Question

Write about artificial food colours, the substances used in them and their harmful effects.

Answer 1

Hint: Artificial food colouring substances are used to colour the food products like candies, drinks, chips etc. Some of these dyes are synthetically formed while some are organic. These have many harmful effects from learning impairment to irritability and many more.

Complete answer:
These days we see many colourful food products from candies to sweets. Everything is so bright and eye catching. But do you know what is added to make them so eye-catching?
Artificial food colouring substances are added to the foods and drinks to give them various colours. These food colouring substances come in many forms. These can be liquids, powders, gels and pastes etc.
The substances are used commercially and even in our domestic cooking.
Some of artificial dyes that are currently used are -
Red No. 3 (Erythrosine) : It provides cherry red colour in candies and cake decorating gels.
Red No. 40 (Allura Red) : It provides dark red dye that is used in sports drinks and candies etc.
Yellow No. 5 (Tartrazine) : It provides yellow colour in candies, soft drinks and chips etc.
Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow) : It gives orange yellow dye.
There are many other colours available.
But these substances are not at all good for health.
These have a lot of harmful impacts on human health.
It was studied that hyperactivity and learning problems in children were due to food colouring substances. These may cause allergies, irritability and problems of aggressiveness.
It is also discovered that some dyes not all could lead to high risk of cancer. There are many health problems related to consuming food colouring substances.

Note:
It is not that the food colouring substances are harmful only. The organic ones are obtained from natural sources only and do not contain any chemical. The synthetically formed from chemicals are the ones that are mostly harmful. Further, if any substance after use gives free radicals in the body, then it is most harmful.