocyanin – are water-based pigments responsible for that juicy red tint to strawberries, tomatoes, and my favorite, hot peppers. Anthocyanin is also responsible for those lovely blue and purple shades of eggplants, blueberries, and plums.
• anthoxathins – pair great with allicin and quercetin for extreme health benefits, and are associated with our lovely white fruits and veggies. These include garlic, potatoes, and bananas.
• catenoids – are not water-based phytonutrients, and as a result, are responsible for some of the brightest colors out there for lemons, oranges, and carrots.
Ok, so back to food coloring –
The average American diet consumes far fewer “natural” foods listed above, about 70% is in fact processed. You might have never even noticed this under-the-radar impact. Processed food isn’t necessarily just tv tray dinners and Cheetos, processed food is defined as food that has been altered from its natural state – mostly for large production safety needs and regulations such as to remove harmful bacteria and prolonged shelf life. Other times, it’s to make it more appealing – you don’t want to drink pale orange juice, do you? When you “alter” all those nutrients for the sake of safety (or appearance) what you get is gray food, and well, our brains are hardwired to link color and taste.
I’m pretty sure gray doesn’t sound delish.
So companies use food coloring to spice up your taste buds and trick your brain into accepting that the yogurt in your fridge and the fruit snacks you are munching down in all their fake glory are full of the good stuff (by “good stuff” I mean “real” cough – cough – “fruit”).
So why not just use natural food coloring? Why not color your fruit snacks with phytonutrients derived from actual fruits and berries? Why can’t the strawberry fruit chew actually be red because of the lycopene found in strawberries, or even tomatoes?
Short answer – it can. Those Starbucks strawberry Frappuccino you like for your, as Sam puts it, treat days, are deliciously soft pink because of lycopene from tomatoes. The color is not a bright hue that most Americans are used to, however.
Long answer –
Although safety is a big concern when it comes to food production, the cost is pretty much right up there as well. It takes additional time, resources, and a whole lot of strawberries to get what you can cheaply derive from Red No. 40. Fun fact about most synthetic food coloring, with the exception of Blue No. 2, is that it is all petroleum-based. That’s not all though, not only does it add small bits of plastic into your food, synthetic food dyes are made using a chemical process that includes formaldehyde, aniline, hydroxides, and sulfuric acids. While most impurities in these artificial colors are removed, studies have shown that sometimes lead, arsenic, and mercury may still be present.
Another fun fact? More recently, companies started considering using “natural” dyes instead of synthetic to appeal to consumer demand, but take it from Starbucks – just because it’s natural, doesn’t mean it’s exactly the kind of food dye you feel good about consuming. Cochineal dye is not synthetic Red 40, but it is made from insects, which does help you consume less plastic in your diet, but it also sounds kinda gross. Plus, if you are vegetarian, you could be breaking your veggie-oath without knowing it. Slowly put down that strawberry yogurt and walk away.
Another consideration when it comes to food dye is it has significant effects on neurodiverse children. Neurodiversity includes autism, as well as ADHD, and Dyslexia. The effects of synthetic food dyes such as Red 40 have been under scrutiny as far back as 2011 when the FDA decided to further examine hyperactivity in children caused by synthetic food dyes. Even in an attempt to save synthetic food dyes, the FDA’s realized analysis of 35 years of studies did suggest that neurodiverse children may be particularly sensitive to them.
Although big business still continues to add these artificial food dyes to a lot of food here in the US, the analysis of these studies was enough to convince the European Union with requiring a warning label on foods that contain these synthetic dyes. The amazing part of this story is that instead of adding huge, bulky, and scary warning labels to otherwise “natural” foods, manufacturers instead switched to natural dyes, such as those from beets and turmeric.
Even if you or your children are not neurodiverse, I’m still going to offer my personal guest blogger opinion for this one and say that between the chemical composition of synthetic food dyes, and the amazing natural food dye options now available, I would stay away from foods that contain artificial colors.
A quick bonus for this blog, because this guest blogger binges on TEDx – if you made it this far, please take about 18 minutes or so out of your day to watch this TEDx Carson City talk on The Effects of Artificial Food Dyes from Dr. Rebecca Beans. It’s pretty profound, and it’s from a real scientist who has data… and studies… and her own personal experience searching for answers when her own family was disrupted by her son’s problematic and unexplained behavior. Spoiler alert… it was the artificial food coloring.
Also, also – double bonus, there is a super nifty graphic/chart about halfway down this article that guides anyone interested in dye-free alternatives moving forward. It can be a lot harder than you think to find food that isn’t artificially colored.
Now go check that pantry……
