Candy left by the Easter Bunny on Sunday morning comes in
festive hues of blue, green, yellow and pink, sparking smiles from many
kids. This brightly colored loot may be less welcome, however, to a
growing number of parents who worry about the potential health hazards
the colors reflect.
Could the Blue 1, Red 40 and Yellow 5 dyes,
for example, found in Peeps marshmallow chicks, Whoppers Mini Robin
Eggs, Jelly Belly's Kids Mix and countless other sweets harm their
children?
To be safe, many like Courtney Sucato of Phoenix, are
no longer taking chances with the man-made additives, which are
generally derived from petroleum and coal. Sucato now swaps out the
mainstream sweets her kids collect during other people's Easter egg
hunts with a stash of naturally colored candy she keeps at home. More
products are being sold with alternative colorings -- from beet-based
reds to yellows and oranges from citrus -- in response to emerging
health studies and rising consumer demand. A small Seattle-based biotech
company has even begun harnessing the natural color-making machinery of
algae in an effort to produce safe pigments.
The market for natural food colors is predicted to
grow nearly threefold between 2014 and 2020.
Courtney
Sucato stands with her son, Tyler. She said his ADHD symptoms became
far more manageable after she eliminated artificial food colors from his
diet. (Photo: Morgan Henderson)
For Sucato, it all
started when she noticed that her son Tyler, then 4, would repeatedly
melt down in "horrible tantrums" shortly after eating artificially
colored snacks and soft drinks. "I Googled the ingredients in all of
those things. The only thing they had in common was Yellow 6. Within two
weeks, we were a dye-free family," recalled Sucato, noting that Tyler
also appeared to react to other artificial colors. Although she can't be
certain of a link, she said that Tyler's attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms significantly improved after the
change.
"That was three years ago, and we haven't looked back," said Sucato.
To
avoid artificial coloring in edible products is no easy task. The
additives are found not only in candy, but in a variety of other foods
and drinks including yogurts, frozen pops, salad dressings, boxed mac 'n
cheese, even pickles. Mouthwash, shampoo, cough syrup and vitamins are
among non-food items that are often artificially dyed to make them more
appealing to consumers. As more and more colorful products filled
grocery and drug stores between 1950 and 2010, the average American's
daily consumption of artificial food colors
increased more than fivefold.
"Artificial
colors are often used to make you think that a product is healthier
than it really is," said Lisa Lefferts, a senior scientist with the
nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. "They're so
unnecessary."
Research
dating back to the 1970s
suggests that synthetic dyes certified by the Food and Drug
Administration could be linked to ADHD and other behavioral problems --
although those results are still fiercely debated. There have also been
hints of
cancer risks.
As consumers have caught wind of the concerns, corporations have taken
notice, while still generally insisting on the safety of their products.
In February, Nestle became the first major candy manufacturer in the U.S. to pledge to
remove artificial flavors and colors
from all of its chocolate candy. By the end of the year, Butterfingers
and Baby Ruth bars will no longer contain the likes of Yellow 5 and Red
40. Natural food colors such as annatto, derived from the seeds of the
achiote tree, will take their place. (Of course, natural does not always
mean safe and these alternatives, too, may trigger allergic reactions.)
"This is purely consumer driven," said Leslie Mohr,
marketing manager at Nestle, adding that prices won't change for customers.
Consumer
demand is pushing others to find innovative ways to tackle the common
downsides of natural colors, such as inferior vibrancy and stability as
well as higher production costs, compared to their artificial
counterparts.
Matrix Genetics, based in Seattle, is among these emerging players.
The
company announced in February that it had found a way to manipulate
spirulina, a type of blue-green algae, to rapidly and efficiently
produce natural food dyes. By adding a second copy of a specific gene,
Matrix Genetics said, it can now double the plant's natural production
of phycocyanin, a bright pigment that can replace Blue 1.
But
that's just the "low-hanging fruit," said Jim Roberts, chief scientific
officer at Matrix Genetics. With a little more tweaking, his team hopes
to also create shades of red, blue, green and purple.
"The door is now open," said Roberts. "The natural colors we can produce will span the entire spectrum."
In
addition to modifying the plant's pigment-producing genetics, he noted
that his company is optimizing spirulina's ability to turn light into
energy. The result, Roberts said, should be safe, environmentally
friendly and commercially viable natural colorings. Unlike some of its
cousins, he said, the algae does not produce any toxins. It can also be
grown in marginal places such as saltwater ponds, noted Roberts, which
means the colorings could be made without major impact on fresh waters
or use of valuable agricultural lands.
Two years ago, the FDA
approved spirulina extract as a color additive for certain uses. Yet high costs and inefficiency have held back production, according to Roberts.
"The
first thing that has to happen is for production to go up. Then, costs
can come down and more companies will be able to use it," said Elijah
Church, manager of technical support at Roha Food Colors. "We're just at
the beginning of spirulina's potential."
The catalyst for increasing consumer demand, Church said, was a
controversial British study
published in 2007 that concluded the consumption of food additives,
including food colors, significantly increased ADHD-type behavior.
European regulators responded by requiring that food and drink labeling
indicate the use of six artificial colors and warn of their potential
effects on attention and behavior. Some companies went as far as to
remove the artificial colors altogether.
Mars, for example,
removed these dyes for M&Ms sold in Europe. The same candies on U.S.
shelves, however, still contain three of the so-called Southampton Six:
Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Red 40. The ingredients label on a bag of
Easter-themed M&Ms purchased this week by The Huffington Post listed
a total of 10 artificial colors. The company maintains that
all its ingredients are safe.
In
March 2011, responding to a petition from the Center for Science in the
Public Interest, the FDA's Food Advisory Committee gathered an expert
panel to review the 2007 British study and others into the safety of
synthetic food colors. While the committee
ultimately concluded there was not enough evidence to support any bans or warning labels, some panel members remained unconvinced.
"The
FDA framed the question primarily in the form, 'Are food colors a cause
of hyperactivity?'" wrote Bernard Weiss, an expert in environmental
health at the University of Rochester, in a
commentary after he testified on the panel. His own research has shown a link.
Weiss
suggested that a more appropriate question would have been whether food
colors are "behaviorally toxic to the general population of children."
And he asked, "What kind of data -- and how much data -- does it take to
render an outcome conclusive enough for action?"
"Think about how
long it took us to prove cause and effect with smoking," added
Lefferts, who also sat on the FDA panel. "It was almost as if they were
asking questions in a way so that they wouldn't get an answer that
suggested a link."
Other experts express concern that the research
to date has generally underestimated people's actual exposure to
artificial colors. In a study published last April, Purdue University
nutrition scientist Laura Stevens and her colleagues concluded that
children today are eating and drinking "
far more dyes" than previously thought.
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scavenging assay. In addition, sensory evaluation of milk added with
the hydrolysis product of deoiled rice bran indicated the potential use
of the product as a nutritious drink.
