(Health Secrets Newsletter) There are a few different types of food coloring additives, but they are all used mostly to make high-calorie, low-nutrition foods appear healthy and appealing to the eye. The toxic potential of most food coloring is still controversial and complex. Many including Dr. Alexander Weil and the State of California, have long claimed that food coloring additives are toxic or carcinogenic, and research is now coming in that proves this to be so.
Independent scientists have linked artificial food coloring additives to the hyperactivity and behavioral disorders that result in special education labels, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and to the diagnosis of Emotionally Disturbed. This means food coloring chemicals can alter brain function.
Caramel food coloring comes two ways. Synthetic caramel coloring found in Pepsi, Coke and most other cola drinks has had a lot of bad press lately because it has been found to be highly carcinogenic. Now the state of California demands each cola manufacturer using the fake caramel coloring display a cancer warning label on its cans and bottles. There is enough other bad press overall to force more color additive manufacturers into using natural plant extracts instead of synthetic chemicals. Real caramel coloring that is made from burnt sugar is in almost any brown liquid including whiskey, brown gravies, and many soy sauces and balsamic vinegars. It’s also used in many junk food items from cookies to potato chips.
But thus far, the FDA has rejected food coloring health danger claims, even overruling their own scientists who urged banning Red #3 in 1983.For more information:http://www.npr.org/2011/03/30/134962888/fda-probes-link-between-food-…http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htmhttp://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/2991.html
http://www.iatp.org/files/421_2_105204.pdf
FDA Panel to Consider Warnings for Artificial Food Colorings
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/health/policy/30fda.html