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drafterman t1_iye6fvw wrote

They don't need food dye and we can leave them out. We choose to put dye to make them look more appealing or more in line with expectations.

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wpmason t1_iye6ggi wrote

Crystal Pepsi.

As it turns out, people expects certain flavors to look a certain way. The sensation of tasting something that doesn’t match one’s expectations based on sight is off-putting.

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BallardRex t1_iye6q8h wrote

What health issues do they cause exactly?

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dr_xenon t1_iye6uws wrote

Sales.

people like things better when they look nice. If all the drinks were basically clear, an orange crush would look the same as a sprite or a Mountain Dew.

Cars run the same regardless of the color, but customers want them to look nicer. Same concept.

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David_Maybar_703 t1_iye6vmu wrote

I would not use the word "need." We don't "need" the drinks to begin with, which is the crux of why they have dye in them. Several things, pretty colors of the right type make people like things more. Red and yellow colors make you hungry. Blue colors make you calmer and more serene. The artificial colors are there to make the products more appealing. We have found that some dyes do seem to be corollated with health issues, and the ones that appear to have a causal link have been removed and outlawed. There is a little more to unpack. Corrolated does not necessarily mean causal. For example, it is true that regular drinkers of diet sodas suffer heart attacks at a statistically significant higher rate than people that just chug regular, sugary soda, but the corrolation is not causal. The reason for the corrolation is that more heavy people drink diet sodas. The risk factors are already there. The diet soda is just along for the ride. As long as it is legal to do so, and adding color to things makes them sell better, people will continue to add the glitz.

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fierohink t1_iye6ycw wrote

The food and drinks don’t “NEED” the dyes.

There are certain foods that we know should look a certain way. And food scientists have spent a lot of effort determining what people think is appetizing. So as foods are more and more enhanced through GMOs, or high fructose corn syrup, etc. they know the color has to stay the same.

Colas for example had that brown color from caramel syrup, or sugars cooked down until they browned. Now high fructose corn syrup is used as the sweetener and coloring is used to restore the hue.

Why some food colors are harmful is a whole other concern. Sometimes a product has unintended side effects. We see that in medicines all the time.

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NebXan t1_iye8mjr wrote

Replying to BallardRex (#820,013)

> since some cause health issues

The "some" is really putting in work there.

I guess if you used Uranium as a green dye I could see how that might cause some health issues.

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Eranevore t1_iye9m0a wrote

Replying to wpmason (#819,920)

Fun facts about Crystal Pepsi:

  1. It actually didn't taste like Pepsi
  2. Coke made "Tab Clear" after Crystal Pepsi was rolled out and intentionally made it bad so it would fail and people would think clear soda was shit.
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