The Burrill Report

As if soft drinks causing obesity and rotting teeth wasn’t enough, now the dark coloring in colas and other dark drinks may also cause cancer. That is what the Center for Science in the Public Interest says in a regulatory petition filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that says the “caramel coloring” used in Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other foods is contaminated with two cancer-causing chemicals and should be banned.

Unlike real caramel made by melting sugar and cooking it, the artificial brown coloring in colas and some other products is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites under high pressure and temperatures. Chemical reactions result in the formation of 2-methylimidazole and 4 methylimidazole, which in government-conducted studies caused lung, liver, or thyroid cancer or leukemia in laboratory mice or rats.

The National Toxicology Program, the division of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences that conducted the animal studies, says that there is “clear evidence” that both 2-MI and 4-MI are animal carcinogens. Chemicals that cause cancer in animals are considered to pose cancer threats to humans. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, found significant levels of 4-MI in five brands of cola.

“Carcinogenic colorings have no place in the food supply, especially considering that their only function is a cosmetic one,” says Michael Jackson, Center for Science in the Public Interest executive director. “The FDA should act quickly to revoke its approval of caramel colorings made with ammonia.”

Federal regulations distinguish among four types of caramel coloring, two of which are produced with ammonia and two without it. The Center for Science in the Public Interest wants the FDA to prohibit the two made with ammonia. The type used in colas and other dark soft drinks is known as Caramel IV, or ammonia sulfite process caramel. Caramel III, which is produced with ammonia but not sulfites, is sometimes used in beer, soy sauce, and other foods.

Five prominent experts on animal carcinogenesis, including several who have worked at the National Toxicology Program, joined the Center for Science in the Public Interest in calling on the FDA to bar the use of caramel colorings made with an ammonia process.

Coca Cola claims its caramel coloring contains only one of the compounds found by the researchers, that it is formed naturally when sugar is browned in cooking, and is found in trace amounts in a variety of foods and beverages, as reported by Reuters. The American Beverage Association  says that the center’s claims were “scare tactics.”

“Caramel color is not a threat to human health even when it contains minute amounts of 4-MEI. Studies show that and FDA has agreed by classifying caramel color as generally recognized as safe,” the association says. “And that’s the affirmed position of the federal government’s health agencies, as well as regulatory agencies around the world.”

The Center for Science in the Public Interest also urged the agency to change the phrase “caramel coloring” when used to describe colorings made with ammonia or sulfite, and not let companies label products containing these colorings as “natural.”

The levels of 4-MI in the tested colas still may be causing thousands of cancers in the U.S. population, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The put risk from caramel coloring in context, the center says that the ten teaspoons of obesity-causing sugars in a non-diet can of soda presents a greater health risk than the ammonia sulfite process caramel.






February 17, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-hard_hit_to_soft_drinks.html