Avaliação do consumo de corantes alimentares amarelos por lactentes e crianças em idade pré-escolar

Abstract

It is known that the only function of food stains is to provide color for food without contributing to its nutritive properties. However, studies have demostrated that adversal reactions may occur because of the use of artifitial stains, at short and long terms. These reactions vary from alergies, changes in behavior or even cancer. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of yellow artifitial stains in infants between 0 to 1 year and 11 months, and children between 2 and 5 years and 11 months, both from the private system of education in Campo Mourão. The yellow stain evaluated was that commonly used in juices, pop soda, candies, lollypops, gellies, and popsico. A questionary about the consumes of these products was applied, and the data was analysed using Microsoft Office Excel 2007. The reported uses were quantified, and the amount of the yellow stain for each item was considered according to the current legislation. The amount of stain consumed by the children was then compared to the acceptable daily value suggested for each age, according to the percentil 50 of the NCHS tables. According to our results the ingestion of the yellow stains are within the acceptable limits in all ages.