Keep off food colours: Experts
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INDORE:
That tempting brown pastry at the bakery, bright yellow jalebi, and
blue coloured ice ball to relieve you from the heat. The colourful
eatables may look like a good treat for your taste buds, but it might as
well get you many life threatening diseases. Food colours that have
become irreplaceable ingredients of most of our meals might help improve
appearance of a dish. But it can be responsible for causing many
irreversible effects on our health.
From carcinogens or cancer causing agents in some cases containing toxins like lead and arsenics, a few food colours might lead to severe health hazards. Gastroenterologist Dr Atul Shende sharing his recent experiences wherein food colours came up to be as cause of certain abdominal ailments, said, "Recently we have been receiving many young patients with pancreatitis, it's a condition where pancreas is known to get inflamed. The most common cause for this condition is alcohol consumption or gall bladder stone."
Elaborating, he said, "But in last few cases, patients I treated for this condition were young children. Also, all of them said they had consumed chocolate or black forest pastry, which are known to contain brown food colour. "Not that it had been studied yet, but Shende seemed to be sure of his observation and might take the matter up the matter with food officer." "We are not very sure of the chemical composition of the brown food colour, but I am confident that it has to be blamed. With the uniformity in the cases of pancreatitis and their causes there nothing to suggest otherwise, we might write to the food officer about it in the future."
It's not just one colour which can be treated as a health hazard, chief dietician, Mohak Hospital, Dr Preeti Shukla said, "Food colours that we add to our meals at home to make our food look attractive can cause lifelong damage to body and brain. There are certain colours which cause insomnia, lack of appetite, gastro intestinal problems, skin problems, and some can even lead to cancer. I personally suggest my patients to stay away from such ingredients."
Although there is no getting away from these colours when decide to go out and eat "When you eat at a hotel, and if you happen to order a dish which might have added colours, it would show on your fingers even when washed. So avoid ordering the same dish the next time you eat out or may be eat somewhere else. Eating Chinese food outside can also lead to many health troubles, it contains Ajinomoto or Monosodium glutamate (MSG) which known to have many harmful effects."
Food Officer Indore, Manish Swamy said, "Packaged food that sells in markets normally have food grade colours and are used to according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. Apart from that we conduct regular inspection at eateries and hotels in the city. At an average, 10 hotels are inspected every month. Action is taken against any one found violating rules.
From carcinogens or cancer causing agents in some cases containing toxins like lead and arsenics, a few food colours might lead to severe health hazards. Gastroenterologist Dr Atul Shende sharing his recent experiences wherein food colours came up to be as cause of certain abdominal ailments, said, "Recently we have been receiving many young patients with pancreatitis, it's a condition where pancreas is known to get inflamed. The most common cause for this condition is alcohol consumption or gall bladder stone."
Elaborating, he said, "But in last few cases, patients I treated for this condition were young children. Also, all of them said they had consumed chocolate or black forest pastry, which are known to contain brown food colour. "Not that it had been studied yet, but Shende seemed to be sure of his observation and might take the matter up the matter with food officer." "We are not very sure of the chemical composition of the brown food colour, but I am confident that it has to be blamed. With the uniformity in the cases of pancreatitis and their causes there nothing to suggest otherwise, we might write to the food officer about it in the future."
It's not just one colour which can be treated as a health hazard, chief dietician, Mohak Hospital, Dr Preeti Shukla said, "Food colours that we add to our meals at home to make our food look attractive can cause lifelong damage to body and brain. There are certain colours which cause insomnia, lack of appetite, gastro intestinal problems, skin problems, and some can even lead to cancer. I personally suggest my patients to stay away from such ingredients."
Although there is no getting away from these colours when decide to go out and eat "When you eat at a hotel, and if you happen to order a dish which might have added colours, it would show on your fingers even when washed. So avoid ordering the same dish the next time you eat out or may be eat somewhere else. Eating Chinese food outside can also lead to many health troubles, it contains Ajinomoto or Monosodium glutamate (MSG) which known to have many harmful effects."
Food Officer Indore, Manish Swamy said, "Packaged food that sells in markets normally have food grade colours and are used to according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. Apart from that we conduct regular inspection at eateries and hotels in the city. At an average, 10 hotels are inspected every month. Action is taken against any one found violating rules.
