Are Skittles Toxic from Titanium Dioxide?

A recent lawsuit has grabbed headlines and raised consumer concerns with its claim that Skittles have a chemical known as titanium dioxide. According to the suit, the European Union is banning titanium dioxide as a food Additive.

Titanium dioxide is safe for consumption in the US, Canada and many other countries. What is the science saying about the chemical used in cosmetics and sunscreens? Scientific American reached out to toxicologists to find out if titanium dioxide causes harm. We asked Mars to comment, but they didn't reply by the time we published. There is no proof that the chemical poses a danger to people. Europe has acted out of an abundance of caution due to some hints from animal studies. A senior scientist at the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment says that saying it's safe is different from saying it's unsafe.

Why are titanium dioxide used in products?

Skittles, as well as a number of other candies, as well as a range of other products, are made with titanium dioxide. It is good at scattering visible light, which adds to a brighter, richer color. Titanium dioxide is a popular sunscreen because of its effectiveness against the sun's harmful rays.

Titanium dioxide is regulated in the U.S.

The FDA considers the chemical safe when it comes to food, drugs and cosmetics. Titanium dioxide needs to meet certain specifications in order to be used in food. It can't exceed 1 percent by weight of the food it's added to.

Why is it being banned in the U.S.?

Titanium dioxide is being phased out in Europe along with thousands of other chemicals in a variety of products. The effort is sometimes referred to as the "greatdetox"

The European Food Safety Authority evaluated the safety of titanium dioxide as a food Additive in a report in 2021. It wasn't clear whether titanium dioxide was toxic. It could not rule out the possibility that the substance could be genotoxic, a term that indicates something can change genetic material, including DNA. Titanium dioxide can no longer be considered safe when used as a food Additive due to uncertainties.

The decision is on the cautious side according to the author of the report. She has been studying the risk of nanoparticles to human health for 15 years. Some of the food grade titanium dioxide particles fall into that range. There is less of a scientific consensus on the dangers of breathing in nanoparticles than there is on the dangers of eating them. Is it really necessary to have it in your food if you just use it as a colorant?

According to Norb Kaminski, director of the Institute for Integrative Toxicology at Michigan State University, the European Union wants to get rid of nanomaterials in food. Kaminski has done work for the Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association.

There have been issues with toxicity studies.

Most of the toxicity studies of titanium dioxide have been done in rats. The study that led to France banning titanium dioxide in food in 2020 was included in the safety assessment. Rats that were given regular drinking water were more likely to develop crypt foci, which are clusters of abnormal glands in the lining of the colon and rectum. Colon cancer can be linked to the abnormal glands.

The study has a critical flaw, according to some researchers, because titanium dioxide does not dissolved in water, so it likely sank down and gathered in large amounts near the opening of the bottle. We don't know how much titanium dioxide these animals were exposed to. Water and oxygen can be harmful, remember that.

Eric Houdeau is a research director at France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment and is one of the authors of the study. They weren't worried about the amount of money being collected at the bottom of the bottle.

Kaminski and others are confused by the fact that Houdeau and his colleagues used water as a test. He says that it is not how people are exposed to titanium dioxide that is ironic. It is exposed to us in food.

It is important to get the route of exposure correct in a study to be able to draw meaningful conclusions. He asked if this type of exposure could be achieved in humans. Is it possible that it would happen?

Kaminski and his colleagues added titanium dioxide to the food of rats instead of water. There were no signs of toxicity in the animals. funders were not able to see the results of the research until they were published in a peer-reviewed journal. The researchers didn't know which animals had been exposed to titanium dioxide.

The National Cancer Institute evaluated the toxicity of titanium dioxide in food in rats and mice, exposing them to large amounts of the chemical for two years, which is most of a rat's lifetime. There was no evidence that titanium dioxide could cause cancer.

The chemical may be less toxic in food than in water. The recent work by Saji George has given some insight. George's lab found that titanium dioxide nanoparticles can't interact with cells and cause damage if they bind to the food they are made from.

Houdeau and his colleagues are working on a new study that will be published later this year.

Is titanium dioxide in sunscreens?

Titanium dioxide has been evaluated by the FDA over the past few years. The agency found that zinc oxide was safe and effective. The FDA said that the other 14 ingredients required additional data to be considered safe.

Is there a better way to assess titanium dioxide in food?

Studies evaluating the acute toxicity of titanium dioxide are important, but they aren't everything. He says you are missing a lot of the picture. There are so many other things that could be happening with small, consistent amounts of titanium dioxide in a diet. George and his colleagues have found that titanium dioxide and other particles could be enhancing allergies to food. It could still be important for human health, even if it isn't as striking as the study mentioned the potential to cause cancer.

The full picture of the toxicological impact on healthy animals isn't taken into account by most toxicology studies. He says they don't know how titanium dioxide could improve certain diseases.

Different countries came to different conclusions.

Different approaches to weighing risk are used. Titanium dioxide can be banned in food in the US if there is proof of increased risk. Uncertainty about safety is enough to cause regulatory action in the E.U.

Although she believes the E.U.'s cautious response to titanium dioxide is justified, she says methods used to study the chemical need to be improved so they lead to more definitive conclusions. She wants research to give titanium dioxide in food in the same amount as people would eat.

Kaminski is not concerned about the need for better research methods. He doesn't think that titanium dioxide in the amount that it's used in Skittles is a problem. There isn't enough evidence to support that right now.