Caramel Coloring Causes Cancer?

The more I learn about food additives, the more convinced I am that food manufacturers care nothing about people's health and are only interested in selling their "food" to make money. One food additive widely used is caramel coloring. I never gave this substance much thought until I was reading the ingredients of some infant liquid vitamins recommended to us by our pediatrician for our baby. "Doesn't caramel coloring cause cancer?" my husband asked. I had never heard that it does, but if it does, what is it doing in my baby's vitamins that are supposed to help her grow healthy and strong? This warranted some research.

From this website http://members.aol.com/nosulfites/caramel.htm I found how caramel coloring began:

"In 1880, Charles Sethness, a 25 year old self-educated immigrant, started a flavor and syrup business in Chicago. Within a few years, he was heating sugar in iron kettles to produce caramel color for whiskey. Today, his grandsons and great grandsons run the Sethness Products Company, the world’s leading supplier of caramel color. Although the single largest use of caramel color is soft drinks, it is also used in an incredible number of other foods. Today, caramel color is manufactured by heating corn syrup, usually under pressure, in large stainless steel reactors."

I also learned that there are four classes of caramel color based on chemical additives:

· Class I Caramel Color (no additives low sulfites)
· Class II Caramel Color (sulfite additives very high sulfites)
· Class III Caramel Color (ammonia additives low sulfites)
· Class IV Caramel Color (sulfite and ammonia very high sulfites)

It seems that some caramel colorings are worse than others, depending on their chemical additives. Manufacturers a required to list caramel coloring when they use it, but they are not required to list the class.

From a science website (http://sci-toys.com/ingredients/fdc_colors.html), I learned that different products require differently charged atoms of caramel coloring so the color will remain stable. It states that, "caramel color can be made with either positively or negatively charged particles. This allows manufacturers to use negative colloidal caramel in acidic soft drinks, and positive in beers and soy sauces. Beer has positively charged proteins suspended in it, and soy sauce has a high salt content that requires the more salt-tolerant positive caramel color. " From this I assume that the caramel color class used depends on the type of product it is coloring.

I found 2 websites claiming caramel coloring to be cancer causing. The first website says, "Caramel coloring is burnt sugar. Ask any biologist about burnt sugar, and he will tell you that it is a carcinogen. Additionally, scientists have used caramel coloring in lab experiments on mice to interfere with leukocyte action (white cells). In other words, caramel coloring is immunosuppressive. The FDA knows this and insures that anything containing caramel coloring must note this on the label. Just luckily, this immunosuppressive property of caramel coloring drops away when you quit ingesting it." http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/misc/hidden_h.htm#Caramel%20Coloring

The other website says, "Cola drinks contain caramel coloring which, according to some researchers, has genetic effects and is a cancer-causing suspect. http://www.themuslimwoman.com/hertongue/SoftDrink.htm

I have yet to read the actual words of researchers who have found caramel coloring to cause cancer, but the claims stated above are reasonable. After all, it's basic knowledge that burned food is carcinogenic and not healthy to eat. It makes sense that burnt sugar is no exception. It also makes sense to me that sugar, and thus caramel coloring which is derived from sugar, is immunosuppressive. That explains why I almost always got sick around the holidays when I was young - they were times when I ate a lot of candy and other sweet things.

As for genetic effects, it would not surprise me if it's true, but I have no further evidence one way or the other at this time. I would love to see any research done on this subject.

I have come to the conclusion that caramel coloring may cause cancer and it may not. Perhaps it is used in small enough amounts that it doesn't cause harm. I believe it may be a better food coloring than the coal tar/petroleum based ones, but because my philosphy is to stick with more natural products, I will try to avoid those that contain caramel coloring as well as all artificial colorings.

Carrageenan

An ingredient I continue to see in many dairy and other products was unfamiliar to me and I wanted to do some research to find out what it was. This ingredient was carrageenan. Where does it come from, why is it used, and is it safe, were some of the questions I had about it.

The answers I found were a little bit scary! Carrageenan is a gelatin-type substance derived from a red seaweed often called Irish Moss. Major use of it began in the 1930s and the Philippines is the largest producer of it. Carrageenan is used in products to give them more substance and texture - to make them thick and creamy. Sounds safe enough. But studies and many people's personal experiences indicate otherwise.

Carrageenan has been found to cause health problems for many people, including vomiting, ulcerative colitis, bowel inflammatory problems, colon cancer,and possibly even breast cancer. One researcher has done tests involving carrageenan on human tissues (not just animals) and found that carrageenan definitely had negative effects on breast and bowel tissues. See a blog discussing these results at: http://www.notmilk.com/carageenan.html. Another great website to check out that discusses carrageenan and research done on it is found at http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-81760722.html.

Carrageenan is added to many products people consume on a daily basis. These products include ice cream, whipping cream, sour cream, frozen yogurt, cottage cheese, soy milk products, granola bars, fruit rolls, condensed milk, powdered chocolate milk, processed meats, and many others. For many of these foods, there are brands that don't include carrageenan. Check labels and choose more natural products. It's a scary thought that so many food manufacturers will put harmful additives in our food to make things more convenient or less expensive for themselves. But it is important to remember that we always have a choice and if we all choose the healthier alternatives, manufacturers will eventually catch on.

Even though I have never personally experienced any negative effects of carrageenan that I know of, evidence seems to show that carageenan is a harmful food additive. What I learned about carrageenan is enough to convince me to avoid it as much as possible!