Synthetic dyes and their harm. Harmful food dyes: how they threaten health Useful and harmful food dyes

It is very difficult to imagine a bright children's holiday without an original delicious cake. It is this delicacy that the hero of the occasion and his restless friends are looking forward to. Even adults are delighted when they see what incredible children's cakes confectioners can offer them. Now the possibilities for making confectionery products are endless.

You can create real masterpieces with bright mastic, painting it in all the colors of the rainbow. It is really very beautiful. And the child will love the brightly decorated cake. However, there is one very important point to consider. This is safety.

What dyes are used to decorate children's cakes

You can immediately breathe a sigh of relief. For the preparation of confectionery products, only safe dyes are used. Of course, if the order is carried out by a reputable company, and not by a private confectioner without documents. He just can save on the quality of the paint.

There are two types of food coloring

1. Synthetic.
2. Natural.

There is a sufficient range of absolutely safe dyes - both natural and artificial. They are divided into several subgroups.

1. Gel. Used for coloring creams, dough, mastic. Concentrated, and therefore they are used in small quantities. Contains glycerin and glucose. You can mix with each other and get new shades.
2. Liquid. They are used for coloring creams, creating inscriptions and drawings on top of mastic using an airbrush.
3. Dry. Bred in boiled water. They are added to dough and creams to give different shades.
4. Kendurin. A very original dye that allows you to get a pearlescent shade in dragees, mastic, creams. It contains a safe natural silicate, which gives such an effect.

All dyes used for the production of confectionery products are not harmful to human health. Self-respecting manufacturers for the manufacture and decoration of children's birthday cakes use only safe dyes, mostly natural.

Natural dyes used in children's cakes

Most often, natural colorants are obtained from flowers, roots, fruits, berries and leaves of plants, sometimes from minerals. The finished product is produced by mixing various components:

• chlorophylls
• organic acids
• vitamins
• carotenoids
• trace elements
• anthocyanins
• glycosides
• flavonoids

All these components, interconnected, create a single range that gives the dye a certain color, taste and aroma.

Substances are absolutely safe. At the same time, they make it possible to obtain bright saturated shades. For the production of dyes, various natural raw materials are used.

1. Lucarotene. Use to obtain all shades of yellow, up to reddish-orange. It is isolated from the roots of carrots.
2. Carotenoid. Source - Orleans tree seeds (outer layer). Gives an orange-red to reddish-brown color.
3. Curcumin. Intense orange-yellow to orange-brown color. Obtained from the root system of turmeric.
4. Paprika. Bright red dye. Produced from paprika extract.
5. Betanin. Intense dark red, beetroot. To obtain, use the root of the beetroot.
6. Malt extract (caramel). Obtained by roasting barley malt. The color is dark brown.
7. Vegetable charcoal. It is isolated after burning plants or nut shells. Used to get black.
8. Chlorophyllin. Gives a green color - from bluish-green and even blue to dark green. Get the dye from algae, herbs, leaves.

The use of natural dyes can in no way harm the child's body. As a rule, children's cakes are decorated with just such dyes.

Given the high popularity of bright holiday cakes, edible paints are now produced in the form of felt-tip pens and pencils. Such wonderful devices can be used at a children's celebration, giving children the opportunity to decorate a birthday cake on their own.

Since ancient times, people have been trying to diversify their table, coming up with new recipes, mastering new cooking technologies, and looking for new tastes. But not always delicious dishes have an attractive appearance. But it is very important that food brings not only satiety to the body, but also pleases the eye. Decorating ready-made culinary masterpieces is not so difficult, it is enough to show maximum imagination and minimum costs. Food colorings- that wand is a lifesaver with which you can turn any dish into an artist's canvas. All food colorings can be divided into two categories: natural (natural) and chemical. Natural dyes can be obtained from the juice of berries, fruits, vegetables, leaves and roots of plants. The color range of natural dyes is very small, and sometimes, housewives are just too lazy to mess around in search of the right shades. Food colorings, which are obtained by chemical cultivation, come to the rescue. The range of application of food colorings on an industrial scale is very large. Dyes are used in the production of sweet desserts, sausages, drinks, dairy products and more. Widely used in cosmetology and pharmacy.

Benefits of food coloring

The use of the dye depends, first of all, on the history of its production. If this is a food coloring obtained by extracting coloring substances from natural products, then such a coloring will have the beneficial properties of these same products. For example, a dye containing betanin (found in beets) will contain antioxidants. There is absolutely no benefit from chemical dyes.

Harm and contraindications

Food coloring (chemical) origin can cause significant harm to the body. Constant consumption of food dyes can cause a number of serious disorders in the human body: disorders of the nervous and digestive systems, sleep disturbance and concentration, allergic reactions. Some dyes are prohibited for human consumption, but unscrupulous manufacturers use them in their production. Such dyes can cause changes at the cellular level. Absolutely all people, regardless of age, should try to eat food chemical dyes as little as possible, give preference to natural products.

natural and synthetic nutritional supplements with an index of E100 - E199 are widely used in the food industry to restore or enhance the color of finished products. Very often, when processing natural ingredients, they lose their natural color and do not look very attractive to potential buyers. Application food coloring allows you to solve this problem, make the product look brighter, gives them energy and liveliness. Many food colorings have a natural base, such as E100 derived from turmeric or E162 which is made from beets. However, most additives are classified as synthetic and do not come from natural sources at all. Many artificial dyes called coal tar because they were originally made from coal tar. Nowadays, they are usually synthesized from a variety of sources, such as oil. A variety of colors can be used on their own, but are often mixed together to create complementary hues (for example, blue and yellow dyes make green). If the product contains food colorings then the E number from 100 to 199 will be indicated on the package. Depending on benefits and harms of food coloring, they can be divided into the following groups:

Forbidden

E107 Yellow 2G
E125 Ponceau SX (crimson SX)
E128 Red 2G
E131 Blue Patent V
E154 Brown FK

Carcinogenic effect (causes cancer)

E103 Alkanet, alkanine
E121 Citrus red 2
E124 Ponceau 4R (crimson 4R), cochineal red A
E153 Stone, charcoal

Not for food

E161a Flavoxanthin
E161c Cryptoxanthin
E161d Rubixanthin
E161e Violoxanthin
E161f Rhodoxanthin
E182 Orsel, orcein

No data

E130 Blue indanthrene RS
E132 indigotine, indigo carmine
E133 Blue brilliant FCF
E160b Annatto extract, bixin
E160c Paprika oil resins (paprika extract)
E160d Lycopene
E160e Beta-apo-8-carotene aldehyde (C30)
E160f Methyl or ethyl esters of beta-apo-8-carotene acid (C30)
E161b Lutein
E161g Canthaxanthin
E161h Zeaxanthin
E161i citranaxanthin
E161j Astaxanthin
E163 Anthocyanins
E164 Saffron
E165 Gardenia blue
E166 Sandalwood
E171 Titanium dioxide
E172 iron oxides
E173 Aluminum
E174 Silver
E175 Gold
E181 tannin

Hazardous to health

E102 Tartrazine
E104 Quinoline yellow
E105 Yellow strong AB, yellow acid G
E110 Sunset Yellow FCF, Orange Yellow S
E111 Orange GGN
E120 cochineal, carminic acid, carmine
E122 Azorubine, carmoisine
E123 Amaranth
E127 Erythrosine
E129 Red charming AC
E142 Green S
E143 Green resistant (durable) FCF
E151 Black shiny BN, black PN
E152 Black 7984
E155 Brown HT
E180 Ruby Lithol VK

Considered harmless

E140 Chlorophyll
E141 Copper complexes of chlorophylls and chlorophyllins
E150 sugar color
E150a Sugar color I simple
E150b Sugar color II obtained by alkaline sulfite technology
E150c Sugar color III obtained by ammonia technology
E150d Sugar color IV obtained by ammonia-sulfite technology
E160a Alpha, beta, gamma carotenes
E162 Beet red (betanin)
E170 Calcium carbonates (chalk)

considered useful

E101 Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)
E100 Curcumins
E106 Riboflavin-5"-sodium phosphate

Why is a dye identical to natural needed? And how to use it in cooking? Few people know the answers to these and other questions regarding such substances. That is why we decided to devote this article to this difficult topic.

general information

Before telling you about how to use at home, you should tell what this product is.

This is a group of synthetic or natural dyes that are used to color food in different colors.

It should be especially noted that such an ingredient began to be used in cooking centuries ago. So, in ancient Egypt, they colored wine and sweets, as well as other foods and drinks. But by the end of the 18th century, the food industry had developed so much that it began to use a wide range of this product as an additive to completely different dishes, including to mask the poor quality of the main ingredients. In addition, natural dyes were often used for decorative purposes.

Of course, in those distant times, there was no control over the use of the mentioned component. But with the development of the market, as well as with ideas about the dangers of toxic compounds for humans, legislation on the norms for their use nevertheless arose. Currently, it is reduced to an approved list of permitted food additives.

Substance classification

How are food colorings used at home? We will tell you about this a little lower. Now I want to talk about what types these additives are divided into.

As you know, dyes for changing the color of individual products are divided into 3 main types:

• synthetic;
• natural;
• dye identical to natural.

Let's take a closer look at what exactly is their difference.

Synthetic dyes

Food coloring for cakes and other products does not have to be natural. That is why, when buying pastries or other sweets in the store, you should pay special attention to their composition.

If you find on the label that the product contains synthetic dyes, this does not mean that it is unhealthy. After all, all manufacturers for the manufacture of their products are required to use only those additives that are included in the list approved by law. Although one cannot fail to say that with the regular use of dishes with the use of coloring agents, one can cause significant harm to one's health.

So, synthetic dyes are additives that do not occur in nature. In other words, they were made in a laboratory or factory.

It should be especially noted that for safety reasons, these substances must be thoroughly tested and tested for the possibility of consumption.

Examples of synthetic dyes

To recognize such additives in the composition (on the product packaging), we present several options:

• Dye E124 (another name for Ponceau 4R). Such a crimson additive has a chemical origin. It is a salt (sodium), which can be in the form of granules or red powder. It cannot be said that, despite the fact that such a dye is approved for use, it is classified as a substance hazardous to health.
• Azo dyes (another name is amaranth or C 2 0H 11 N 2 Na 3 O 10 S 3) and so on.

It should be noted that there are still many different additives that are used to improve the appearance and quality of products (for example, quinoline, xanthene, indigo, triarylmethanes, etc.). Recognizing them in the composition is not so difficult. They are designated as dye E124, E123, etc.

Features of substances

Synthetic food colors for cakes and other foods generally dissolve well in plain water and can be used without pretreatment. Usually, the dishes where they are added can be subjected to absolutely any influence (for example, sterilization, freezing, cooling and pasteurization). Moreover, using red dyes or additives of other colors, the manufacturer is able to significantly improve the appearance of products. Often they are also used to mask ingredients that have already expired.

natural dyes

Natural dyes are considered the most harmless and safe for the human body. But, unfortunately, such additives are difficult to obtain and are not subject to long-term storage. That is why most manufacturers prefer to add to their products precisely those substances that are of synthetic origin.

So, natural dyes are made from natural sources. Among them, the following can be noted: herbs, fruit peels, vegetable leaves, seeds and roots of plants, various fruits, berries, etc.

By the way, animals often act as such sources. For example, red dyes (carminic acid, for example) are obtained from the bodies of scale insects. These insects feed on cactus leaves. They are collected for industrial purposes in Spain, Africa and even Central America. In order to extract the coloring pigment, the bodies of all insects are first dried and then crushed.

As you can see, the extraction of natural nutritional supplements is a rather laborious and lengthy process that costs a lot of time and effort, as well as significant financial costs.

Dye identical to natural

As mentioned a little earlier, obtaining the necessary dyes from sustainable natural raw materials can be so expensive that retail sales cannot pay for themselves. Moreover, the quality of natural supplements varies markedly depending on various factors (unstable). That is why the manufacturers of these substances decided to get out of this situation and find laboratory methods that would allow them to obtain a dye identical to natural.

It should be noted that additives made in this way are much cheaper and better.

So, food coloring components that are identical to natural ones are exactly the same substances (that is, they have the same molecules) as those found in natural sources. However, they are made artificially.

For example, insects of the cactus false shield contain a red natural dye (or the so-called carmine dye). After long laboratory tests, scientists were able to artificially make the same bright additive, but without using the bodies of living beings. Now carmine dye has become much cheaper and more affordable.

Chemical classes of natural dyes

Identical dye for water and solids - a compound that is divided into the following chemical classes:

1. Indigoid, which were found by experts in beets. It should be noted that such an additive is very similar to carmine. Their color almost completely coincides (bright red or burgundy).
2. Flavonoids found in many fruits, flowers and vegetables. Thanks to them, food manufacturers began to use a wide palette of colors during the production of confectionery and other products.
3. Carotenoids. This substance is found in tomatoes, carrots, oranges, as well as in most plants.

Features of natural and identical natural dyes

Unlike synthetic additives, natural additives practically do not dissolve in water. However, they interact well with oil. This means that they are quite difficult to add directly to products. After all, for this you have to convert them into potassium or sodium salts.

Requirements for food coloring

It does not matter which dyes (identical to natural, natural or synthetic) are used for the production of a particular product. The main thing is that they meet all the necessary requirements:

• Harmlessness. In other words, the substance used in the prescribed dosage should not harm the human body. It should not be carcinogenic, mutagenic, and in no case should they have a pronounced biological activity.
• Color fastness. Any food coloring must be resistant to light, reducing agents and oxidizing agents, as well as changes in temperature and acid-base environment.
• A high degree of coloration of certain products at low concentrations of the added substance. For example, the dye carmine (color - red) should give the product a rich color, even in small quantities.
• The ability to dissolve in fats or water. Moreover, absolutely all dyes should be evenly distributed in the total mass of food products (without the appearance of specks, stains, etc.).

It should also be noted that with the help of certain food dyes it is not allowed to mask the true color of the product caused by its spoilage, the use of low-quality raw materials, or a violation of the technological regime.

What are the groups of dyes?

We described above how food colorings are classified by origin. However, I would like to tell you about what types they are divided into according to their structure.

It should also be noted that you can easily add to the confectionery masses and neutral cold gel, as they are fat-soluble dyes. Due to this, the manufacturer is able to make completely different products, significantly changing their color.

It is impossible not to say that dry food colors are quite easily converted into liquid ones. To do this, the powder must be diluted with alcohol, warm boiled water or vodka. In this case, the ratio of these ingredients is chosen at personal discretion.

Gel supplements

Food are concentrates of coloring gels. Most often they are used in the confectionery industry. So, with the help of these substances, sugar mastic is colored, as well as marzipan, fudge, icing, creams and cream, chocolate icing, chocolate and other products that are made on the basis of granulated sugar.

If you decide to use gel food coloring in your production, then you should know what advantages they have.

Firstly, such an additive has absolutely no taste and smell. Secondly, after being added to a particular product, it is not able to change its structure. Thirdly, such dyes are quite economical. So, their approximate consumption is 1.5 grams of concentrate per 1 kg of dyed mass.

The method of applying gel dyes is quite simple. To do this, the amount of additive required to obtain a certain color interferes with the bulk of the product to be dyed.

As a rule, such a component is sold in plastic jars or tubes.

Features of the use of food coloring

During the production of a food product where coloring is added, it is recommended to consider the following:

• with an increase in fat, as well as prolonged mixing of the product, the intensity and degree of its staining decreases markedly;
• the acidity of the medium has a direct effect on the shade of color and the intensity of color;
• an increase in the amount of ascorbic acid reduces the intensity of the color of the finished product;
• some synthetic and natural dyes in solutions may discolour when exposed to light;
• heat treatment does not change the shade and color intensity of the product made on the basis of synthetic food dyes;
• magnesium and calcium ions, which are contained in hard water, often precipitate with dyes;
• in fermented milk products, synthetic dyes become colorless within a few hours;
• natural dyes are not recommended for coloring products that are intended for long-term storage;
• natural dyes are not recommended to be exposed to high temperatures;
• for dyeing fermented milk products in a reddish hue, it is better to use beetroot dye or carmines, which are most stable at a pH of 2 to 7.

Summing up

Now you know what food colors are, what they are and how to add them to foods. It should be noted that for home use it is best to purchase only natural substances. By the way, you can make them yourself. For example, by squeezing the juice from beets or carrots, and then adding to butter or any other cooking oil.

A cake-basket with a pink flower on top, in any case, does not apply to healthy food. And if we already know about the dangers of sugar in it, then we will try to figure out whether food colorings in its decoration are harmful in this article.

It’s worth mentioning right away that it would be wrong to unequivocally call a whole group of substances harmful or beneficial. Living in a black and white world is easier, but in reality there are both food colorings that are harmful to health and absolutely neutral ones. Sometimes it is possible to tint food even with very useful substances - vitamins, for example.

Hazardous food dyes: for whom in the first place?

Most truly dangerous food colorings are banned from food use. Under the ban were substances, disputes about the dangers of which did not arise. For example, orange alpha-naphthol, which is a carcinogen and has not been used since 1978. But there are still many dyes on the lists that have yet to prove their complete safety, and I would not want to become a guinea pig for these experiments.

For example, azo dyes, commonly used because of their cheapness, are questionable components of our food. On the one hand, they are very bright and sometimes one thousandth of a gram is enough to paint over a whole kilogram of product. At the same time, given their toxicity, they can be poisoned only consciously and only with access to a pure substance - hardly anyone is able to drink about 100 liters of tarragon in one sitting. On the other hand, once in the body, they are broken down, and the behavior of the products of this decay has not been fully studied for all compounds.

At the same time, dyes of the carotenoid group are usually perceived with favor - after all, in the body they turn into vitamin A. The word “vitamin” already has a positive color for us. But if you think about it, then vitamins can be poisoned, in particular, fat-soluble ones that accumulate in the body. That is why you need to be careful with carotenoids - especially if you are taking vitamin complexes containing vitamin A or beta-carotene, and also if fish oil or liver is often found in the diet.

And the white dye titanium dioxide is dangerous in its own way. It is often added to powdered sugar so that the topping of confectionery products is snow-white. But it turns out that while non-toxic when taken orally, this powder is harmful when inhaled. And this harm is not due to the toxicity of the substance itself, but to the size of the powder particles. Safe for most of us, erythrosin can be detrimental to the health of people with a diseased thyroid gland. Upon detailed analysis, it turns out that most of the dyes used can cause problems in especially sensitive people. Cases of such reactions are extremely rare, but in order to avoid unpleasant and even rare surprises, the composition of the products should be carefully studied.

Azo dyes: the cause of allergies and hyperactivity in children

Azo dyes are a group of synthetic dyes derived from petroleum products. Not all of them are food - among them there are those with which fabrics are dyed. Nevertheless, a whole list of them was included in the list of food additives - tartrazine, azorubine, yellow sunset and others. Part of this family was banned from food use very soon. It turned out that, being in themselves neutral and harmless, they decomposed into toxic substances in the body and caused poisoning, mutations, or even neoplasms - not a dye, but something like a Trojan horse. Those that are still allowed to be added to food are under close scrutiny. Studies are being carried out one after another, but the results are very contradictory.

For example, it is known that there is a link between azo dyes and an allergic reaction. A logical question is how can a non-protein substance cause the body to trigger an allergy? In fact, azo dyes themselves are not allergens. But they increase the manifestations of allergic reactions that were in the body before they appeared.
So if you treat a baby with allergies to candies tinted with tartrazine, expect the baby's allergy symptoms to increase. A similar effect of azo dyes can be observed in relation to asthma - use can provoke an attack. They are especially dangerous by increasing allergies to drugs, so do not be too lazy to check what kind of dye children's vitamins or cough syrup are tinted with.

Another problem hovering around azo dyes is children's hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder. The ability of dyes to turn an ordinary baby into a hyperactive monster began to be tested back in the 70s, but so far nothing has been proven. The fact is that the studies were based on parental observations, which are always a little subjective. To prove safety for children, however, also failed. Therefore, the most reasonable solution in this situation would be to refuse products with azo dyes, especially when it comes to children. Even if you do not remember all their numbers and names, they are easy to identify by their very bright colors. Avoiding azo dyes in combination with the preservative sodium benzoate should be like fire, as studies show an increase in their effect in the company with it. You will most often find this combination in sweet soda. Its exclusion from the diet will not harm a healthy diet in any way.