Coca-Cola and Pepsi deny their soft drinks cause cancer, but studies show that the caramel coloring ingredient used in Coca-Cola and Pepsi can cause cancer.
A widely consumed beverage, colas are known for their dark colors and fizzy taste. New revelations point to a hidden danger in those colas, that many consumers are unaware of. On February 22, 2011, Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D and Executive Director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, CSPI, appeared in the Huffington Post with accusations against both Coca-Cola and Pepsi soda drinks.
Caramel Food Colorings Contain 4-Methylimidazole: Carcinogen
Caramel food colorings are used in many dark beverages and some beers to give a darker and "caramelized" color to the product. As Jacobsen reports, there are four different types of caramel coloring that are used as additives in certain beverages.
The first caramel coloring is simply made by melting and browning sugar, thus creating a caramel color. However, the other three methods of producing a caramel color involves reacting sugar with other chemical compounds. Caramel coloring can be achieved when reacting sugar with sulfites, sugar with ammonium compounds, or, in Coca-Cola and Pepsi's case, reacting sugar with both ammonium and sulfite compounds. Coloring made from the last recipe is also called "Caramel IV" or "ammonia-sulfite process caramel."
When sugars are reacted with ammonia, byproducts such as 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole are able to form.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi Caramel Coloring 4-Methylimadazole Causes Cancer
4-Methylimadazole has shown to be harmful to health and is capable of causing cancer. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has provided notice of intent to list 4-Methylimadazole as a chemical that can cause cancer.
The National Toxicology Program reports that a study involving rats and mice yielded mixed results when it came to ingesting 4-methylimidazole. Male rats who were exposed to the chemical showed no evidence that it caused cancer. However, female rats showed equivocal evidence of Monoluclear cell leukemia. The studies involving mice showed that both the male and female mice displayed clear evidence that 4-methylimidazole caused carcinogenic activity.
On January 7, 2011, The State of California put 4-Methylimadazole on the list of Proposition 65, which contains chemicals known to cause cancer.
FDA Asked to Ban Certain Caramel Colorings In Coca-Cola and Pepsi Drinks
The CSPI is asking the U.S Food and Drug Administration, FDA, to ban certain caramel colorings that are used in darker colored beverages. Those colorings that use sugar reacted with ammonia are the ones that produce the byproducts 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole and are the ones that the CSPI are asking the FDA to ban.
Manufacturers such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi can still use caramel colorings made from reacting sugars with sulfites, as they have not shown to produce cancer-causing byproducts.
American Beverage Association Denies Danger of 4-Methylimadazole
Opposing the CSPI's accusations, the American Beverage Association, ABE, has denied the dangers of the byproduct 4-Methylimadazole, 4-MEI, and indicates that there is no threat whatsoever to human health. The ABE further states that the CSPI is trying to scare the general public and that there is no proof that 4-MEI causes cancer in humans.
The studies done by the National Toxicology Program did not, in fact, test any humans to determine carcinogenic activity. The study only involved mice and rats and did prove that 4-MEI is able to cause cancer, though it's not yet determined what species may be affected.
The concern was great enough for the State of California however, and the addition of 4-Methylimidazole to Proposition 65 was effective as of January 7, 2011.
The American Beverage Association further backs up their denial that 4-MEI causes cancer, by stating that " ...people have been safely drinking colas for more than a century....".
Human studies have not yet been concluded to determine if 4-MEI causes cancer in humans and whether or not individuals who consumer dark-colored beverages have a higher instance of cancer than those who do not consumer dark-colored beverages.
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