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Consumer Health & Wellness
March 2008 - Vol 3, Issue 3
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Greetings,

Chemical risk assessments are currently performed for single chemicals individually. That is, consumer exposure to a chemical is assessed in isolation from all other chemicals to which they are exposed.

In this month's article we see that cumulative exposures to multiple chemicals can be harmful even if there are no high exposures to any individual chemical.

What does this mean for current methods of risk assessment? Read on to find out.

Recently the Food Standards Agency advised parents with children showing signs of hyperactivity that they should consider cutting certain artificial colours from their diets.

This was as a result of research carried out by Southampton University, which suggested that eating or drinking certain mixes of artificial food colours together with the preservative sodium benzoate could be linked to a negative effect on children's behaviour including the potential to cause Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD or Hyperkinetic Disorder) is an extreme form of hyperactivity that is clinically diagnosed when specific patterns of behaviour occur together to a strong degree. It is characterised by inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity such that they impair learning and function at home and at school.

Currently additives are regulated using the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) legal limit of exposure. The ADI is the amount of a food additive that could be taken daily for an entire life-span without appreciable risk. ADIs are typically expressed in mg per kg bodyweight (mg / kg bw). These limits are produced from animal toxicological studies. Chemical concentrations are limited so that consumer exposure levels higher than these ADIs are unlikely to occur.

The artificial food colours examined in the Southampton study are listed here with their associated ADIs:

  • Sunset yellow (E110) [ADI: 2.5 mg/kg bw]
  • Quinoline yellow (E104) [ADI: 10 mg/kg bw]
  • Carmoisine (E122) [ADI: 4 mg/kg bw]
  • Allura red (E129) [ADI: 7 mg/kg bw]
  • Tartrazine (E102) [ADI: 7.5 mg/kg bw]
  • Ponceau 4R (E124) [ADI: 4 mg/kg bw]

* Reference for ADIs: the Nordic Food Additive Database

Conservative exposure assessments are performed for each chemical in an attempt to ensure that concentration levels in products will not cause consumer exposure levels greater than the ADI.

But, assessing each chemical individually for exposure and comparing them to the ADI does not address the risk of adverse effects from cumulative exposure to multiple chemicals.

In order to move from risk assessments for individual chemicals to multiple chemicals - a more realistic method of risk assessment is required.
There are a number of new items of interest in the online CREMe Research Network (CRN) including a new section which aggregates global food safety news.

The CREMe newsletter is our way of communicating with you - the food, nutrition and chemical safety professionals of this world. You have received this newsletter either because: you have signed up for it, you have expressed an interest in our CREMe products and services over the last number of years, we have worked on a project together or you have joined CRN.

CREMe promotes health and safety by enabling industry, regulators and researchers to understand consumer intakes and exposures. If you have any questions or queries on our articles or if you would like us to discuss a particular topic, please contact us. This and all previous newsletters are available at: the CREMe Newsletter site.

Yours Sincerely,
Cronan McNamara
CREMe Software Ltd.

phone: +353 1 677 0071