Patterson 1

Annotated Bibliography

Does Allura Red cause adverse effects when ingested by humans?

Courtney Patterson

Professor Malcolm Campbell

English 1103

26 October 2015

Patterson 2

Abramsson-Zetterberg, Lilianne, and Nils-Gunnar Ilback. “The synthetic food colouring agent

Allura Red AC (E129) is not genotoxic in a flow cytometry-based micronucleus

assay in vivo.” Food and Chemical Toxicology. 59. (2013): 86-89. Web. 14 Octo-

ber 2015.

In this study, rats were injected with various amounts of Allura Red in order to test

whether or not it is genotoxic, meaning that it causes damage to genetic material. Studies

in the past have shown that this chemical is not cancer causing, or carcinogenic, in rats or

mice, however, a study that was conducted in 2010 showed that it could cause DNA dam-

age in the colon. Because of this, it has not been ruled out as genotoxic. After the rats had

been injected with the dye, tissue, urine and blood samples were retrieved. It was appar-

ent that the dye left some tinting on organs, especially the brain, and it also left the urine

sample a pale pink color. Despite this, the only dose that appeared to show any different

effects from the control was the largest dose. Even though it showed a slight difference, it

still is not enough for the dye to be considered genotoxic. It should be noted that injection

could have different effects from actually ingesting the dye orally.

Both of these authors have done work with the food administration and with medical sci-

ences, therefore I would consider them to be a credible source. They provided all of the

data from their experiment and they clearly laid out their entire process. This academic

article seemed to be written to debunk the common belief that Allura Red is harmful to

humans. One thing from the article that stood out to me was the fact that this dye is not

put into animal feed due to its potential risks, however, it is very common in human food.

Humans and animals are not that much different, which is why animals are more often

used in scientific testing, so if the chemical can cause harm in animals, it can cause harm

Patterson 3

in humans as well. Unlike all the rest of my sources, this was the only one that made this

dye seem safe. One similarity between this article and the others I have read was the fact

that it is clear that more testing is needed before we can come to a legitimate conclusion

about Red 40.

Due to the fact that this is a scholarly source that provides a different look into the effects

of Red 40, I will be using it in my extended inquiry project. It was interesting to me how

the dye caused discoloration in the animal’s brain, but the authors still consider it to be

completely safe for humans to ingest. Despite the fact that the researchers claim that the

dye does not cause any adverse effects, I still feel as if it should continue to be tested if it

is going to continue to be such a big part of the food industry. If a product can cause harm

in animals when they are only given a small dose, I can only imagine what it can do to

humans who ingest it almost every day.

Fulton, April. “FDA Probes Link Between Food Dyes, Kids’ Behavior.”. npr.org. 30 March

2011. Web. 18 October 2015.

This is a developed article from a popular source which addresses the common idea that

changing your diet and eliminating artificial dyes is crucial when it comes to com-

bating their seemingly harmful effects. Despite the fact that there are many assumptions

that these dyes cause issues such as hyperactivity in children, some scientists still doubt

this. Some studies show that the dyes themselves many not be the actual cause of the

ADHD, however, children who already have this condition are more likely to be affected

by the dyes making it seem as if they were the initial cause. It should also be noted that

these dyes are going in to foods, like chips and candy, that are already bad for us, so

Patterson 4

again, it may not be the dyes themselves that are causing the issues. Other countries, such

as Britain, who have stricter rules when it comes to food, have started putting warning la-

bels on foods that contain artificial dyes and some have even began the switch to all natu-

ral coloring of foods. Although this is better for the health of the citizens, it is rather ex-

pensive and natural coloring tends to spoil faster. According to the FDA, all dyes put into

foods are strictly tested numerous times before they are given to the public, however,

there are many skeptics that believe these dyes are causing an array of health issues.

April Fulton, the author of this article, was once an editor for a science column and she

now runs a food blog. These two things go hand in hand when it comes to addressing this

topic, so I feel as if she has the credentials to be writing about this subject. This article is

decent, but it fails to provide much scientific evidence about the claims made. It was

written several days before the Food and Drug Administration met to discuss the dangers

of artificial dyes, but I feel as if the article would have had a greater impact on the audi-

ence if it would have been written after the meeting and it would have contained the con-

clusion the FDA came to regarding the topic. The United States is known for allowing

many different chemicals to be used in food production, so it was interesting to see how

other countries handle this. It is clear that European countries are taking many more pre-

cautions than we are and the fact that this information was included in the article adds to

the fact that something should be done in this country. Since the author of this article did

not take a side in the argument and she did not provide a lot of new information, I feel as

if she was just trying to inform the general public that the FDA was looking into the cur-

rent situation regarding artificial dyes. It is a news source from a very popular website, so

I would definitely consider it to be reliable.

Patterson 5

Due to the fact that this article did not have much scientific information, I do not think I

will use it in my final project. However, I am glad I read it because it did open my eyes to

some new information. I did not know other countries stance on this topic and I also did

not know that hyperactivity was one of the most common problems caused by these dyes

due to the fact that these children are more sensitive to them. Other than this, it did not

provide me with any new information, it just touched on the sides of the argument that I

have read multiple times.

Jacobson, Michael F., and Sarah Kobylewski. “ Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks.”. Center for

Science in the Public Interest. 2010. Web. 12 October 2015.

The second article came from the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s website. It

references several studies done by colleges in the United States that are related to the ef-

fects of artificial dyes on humans. The studies touch on almost every dye, but since I

wanted to focus my project on Allura Red, I only read that section. The study completed

for this dye showed that it increased the appearance of tumors in rats, caused allergic re-

actions and may trigger hypersensitivity in children. The authors of this article claim that

it should be taken out of foods until further testing can be done to ensure its safety. The

results of this study done on rats also showed that this dye could cause damage to DNA.

Authors also highlighted on the fact that rats may not have been the best test for this dye

due to their previous health and their living conditions, but despite this, the tests still

yielded results that should concern the FDA and consumers alike.

Both authors of this article have PhDs, so I would consider them to be fairly credible.

Kobylewski works in the molecular toxicity program at the University of California, Los

Patterson 6

Angeles and Jacobson is the executive director for the website. Due to Jacobson’s posi-

tion, he could be considered biased. The whole point of the Center for Science in the Pub-

lic Interest is to look out of the health of the community. Because of this, they may do

whatever it takes to make the FDA seem responsible for adding harmful chemicals to our

foods, however, the authors provided a mass of scientific information and they referenced

many different studies which makes their information seem credible. I would consider

this article to be academic due to the authors and the type of studies completed, however,

it is not your typical academic source. The article was rather long, but it was organized

well despite the fact that the page numbers at the beginning did not correspond to the ac-

tual pages that the information was on.

Overall, this was one of the most helpful sources I found outside of the library database.

It was not based entirely off of opinion, although some biases could have been present,

and it supported its claims with actual scientific findings. Although this dye may not

cause life-threatening illnesses, it does cause many issues that could easily be avoided if

manufacturers were more cautious with what they add to foods. I plan to use this article

in my final project because it was very specific and it displayed legitimate information.

Even though the studies were not flawless and there is still much more testing to do re-

garding these dyes, this article shows that work is being done and researches have discov-

ered negative effects of ingesting these chemicals.

Masone, Diego, and Celine Chanforan. “Study on the interaction of artificial and natural food

colorants with human serum albumin: A computational point of view.”. Computa-

tional Biology and Chemistry. 56. (2015): 152-158. Web. 14 October 2015.

Patterson 7

My third source is a peer-reviewed article from Computational Biology and Chemistry.

This article talked about the replacement of artificial colors with natural dyes; something

that needs to be done if artificial dyes are harming humans. Since I am focusing on Allura

Red, the most popular of the artificial dyes, I thought it was interesting to read that cyani-

din-3-glucoside is the natural dye used to replace this chemical. The article began by say-

ing this alternative dye is used often in the United States and Europe; something I have

not heard in many other articles, however, this article is one of the most recent which

could mean the FDA is making strides to improve our health. Again, this article noted on

the top risks associated with Red 40 such as DNA damage in male mice, hyperactivity,

sleep disorders and aggression in children. The majority of the article focused on the pro-

tein-binding process used to create the natural dyes, which was a little hard to understand

considering I do not have a science background. Despite the fact that these new dyes are

considered “natural”, it still seems as if they are being manufactured in a lab.

Both of the authors of this article are from universities outside of the United States. I do

not feel as if this makes them any less credible, however, they may not fully understand

just how much these dyes are used in this country. The information was presented in a

very scientific format, so it was hard for the average reader to understand, but it was still

a very interesting article. The in-depth information made it seem as if it was reliable and

since it is a scholarly, peer reviewed article I feel as if it can be trusted. Compared to the

other sources I have read, this one seems to be purely scientific meaning there are no out-

side opinions or biases, just facts. This is both good and bad because I do like to hear the

authors stance on the situation.

Patterson 8

Since one of my inquiry questions related to alternative dyes, this article was very help-

ful. It furthered my knowledge about the process of creating these dyes and showed me

that safer options do exist. According to this article, they are even being used in this

country, which is reassuring. I will definitely be using this source in my final project be-

cause it introduced new information and related specifically to some of the questions I

was asking myself. In order to understand this article more, I need to do some research

about protein-binding, that way I will have a full understanding of the creation of these

alternative dyes.