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It’s not all sunshine when it comes to the food color additive Yellow Dye 5 and your brain function, mental well-being, and overall health.
Synthetic food dyes are in everything from candy to baked goods, and from juices to toothpaste, mouthwash, and over the counter medicines. If you want to be a fierce protector of brain health for yourself or your loved ones, it’s important to pay attention to the most ubiquitous and potentially harmful synthetic dyes.
The biggest culprits? Yellow Dye 5, Red Dye 40, and Yellow Dye 6 account for 90% of all dyes used in foods, drugs, and cosmetics. These dyes can impact your brain function and mental health, trigger allergic reactions, and may potentially cause harm to your overall health when consumed above the recommended daily intake (RDI) over time.
Other countries have placed warning labels on products containing Yellow Dye 5 or have banned this synthetic dye in food products altogether because of the potential health risks it poses.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require warnings on products that contain these dyes, so concerned consumers must do their due diligence to minimize or eliminate consumption of them.
Here’s what you need to know about Yellow 5 and brain health and what you can do to protect yourself and your children from potential harm.
Yellow Dye 5, also commonly known as Yellow 5 or tartrazine, is an artificial yellow food colorant added to food, personal care products, and medications. It’s one of seven synthetic food colorants derived from petroleum and approved by the FDA. After Red 40, it is the most widely used dye.
It’s most often found in processed pastries and cereals; brightly colored soda; colored candy; personal care products such as mouthwash, cosmetics, toothpaste, and liquid soaps; and in prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications like cough syrup. However, you can also find it in unsuspecting foods such as pickles or butter!
A bright yellow dye, tartrazine is a more stable and cheaper alternative to natural food dyes. Food manufacturers use it to help make their products more enticing to consumers. Adding this synthetic color serves a number of important functions including the following:
Manufacturers are required to list dyes like Yellow 5 on the ingredient label. However, sometimes it can be hard to spot because tartrazine goes by many different names. Here are some of the most common:
A number of human and animal studies indicate a link between consumption of Yellow 5 and consequential health risks, even though the dye is FDA approved. Other countries have placed warning labels on products containing Yellow 5 or have banned this synthetic dye in food products altogether because of the potential health risks it poses.
Let’s start by looking at artificial dyes and brain health and, specifically, tartrazine and brain function. A 2024 review study of human and animal research on the effects of synthetic dye consumption on brain health came to a significant conclusion stating, “… evidence suggests that these dyes can significantly impact brain function and overall neurological health.”
That conclusion was about artificial dyes as a group. But is Yellow Dye bad for your brain? Animal research suggests it might be. In a study on tartrazine consumption in rats, researchers found that memory, learning, and behavior was impacted.
Indeed, a smaller volume size of the medial prefrontal cortex was observed in the rats given a daily dose of tartrazine greater than the acceptable daily intake (ADI). Subjects taking the ADI daily dose of tartrazine showed lower numbers of neurons and shorter dendrites.
The medial prefrontal cortex is an area of the brain involved with attention, cognition, action, and emotion. These impacts could affect spatial memory, decision-making, attention, and mood. Researchers in another 2022 study review stated that the animal research findings may predict similar effects in children.
It’s important to note that some experts believe it is possible for children to exceed the ADI of 7.5mg/kg of body weight (one kg is about 2.2 pounds), considering one serving of some cereals, beverages, and snack foods combined can exceed ADI limits.
That brings us to how Yellow Dye 5 affects children’s behavior. Research indicates that there’s a tartrazine hyperactivity link.
A significant 2007 study examined hyperactivity in 267 children (a combination of 3-year-olds and 8/9-year-olds) who were given a mix of artificial food color and additives. This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial found that artificial colors in the diet resulted in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population.
Considerable research has been conducted since that time on hyperactivity and artificial food dye consumption. A 2021 report based on human and animal research titled “Health Effects Assessment: Potential Neurobehavioral Effects of Synthetic Food Dyes in Children” revealed that synthetic food dyes might lead to neurobehavioral effects manifesting not just during a child’s developmental stages but later in life.
Additionally, a section of the report noted animal models exploring ADHD symptoms and dyes suggests involvement of dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic systems, as well as more basic problems in neurotransmission. Importantly, the reports stated that current ADIs may not provide adequate protection from neurobehavioral impacts in children.
A review from 2022 found that current evidence from human studies suggests a relationship between food dye exposure and adverse behavioral outcomes in children—with or without behavioral disorders.
This touches on the correlation between artificial food dyes and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Most experts agree that there’s a negative impact of artificial dyes on ADHD symptoms, but not necessarily a causative effect.
One review found that restricting consumption of artificial food colorants would benefit some children with ADHD. When you consider that more than 7 million U.S. children have ADHD, also known as attention deficit disorder (ADD), a restrictive diet could be beneficial to probably hundreds of thousands of them.
Some research has singled out Yellow 5 as particularly troublesome for suspected hyperactive children. One study on children showing hyperactive behavior examined their behavior both after consuming tartrazine and after abstaining from tartrazine. An increase in Yellow Dye 5 ADHD-related symptoms was observed.
The study found behavioral changes in irritability, restlessness, and sleep disturbance were associated with the ingestion of tartrazine in some children.
In vitro studies have shown that tartrazine is toxic to DNA. The dye was shown to have significant genotoxic effects at all concentration levels tested in one in vitro study. The researchers of this study warned that tartrazine could be harmful to health and prolonged use could potentially trigger carcinogenesis.
In a recent 2023 animal study, a synthetic dye caused DNA damage, colonic inflammation, and impacted the microbiome in mice. Some researchers are concerned that synthetic dye consumption may be linked, in part, to the increased rates of colon cancer among younger people, according to a recent report.
A small number of individuals have an allergy or sensitivity to Yellow Dye 5 and other artificial food colorings. People with food additive sensitivities in general, individuals with ADHD symptoms, and people who are sensitive to aspirin and NSAIDs are the most vulnerable to negative tartrazine effects and might benefit from being extra cautious about eating any foods that might contain this dye.
The most common tartrazine sensitivity side effects are skin rashes (hives), asthma, itching, coughing, and vomiting, research has found. Other less common reactions include inflammation of the blood vessels (vasculitis), small flat blood spots on the skin (purpura), and contact dermatitis (contact skin rash). Some research indicates that there may be a genetic component to food dye sensitivity.
You can protect yourself and your loved ones from potential negative health effects from Yellow Dye by eliminating or limiting foods that contain artificial food coloring from your diet. Since foods that contain Yellow Dye are usually heavily processed, it’s probably a good thing to do!
Here are foods that typically contain Yellow Dye 5:
Some brand name items with Yellow Dye include Doritos, Froot Loops, Lemon-flavored Jello, Knorr chicken bouillon, M&Ms, and Starburst.
More research on and information about artificial dyes and health will continue to be conducted and released.
Stay informed about Yellow 5 and other synthetic dyes in your food, cosmetics, medicines, and personal care products by visiting the Environmental Working Group and the Center for Science in the Public Interest websites and discussing your concerns with your medical doctor.
Damothoran K, et al. Biochemical processes mediating neurotoxicity induced by synthetic food dyes: A review of current evidence. Chemosphere. 2024 Sep:364:143295.
Rafati A, et al. Using vitamin E to prevent the impairment in behavioral test, cell loss and dendrite changes in medial prefrontal cortex induced by tartrazine in rats. Acta Histochem. 2017 Mar;119(2):172-180.
Miller MD, et al. Potential impacts of synthetic food dyes on activity and attention in children: a review of the human and animal evidence. Environ Health. 2022 Apr 29;21(1):45.
McCann D, et al. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2007 Nov 3;370(9598):1560-7.
California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. “Health Effects Assessment: Potential Neurobehavioral Effects of Synthetic Food Dyes in Children”
Published Apr 16, 2021. https://oehha.ca.gov/risk-assessment/report/health-effects-assessment-potential-neurobehavioral-effects-synthetic-food
Miller, M.D., Steinmaus, C., Golub, M.S. et al. Potential impacts of synthetic food dyes on activity and attention in children: a review of the human and animal evidence. Environ Health 21, 45 (2022).
Nigg JT, Lewis K, Edinger T, Falk M. Meta-analysis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, restriction diet, and synthetic food color additives. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2012 Jan;51(1):86-97.e8.
Rowe KS, Rowe KJ. Synthetic food coloring and behavior: a dose response effect in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, repeated-measures study. J Pediatr. 1994 Nov;125(5 Pt 1):691-8.
Soares BM et al. Effects on DNA repair in human lymphocytes exposed to the food dye tartrazine yellow. Anticancer Res. 2015 Mar;35(3):1465-74.
Zhang Q, et al. The synthetic food dye, Red 40, causes DNA damage, causes colonic inflammation, and impacts the microbiome in mice. Toxicol Rep. 2023 Sep 6;11:221-232.
Dipalma, JR. Tartrazine sensitivity. Am Fam Physician.1990 Nov;42(5):1347-50.
Stevenson, J, et al. The role of histamine degradation gene polymorphisms in moderating the effects of food additives on children’s ADHD symptoms. Am J Psychiatry. 2010 Sep;167(9):1108-15.
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