# Cross Talk between Synthetic Food Colors (Azo Dyes), Oral Flora, and Cardiovascular Disorders
## 2 Food Colors, Oral Flora and Cardiovascular Disorders
### Effects of Food Colors on Human Health  
Color pigments are an important part of food, which imparts the attractive appearance of the food product. The natural food shade tends to lessen during storage and processing, which is why synthetic food colors become a technological necessity. Most food-borne diseases result because of consuming non-permitted textile colors in direct and indirect ways, which are discharged as industrial effluents in the environment. The majority of food dyes tested in conventional toxicity experiments or parameters reported toxic effects at a very high level of consumption [18; 19]. Several studies have reported that some synthetic food colors are cancer-causing and have adverse effects on the human body, as well as animals. Red 3 causes DNA damage (cancer) in animals, and there is other evidence showing that several other dyes are also carcinogenic. The consumption of Red No. 3 was reported with estrogen-like growth stimulatory properties and resulted in being genotoxic, and it had significant risk factors in human breast carcinogenesis [20]. Three dyes, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6, have also been reported to be adulterate with other carcinogens or benzidine [21]. According to the FoodAdditives Amendment of 1958, it is healthier to use the product that is naturally prepared than to utilize the product containing synthetic food colors, which is harmful to human health [22]. Artificial food colors also cause hypertension in children. Scientists at Southampton University discovered a genetic component that determines how food dyes influence a child. Studies claimed that there is a minor but notable association between hyperactivity in children and artificial food dyes [23; 24]. Synthetic food colors also have some allergic effects on the human body. Several studies showed that tartrazine, which is also known as Yellow 5, causes hives and asthma symptoms. In a study conducted in people with chronic swelling and hives, 52% had an allergic reaction to most of the synthetic food colors; Red 40 and Yellow 5 and 6 are the most common synthetic food colors used in industrial and commercial levels, and they are the three most likely to cause or have allergic responses [17; 25; 26].  
Different factors affect human health:  
* The most evidential claim about azo dyes (synthetic food colors) is that they are carcinogenic.
* They cause different skin diseases, e.g., skin allergies, and cause hyperactivity in children.
* They produce different periodontal and gum disorders when azo dyes present in food are reduced to aromatic amines by the help of azoreductase enzyme. The break downing of azo compounds releases different carcinogenic amines in the oral cavity, which leads to many gum diseases, such as tartar or plaque formation.  
Synthetic food colors have no nutritional benefits, which is why they have to be prohibited. Processed foods that are produced by the combination or addition of different additives have no nutritional value because the cleaved product present in azo dyes, such as benzidine, causes different human and animal tumors. Another azo dye component, p-phenylenediamine, causes allergic reactions. These are also the leading cause of hyperactivity in children, including ADHD, and behavioral and hormonal changes, such as the effect of tartrazine and erythrosine on reproductive hormones and testicular genes in testis of male Wister rats. They also cause irritability and depression, hives, and asthma [27].