Red Dye 3, New Nutrition Labels, and More

Public Health Without Politics offers health tips, policy insights, and strategies to combat America's chronic disease crisis.

In this issue:

• FDA bans Red Dye 3

• New nutrition labels coming

• Tips on how you can exercise, eat, and feel better this week

Spotlight on Health Policy: A Big Week for FDA

FDA Bans Red Dye 3

On January 15, the FDA banned Red Dye No. 3 from foods due to concerns about its potential cancer risk.

How will this impact me? Red Dye No. 3 is in many different foods, including candy, frosting, baked goods, and certain brands of drinks. When the regulation takes effect, food manufactures will have to find alternative food colorings to use, and some of your staple foods will have alternative ingredients.

My thoughts: While the FDA acknowledges that the mechanism causing cancer in rats doesn’t apply to humans and that human exposure levels are minimal compared to what was given the rats, the decision to ban Red Dye No. 3 is mandated by the 1958 Delaney Clause—which mandates that any substance shown to cause cancer in humans or animals cannot be permitted in food, regardless of dose or differences in biology.

This outdated law makes no distinction between laboratory findings in rodents and real-world human exposure, leaving the FDA with little flexibility.

Bottom line: Red Dye No. 3 likely doesn’t cause cancer in humans, and this regulation is just an added cost pushed on food manufactures to find alternatives—like Beetlejuice (carmine).

Read the full post on my Substack here.