What You Must Know about Food Dyes

Anyone who has ever looked at a nutrition label knows that there are lots of additives in the foods we eat. Some of these additives may help enhance freshness, keep food from spoiling, or boost its nutritional impact. In fact, the FDA regulates about 2,500 food additives that you could be ingesting. Out of these thousands of additives, there are seven that you really should know about.

These are chemical dyes. Unlike additives to fortify food or help preserve it, food dyes offer no nutritional benefit, or any other benefit for that matter. Food dyes exist only to make food look better. Beyond that, they serve no purpose. That would not be so bad if food dyes were all made from beets or saffron or paprika or turmeric other foods—and some are. But some aren’t.

Here are 10 things you need to know about what could be lurking in the food you eat every day.

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