What is in the cola pigment?

The U.S. Consumer Health Organization’s Public Interest Science Center issued a statement on March 5 local time, saying that researchers found chemical 4-methylimidazole in Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Diet Coke and Pepsi Light, which contains In the pigment, it is enough to reach the alert level of additives in California, and expose people to the risk of a carcinogenic chemical. This report has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and requires the use of this coloring agent in Coke.

This news suddenly caught people's attention. What exactly is 4-methylimidazole? Can these drinks continue to drink?

4-Methylimidazole Is Potentially Toxic In the medical field, 4-methylimidazole is mainly used for the synthesis of cimetidine, a drug for the treatment of peptic ulcers. The 4-methylimidazole in beverages is traced to caramel color, a commonly used colorant in foods.

Caramel is the world's largest natural pigment, widely used in soy sauce, vinegar, rice wine, beer and some baked foods and beverages. In the industrial production, the caramel color directly processed from sugar does not contain 4-methylimidazole; however, the caramel color produced by most manufacturers at home and abroad generally uses ammonia compounds as catalysts, or sugar, ammonia, and nitrous acid. Salts are formed under high pressure and high temperature, called ammonia caramel color, which will produce a certain dose of 4-methylimidazole, which is potentially toxic.

According to foreign scholars' research, a certain dose of 4-methylimidazole was added to the rat feed for a continuous period of 106 weeks. The average weight of the poisoned rats was lower than that of the control group, and clonic seizures, excitement, and hyperactivity were observed. And abnormal gait; the high concentration of poisoned rats, the incidence of mononuclear leukemia was significantly higher than the control group; all infected rats, have liver cell proliferation, chronic inflammation and focal fatty degeneration.

The Joint FAO, WHO and International Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives believes that caramel color is safe as a food coloring. The content of 4-methylimidazole in ammonia caramel color should be less than 200 mg/kg, and ammonia caramel The allowable daily intake of pigment is 200 mg/kg body weight. According to our country's regulations, 4-methylimidazole is not detectable for non-ammoniacaramel pigments, and for amycolachin pigments, the content of 4-methylimidazole should be less than 0.02%.

The key to assessing the safety of 4-methylimidazole in a carcinogenic coke that can be consumed by a thousand cans a day is its dose. At present, relevant specific data have not been given. According to people's normal consumption levels, if the 4-methylimidazole does not exceed the daily allowable intake of the human body, it cannot be concluded that it is hazardous to health. To date, no clinical reports of 4-methylimidazole in food have caused human damage.

According to a report from the American Center for Public Health Science on Consumer Interest, the American Beverage Association stated that the prohibition on the use of colorants is a "reckless attack." There is no evidence that 4-methylimidazole can cause cancer in humans. A spokesperson for the US Food and Drug Administration said via email that there is no reason to believe that the substance could pose any direct risk because a person must drink more than 1,000 cans of coke in one day in order to achieve the results shown in the study. Dosage for carcinogenic risk in rodents.