This study estimated the theoretical maximum daily intake (TMDI) of Sunset Yellow (SY) synthetic food dye by the Brazilian population through food consumption data from the Household Budget Survey (HBS) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE, 2008/09). The study covered the population in urban and rural areas in the five regions of the country, and from different age groups, in order to verify if it were possible to exceed the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of SY, which is 4.0 mg kg body weight. This was assessed by cross-checking food products containing this dye from the largest supermarket chains in Brazil with data from the HBS-IBGE 2008/09. These data showed that the average consumption of SY per capita did not exceed the ADI in any of the aforementioned population groups. However, when considering food consumption in urban and rural areas (279 and 260 mg of SY day), in the five regions of the country (260-338 mg of SY day), and for adolescents (332 mg SY day), it is noted that part of the population could be exceeding the recommended ADI, which may pose health risks. Although it is unlikely that individuals will exceed the SY ADI, this may occur in some cases, especially for younger people.
There are very few studies evaluating the exposure of the general population to food colours. This study aimed to estimate the Theoretical Maximum Daily Intake (TMDI) by the Brazilian population of four rather seldom-used synthetic food colours: Azorubine, Erythrosine, Indigotine, and Ponceau 4R. The study was conducted using data from the two most recent National Household Budget Surveys (carried out in 2008/2009 and 2017/2018). The study covered the country's population, sorted into the following groups: gender, geographic region, and age (among people older than 10 years). The results show that the mean TMDI (mg/day) does not exceed the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) in any population group for any of the food colours. The highest values found were 12.5% of the ADI for Erythrosine in 2008/2009 and 4% in 2017/2018. A decrease in the mean TMDI was observed for all food colours comparing 2008/2009 and 2017/2018. Intake increases with decreasing age, adolescents being the group with the highest mean TMDI. When considering the prevalence of food consumption instead of the mean consumption, TMDI gets closer to the ADI, reaching 79% of the ADI of Erythrosine for adolescent females. The intake of these food colours proved to be within the recommended levels.
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