Food coloring

[draperygoddess]

Mary Beth,

Thanks for the link! I skimmed it just now and noticed that Yellow 6 was the only one with GI symptoms listed (unless I missed something, which is certainly possible!). Do most people just have the skin or respiratory-type symptoms?

[Noodler]

I'm coming late to this thread on food colours because I had a severe reaction to something in the energy drink Monster and developed severe urticaria and nausea with restricted breathing. I've been trying to work out what caused it and can see that I am probably reacting to azo dye chemicals in foods, particularly tartrazine.

I had a look at some of the studies on Tartrazine and it has been implicated in causing lymphocytic and eosinophilic inflammation in the intestines of rats. The wikipedia page on tartrazine states: "Tartrazine inflamed the stomach lining (increased the number of lymphocytes and eosinophils) of rats when given in the diet for a prolonged time"

I never figured that colourants in food and drinks could cause a lymphocytic response and this could be the key to remission for me. Some countries ban tartrazine but it is in things like Pepcid and other remedies. It is in the cider I drink instead of beer. Seems colourants are everywhere.

Al

[tex]

Seems colourants are everywhere.

Yep, manufacturers love 'em, because they're such a cheap way to ad visual appeal to their products, (they can make a bland-looking product appear vibrant), and unfortunately, visual appeal is obviously very influential with most consumers.

Tex