I believe that I can safely say that everyone has enjoyed candy from time to time. For some it is a guilty pleasure, for others it is a daily occurrence. Either way candy seemingly has woven itself into American culture, and can be seen and sold in any given store, sports event, airplane, air port. You name it, candy is sold there. There are even some health benefits in candy, specifically cocoa. The development of recent technology has allowed scientist to properly map the metabolic pathway of cocoa and provide essential information to its roles in the human body. It has been found to help weight loss by improving mitochondrial biogenesis, increasing muscle glucose uptake, and its antioxidant properties offers neuron protection and improved cognition (Latif, R 2013).
Yet I do not believe that the heath detriments aside from the high sugar intake are spoken about enough. Titanium Dioxide is an inorganic material found everywhere in society. Most white surface paints contain TiO2, and is used in a wide variety of consumer goods such as sunscreen, cosmetics, paint, plastics, paper, wall paper and more. (American chemistry council). TiO2 can also be found in candies that have a hard outer shell, such as skittles and starbursts, to make them look shiner and have a more uniform smooth look, (environmental working group). TiO2 has undergone studies by the European Food Safety Authority (ESFA), and it was determined that once enough TiO2 has been sequestered within the body it can begin to have geneotoxic effects (EWG). Animal models displayed that TiO2 particles had the ability to induce DNA strand breaks and cause chromosomal damage, but not induce gene mutations. Through these studies the EFSA has deemed titanium dioxide as unsafe for consumption. If DNA effects have been observed within models, why is TiO2 still deemed safe by the FDA? Is the appearance of candy really worth literal genetic effects within the body? It is time for the FDA to undergo its own studies on TiO2 and review the additives safety.
In this class we are taught about how stress can have health effects on our bodies, and how to work to combat these stresses though outlets such as exercise, proper sleep, kindness and social connections, and gratitude and savoring. I believe that this is a wakeup call to look a little closer into some food that we may think and taste as sweet, but may really be causing unseen damage within us.
Latif, R. (2013). Health benefits of cocoa. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 16(6), 669–674. https://doi.org/10.1097/MCO.0b013e328365a235
https://www.americanchemistry.com/chemistry-in-america/chemistries/titanium-dioxide
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2021/08/thousands-childrens-sweets-contain-additive-unsafe-human-consumption
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6585
This was an interesting take on the effects of candy on our bodies. We have always been told not to eat too much candy because it has "too much sugar". It was interesting to see how there are other substances that can be harmful that are often overlooked. Aside from the Titanium Dioxide discussed, it is important to relate those harmful effects with other long term effects such as obesity. Obesity is a major problem in our country and sugars with high glycemic indexes, such as those in commercial candies, may have a significant role as they are rapidly digested which causes a spike in our blood glucose, exacerbating hunger and preventing us from being satiated (Penforte, 2013). This is an important implication to note the effect of sugar's role in causing long term health problems in conjunction with the consumption of harmful materials such as the Titanium Dioxide discussed.
ReplyDeletePenaforte FR, Japur CC, Pigatto LP, Chiarello PG, Diez-Garcia RW. Short-term impact of sugar consumption on hunger and ad libitum food intake in young women. Nutr Res Pract. 2013 Apr;7(2):77-81. doi: 10.4162/nrp.2013.7.2.77. Epub 2013 Apr 1. PMID: 23610598; PMCID: PMC3627933.
I was interested by your article and decided to investigate further. I read that the FDA limits TiO2 abundance to 1% of the weight of the food. If hypothetically, TiO2 were to meet the 1% limit in 1 pound of food, there could be around 4,500 mgs of TiO2. To me this does not sound like a lot when you consider that it was found that 1,000 mg/kg body weight per day did not cause any reproductive or developmental issues (Younes, 2021). Compounding this with the estimate that children under 10 years of age may ingest 1-2 mgs of TiO2 per day, I began to wonder if the bodies elimination would make TiO2 accumulation in tissues a nonissue (Barreau et al., 2021). That was until I read Barreau et al. further and discovered that when preliminary tests to measure urine and feces for TiO2 was hardly able to detect any elimination of the substance. I agree that more research is needed for how and at what rates TiO2 accumulation and elimination occurs in humans because it is conceivable that under the right circumstances TiO2 could build up in a young enough person and cause issues. In my personal life some of my hobbies put me at risk of developing heavy metal poisoning from lead, so this topic idea tugs at that paranoia I harbor, but I still can't help but wonder (assuming my fast and dirty math can be trusted) if this issue should be lower on my list concerns when compared to other additives the FDA allows in foods. None the less, thank you for bringing this to my attention because it was very thought provoking when considering effective doses when comparing between human and animal models from the literature.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Younes, M., Aquilina, G., Castle, L., Engel, K. H., Fowler, P., Frutos Fernandez, M. J., Fürst, P., Gundert‐Remy, U., Gürtler, R., Husøy, T., Manco, M., Mennes, W., Moldeus, P., Passamonti, S., Shah, R., Waalkens‐Berendsen, I., Wölfle, D., Corsini, E., Cubadda, F., … Wright, M. (2021). Safety assessment of titanium dioxide (E171) as a food additive. EFSA Journal, 19(5). https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6585
Barreau F, Tisseyre C, Ménard S, Ferrand A, Carriere M. Titanium dioxide particles from the diet: involvement in the genesis of inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer. Part Fibre Toxicol. 2021 Jul 30;18(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s12989-021-00421-2. PMID: 34330311; PMCID: PMC8323234.