Food coloring E123 Amaranth. Food coloring E123 Amaranth Influence on the human body

Imagine the sweetest and juiciest dessert in the world, most likely there will be shades of red in its palette, because this color is a natural appetite stimulant. For a long time in the food and cosmetic industry, amaranth red dye was used to give the product a juicy cherry or strawberry color, until its possible connection with cancer was discovered in the 70s of the last century. What are the true properties food additive labeled E-123?

Amaranth or harm food additive E-123

Amaranth red - the harm of which is not officially recognized all over the world. Currently prohibited for use in Food Industry in Russia, Ukraine, USA. But there is no official ban in the EU countries, for example, if you visit the UK, you can find it labeled as part of canned cherries.

What is the effect of E-123 on the body? A direct link between cancer in humans and the use of E-123 has not been found, since there have been no relevant studies. But experiments on rats conducted in the 70s showed that the use of the dye causes pathological changes in the liver, birth defects of the fetus, infertility, stillbirth, early death of offspring, as well as the formation and growth of malignant tumors.

As for people, opinions are quite contradictory. It is noted that E-123 causes a small red rash (urticaria), exacerbates the condition in bronchial asthma associated with hypersensitivity to aspirin. According to some scientists, the dietary supplement can provoke an itchy rash and symptoms of hyperactivity in children, and can cause violations of embryonic development.

What foods contain E-123?

Amaranth red allows food technologists to work wonders. E-123 is easily soluble in water and retains coloring properties at temperatures up to +120 ° C without melting.

E-123 may color the product red with a bluish, brown or purple tint. And this is an ideal property if you want to give the berries that have darkened during the cooking process an appetizing and fresh look. After exposure to the dye, glazed fruits on ready-made desserts look like they were just picked. Therefore, it is not surprising that at the peak of its popularity, E123 appeared not only in canned food, but also on the labels of muffins, biscuits, jelly, breakfast cereals, carbonated drinks, ice cream. This shade has also entered the arsenal of cosmetics manufacturers, who successfully use it as part of blush and lipsticks.

However, today, when scientists have linked the use of the dye with allergic reactions and the potential risk of tumor formation, in our country, food products that would include this dye should not be found. And I really want to believe in it.

Amaranth, trisodium salt or food additive E123 is a substance that has pronounced coloring properties. That is why for a long time it was used in the food industry as a food coloring: in certain proportions, it can give food a red, purple, purple, brown-red or blue-red color. Today, the main consumer of the amaranth dye is the cosmetics industry. The ban on the use of this substance in food was introduced not so long ago, and the reason for this was its strong toxic and toxic properties. Therefore, in cosmetic products, the addition of amaranth is strictly regulated, although there is every chance that it will also be completely banned in this area.

Chemical properties of the additive

Azo dye E123 looks like a violet, red-brown or purple powder. It is obtained during the processing of coal tar. In nature, there is a plant of the same name, but the substance has nothing to do with it. The additive dissolves well in, and at a temperature of 120 degrees Celsius and above, it begins to decompose into elements, but does not melt.

The stable chemical properties of the substance are explained by the presence of nitrogen-containing coloring compounds in its composition. Due to the fact that amaranth is, in fact, a waste product of the coal industry, its cost is very low, which is why it has gained considerable popularity among industrialists.

The main property of the substance is coloring. It is added to food in order to improve and intensify it. natural color, to give it a color different from its natural color, or to restore a color that has changed or deteriorated during thermal or other processing.

The food additive E123 does not affect the taste properties of food. The same applies to texture, shelf life and other culinary characteristics of products. Amaranth is only responsible for color changes.

Substance use: from sheepskin coat to jam

Given the intensity of the pigment contained in the dye, it does an excellent job of coloring not only cakes or. In the textile industry, amaranth is used to dye fabrics instead of the more expensive and less common cochineal. In the field of manufacturing leather goods, jackets, sheepskin coats and fur coats, E123 is also popular: when you see an unusual fur coat of bright burgundy or scarlet color, you can practically be sure that it was dyed with amaranth.

Also, the dye E123 is used to give red, pink, purple or of blue color paper or cardboard.

In the cosmetics industry, the substance is a common ingredient in lipsticks, blushes, nail polishes, and other “colored” varieties. decorative cosmetics and care products.

In food products, the use of amaranth is prohibited in Russia, Ukraine and the United States. However, the European Union has not introduced such restrictions on its territory.

There, without any problems, you can buy, for example, a canned jar with the code E123 in the composition.

In addition, amaranth is added to such products:

• dry mixes for baking, jelly, biscuits;
• dry breakfasts;
• sweet carbonated drinks;
• confectionery (ice cream, desserts, lollipops, dragees);
• chewing gum;
• canned fruits of characteristic color.

The dangers of using amaranth dye

The substance has been freely used for a long time in the production of various foods, desserts, and baby food. However, in the 70s of the last century, studies conducted in the United States gave such frightening results that since that time, Americans have almost completely stopped using this additive for cooking. food products. Later, a number of other countries joined them.

Experiments with the participation of laboratory rats showed that, as a result of the use of amaranth, cancerous tumors began to develop intensively in rodents. Due to its allergen properties, the substance is extremely dangerous for people with allergies and asthmatics, it can cause hives, itching, chronic runny nose. It was also revealed a negative effect on the liver and kidneys, violations in the functioning of these organs.

Pregnant women are forbidden to encounter the dye in any form: when it enters the body, it can cause malformations in the fetus, and also threatens the unborn baby with congenital allergies.

Today, in states where the use of the substance is not prohibited, product packages containing this additive must be labeled in a special way in order to draw the attention of the buyer to it.

A bright red, magenta or violet powder with strong and persistent coloring properties is still very popular in the UK. It can be found in canned berries and fruits, desserts, jellies and other very attractive looking products.

It is not known exactly why Britain and other countries of the European Union so boldly ignore the results of research by chemists and biologists about the properties of amaranth. However, its danger and harm to human health over the past 50 years is no longer in doubt: the substance has a strong mutagenic, toxic and oncogenic effect, and is a powerful allergen. Although to date, official bans on the use of this dye in cosmetics have not yet been introduced in all states, manufacturers are trying to use it in smaller quantities, gradually switching to more harmless additives. The reason is that amaranth can cause hives not only from eating, but also from contact with mucous membranes and skin. Such cases have been recorded more than once in world practice, in fact, why the attitude towards the substance today has become extremely negative in most countries.

All the additives described in the article are dyes and are artificially synthesized.

E101- nothing more than vitamin B2 (riboflavin); E103 (alkanet, alkanine) extracted from the roots of the Mediterranean plant Alkanna dyer.

Е104 (Quinoline yellow) has impurities of sulfate and sodium chloride, toxic foreign molecules. It is used in the form of sodium salt.

E105- yellow strong (acid), E 123 is called amaranth in a different way, and in some countries, Charming Red.

Features and chemical properties

Technical vitamin B2 is a solid bitter lemon-orange substance, almost insoluble in alcohol and water, stable in an acidic environment.

Sometimes it is used in the form of a better soluble sodium salt. Does not decompose at high temperature, decomposes in the light and in alkalis.

By chemical structure is a sugar combined with a flavin substance. It does not accumulate in the body, with an excess excreted in the urine.

Alkanet is soluble in fats, under the influence of strong oxidants it decomposes into carbon, sulfur, oxides of nitrogen and sulfur.

E 104, E 105, E 123 have 2 nitrogen atoms connected by a double bond, which causes harm to the body. Quinoline yellow is a yellow-green substance, contains several sulfur atoms, melts at 150 °C.

Resistant to alkalis and acids, at high temperatures, light. Dissolves phosphorus and sulfur. It is divided into 2 forms: soluble in alcohol and water.

E 105 is extremely stable in external environments.

Amaranth is obtained from coal and oil.

It dissolves in water, when heated to 120 ° C, it decomposes without melting. It exists in the form of sodium salts.

The annual plant amaranth and the substance of the same name are in no way connected with each other.

The plant is famous for its scarlet flowers and seeds, which are rich in protein and healthy.

Purposes of application

All the additives under consideration restore the lost color of the product after its processing and preparation, give it a marketable appearance.

Vitamin B2 is enriched in food and animal feed, and is also used to make them yellow.

E103 - a dye of gold, burgundy, red or brown.

Quinoline yellow is used on its own to color food lemon-colored or in combination with other dyes to give green, brown, black tones. For example, the yellowish-golden color of smoked fish is not achieved by high temperature, but thanks to this substance.

E 105 tints products in all shades of yellow, and E123 - from blue-red to purple and brown.

Examples of products with these additives

Are they dangerous or not?

Riboflavin is useful, but due to poor solubility, it is almost not absorbed by the intestines.

To intensify the production of the vitamin, it is obtained from genetically modified bacilli and fungi, and GMOs are not useful.

In industrial production, riboflavin always contains impurities that can cause harm.

With its excess intake, urine has an unnatural color, but this does not harm health.

E103 is dangerous and prohibited for use in our country and on the territory of other states of Europe and the USA.

Quinoline yellow has an average hazard class, closer to dangerous. Food Standards Agency on the basis of scientific research in 2009, its limit daily rate was reduced by 20 times. The dye is excreted with bile and urine unchanged, i.e. not absorbed.

Additive E 104 is prohibited in Norway, Australia, Japan and the USA. Now it is added to tablets (in particular, expectorant lozenges and valerian), cosmetics, fabrics.

The dye Yellow strong is highly dangerous. In China, India, Thailand, and other eastern countries, it is widely used for food; in the Customs Union, Ukraine, USA, Canada, Japan and European countries is prohibited.

Amaranth is extremely dangerous. It is allowed in some European countries, Canada and the UK.

What effect do they have on the body?

Riboflavin converts enzymes into an active form, participates in the reactions of some other proteins, in particular antibodies. Helps digest carbohydrates and proteins, deliver oxygen to tissues. Regulates the activity of the thyroid gland, the reproductive system, produces red blood cells.

Lack of vitamin B2 is fraught with consequences:

• stomatitis;
• sore throat;
• cracks and peeling on the lips, jams;
• muscle weakness;
• sensitivity of the eyes to light, their redness;
• cancer.

E 103 provokes oncology (even with irregular use in microquantities in the long term), with short-term contact with eyes and skin causes irritation, rash.

The dye does not have a minimum safe daily dose. Scientific developments in relation to alkanine are ongoing to this day.

Alkanet was banned in Russia only in 2008, while other countries abandoned it about 30 years ago.

Despite the proven harm of E 103, some countries (Australia) continue to add it to food. Therefore, while traveling and buying imported goods, you should carefully read the composition.

What effect does E104 have on the body and what harm does it cause? The use of E 104 in food causes:

• hyperactivity in children;
• suffocation in asthmatic patients, which stops only in medical institutions;
• rash, inflammation of the skin;
• skin allergy;
• inflammation of the nasal mucosa;
• diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;

Dyes E 104 and E 123 should not be used by people with sensitivity to aspirin.

Quinoline yellow, combined with the common preservative sodium benzoate, exacerbates children's attention deficit disorder.

The consequence of this is rapid fatigue and poor health.

E 105 is a carcinogen, with a single consumption it causes an allergy.

Amaranth causes cancer, as well as deformities and heart disease in the fetus, rash, runny nose, negatively affects the ability to reproduce, the kidneys and liver, and causes hyperactivity in children.

Harmful food colorings are found in everyday foods. Unsafe imported goods enter the shelves, bypassing customs bans. How many more people will lose their health until scientists prove the undeniable harm of some supplement is unknown.

Amaranth (E-123) - synthetic dye - prohibited for use on the territory of the Russian Federation. Amaranth formerly used as a food coloring and cosmetic coloring, but after 1976 was banned in the United States by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) as a carcinogen.

It is a water-soluble powder of red-brown or from dark red to purple decomposing at -120 `C without melting. Its aqueous solution has an absorption maximum at about 520 nm. Amaranth obtained from coal tar.

Effects on the body: Very dangerous. Causes malformations in the fetus, has carcinogenic properties.

p.s. there is a plant named Amaranth. This plant has nothing to do with the dye.

Amaranth is an anionic dye. It can be used for dyeing natural and synthetic fabrics, leather, paper and phenol-formaldehyde resins.

As a dietary supplement amaranth registered under code E-123. Ukraine requires mandatory state registration of food additives Amaranth E-123.

Chemical composition and dangerous properties dye E123 Amaranth were studied in the middle of the 20th century. This food additive is considered unsafe for human life, therefore the use of dye is prohibited in the food industry in some countries. The dye E123 was chemically synthesized using nitrogen-containing compounds.

The composition of the dye E123 Amaranth

The substances included in the chemical composition of the dye E123 Amaranth allow you to paint in a wide palette of colors - from shades of blue to deep purple colors. The universal composition of the dye E123 Amaranth can be used not only in food production. Amaranth is stained with leather, paper or fibrous materials.

Food supplement E123 contains nitrogen coloring compounds that mankind has discovered and has been actively using since the 50s of the last century. This substance can be produced at low cost, and as a result, sufficiently stable chemical properties and qualities can be obtained.

Harm of dye E123 Amaranth

The harm of the dye E123 Amaranth lies in the base chemical composition substances. Like most food additives of synthetic origin, E123 is made from coal tar. The name of the dye E123 comes from the Amaranth plant, which is distinguished by the juicy and bright red color of its inflorescences. However, the plant has nothing to do with the chemical currently used in the UK.

The English producers of the famous Canned Cherry delicacy decided to completely ignore the scientifically proven and justified harm of the E123 Amaranth dye, which is still used to give the fruits their characteristic fiery red color. The history of the prohibition of the dye and food additive E123 began back in 1954, when cases of cancer were made public in people who often eat foods with E123.

Then, already in the early 60s, the FDA introduced restrictions on the permissible level of dye content in products. At the same time, the packages of products that contained the E123 Amaranth dye in their composition had to be marked with a special red label so that consumers could make their own choice.

Soviet researchers also contributed to the ban on the dangerous substance dye E123 Amaranth. Studies have been conducted that have linked the consumption of E123 and the occurrence of cancerous tumors. Activists achieved a complete ban on additives in the late 70s. However, E123 has been replaced in the food industry in some countries by a new synthetic additive called "Red Charming AC".

Currently, the dye E123 Amaranth is widely used in the manufacture of cosmetics and cosmetics. Some manufacturers use a dangerous dye in the composition of lipsticks, blush, eye shadow. The dye is used in the chemical industry to color various materials, including paper, fibers or plastics.

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