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Monday's Health Report: FDA phasing out petroleum-based synthetic dyes from foods by end of year
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BATON ROUGE — The FDA recently announced plans to phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes from foods in the United States due to health concerns, which may mean an adjustment for consumers.
In Louisiana, there is a bill in the state legislature that aims to ban blue No. 1 and No. 2, green No. 3, red No. 40, as well as yellow No. 5 and No. 6 from school foods.
"We have to do our part in Louisiana and show that we're serious about our metabolic health and the health of our children," SB 14's author, State Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, said in March.
Nationally, 26 states are seeking to ban dyes and other additives, a tracker by the Environmental Working Group found.
"It will not impact the nutritional value, and in turn it will, and should, enhance the nutritional value of the foods. It may change the way the foods appear slightly, but nutritionally, it will improve the food as long as what they're replacing the dyes with are a better alternative,” Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian, said.
Petroleum-based synthetic dyes are typically used to add color to highly processed foods like cookies, candy and cereal. Removing them should not impact the flavor or texture.
If you want to know whether food has those kinds of dyes in it, you will have to look at the ingredient list. If there are dyes in a food, it will say "FD&C" followed by the color.
Eating healthier, whole foods means you will not have to check the labels.
"Whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean sources of protein, that's where we really, really want to focus on filling up your diet with foods that are natural, one ingredient foods versus looking at processed foods and then really have to dig in deep into the ingredients. Because again, if those foods have the dyes, they're probably going have a lot of other synthetic and unnatural ingredients in addition to the dyes that are equally as unhealthy. So, choosing a whole food-based diet is just really a safe way to go,” Zumpano said.
The FDA says the dyes should be phased out by the end of next year.
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