FDA urged to prohibit carcinogenic caramel coloring

The “caramel coloring” used in Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other foods is contaminated with two cancer-causing chemicals and should be banned, according to a regulatory petition filed Wednesday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

In contrast to the caramel one might make at home by melting sugar in a saucepan, 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, said 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,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. “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. CSPI wants the Food and Drug Administration 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 CSPI in calling on the FDA to bar the use of caramel colorings made with an ammonia process. “The American public should not be exposed to any cancer risk whatsoever as a result of consuming such chemicals, especially when they serve a non-essential, cosmetic purpose,” the scientists wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

코카 콜라에 발암 물질인 ‘캐러멜색소’ 사용금지 촉구

워싱턴 소재 미국 공익을 위한 과학원(CSPI)은 수요일 코카콜라와 펩시 그 밖의 음식에 쓰이는 “캐러멜 색소”가 두 가지 발암 화학물질에 오염돼 사용을 금지하도록 하라고 미국식품의약국에 촉구했다.

플라이팬에 설탕을 녹여 만드는 캐러멜과 대조적으로 콜라와 일부 식품에 있는 인공 갈색색소는 고압과 고열에서 설탕과 암모니아 및 유황과 화학작용을 일으켜 만들어진다는 것이다.

CSPI는 화학작용은 2-메틸이미다졸(2-MI)와 4-메티이미다졸(4-MI)가 만들어지는데 정부 주도의 쥐 실험에서 연구에서 폐, 간 및 갑상선암이나 백혈병을 일으켰다고 밝혔다.

이 같은 동물 실험을 한 미국환경보건과학원의 국가독성프로그램은 2-MI와 4-MI 둘 다 동물의 발암물질이라는 게 “분명한 증거”라고 말했다.

캘리포니아대 연구원들은 콜라 5개 브랜드에서 높은 수준의 4-MI를 발견했다.

마이클 제이콥슨 CSPI 전무이사는 “특히 이들의 유일한 기능이 성형용임을 감안하면 발암성 색소는 식량공급에서 있을 수 없는 일”이라며 “FDA는 암모니아로 만들어진 캐러멜색소 승인을 조속히 철회해야 한다”고 말했다.