Why You Need to Know About Artificial Dyes
Recently I was diagnosed as being anemic. I suppose this should not have come as a great surprise. I consume very little meat and my diet lately has not exactly included a large amount of dark leafy greens.
So after making some tweaks to my grocery list, I also decided to invest in an iron supplement.
Tired and eager to get home after a late hot yoga class last week, I stopped briefly at the pharmacy to buy an iron supplement. On just about any other day you’d find me scrutinizing the ingredient label, but I was exhausted and without looking twice, I hastily paid for the recommended iron supplement and was on my way.
The next day, when looking over the ingredients in the iron pills, I was surprised when I saw that in addition to other harmful non-medicinal ingredients, such as sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and carrageenan, there were 4 dyes added to my iron supplements. These included: Yellow 6, Red 2, Red 3 and Yellow 10.
Reading the ingredients off a few other popular iron supplements, I found much the same. Generally three to four artificial colours such as Red 28, Yellow 10 and Red 40.
What are the risks posed by these dyes?
Red 2: In the US, the the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of Red 2, after…
