Cytotoxic and Mito depressive potential of Sunset Yellow FCF on Chara vulgaris (n=28)

Abstract

The food industry is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world, generating significant profits. Because the colour of our food visually arouses our desire, manufacturers add synthetic food colours to a variety of foods to make them more alluring. Synthetic food colours, being chemical in nature, are expected to be detrimental to humans. Children are more likely to be fascinated by foods with bright colour additives, putting them at high risk. Sunset Yellow FCF, a widely used yellow synthetic food colour, has been investigated for its cytotoxic and mito depressive potential in this study. Sunset yellow’s cytotoxic effects were tested in Chara vulgaris (n=28) using mitotic index, nuclear, and chromosomal assays. The mitotic index decreased dramatically with increase in the concentration and time of treatment, indicating that Sunset yellow was mitodepressive in nature. A wide spectrum of nuclear and chromosomal abnormalities also have been discovered, with the incidence of abnormalities increasing as the Sunset Yellow concentrations and treatment period rose. These findings clearly indicate that the Sunset Yellow has cytotoxic and mito depressive potential. Utmost caution must be taken while using Sunset yellow as a food additive.