Leukotriene B4 from Dixit et al (2014)
Nutrition. 2018 February. 46:36-40
This study found that 11.54% of the 1,681 processed items examined in a local supermarket in Singapore contained at least one of five food dyes — of which tartrazine (Yellow 5), sunset yellow (Yellow 6), and allura red (Red 40) were most prevalent.
The researchers then examined human blood neutrophils and found that all five dyes increased the synthesis of leukotriene B4 and F2-isoprostanes – in other words, they said, these dyes promote inflammation and and suggest a potential health risk.
QUOTE: “This finding is significant as oxidative damage has been implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and stroke.”
NOTE: The picture which I used to illustrate Leukotriene B4 signaling comes from Dixit et al (2014) in which Dixit et al. explain that the bone erosion in inflammatory arthritis involves activation of specialized bone-resorbing cells called osteoclasts. Since the authors shows that Leukotriene B4 increases the formation of osteoclasts, while we now see that food dyes increase the Leukotriene B4, it occurs to me that another potential health risk from food dyes would be an increase in bone loss and arthritis.
