TITLE:
Analysis of Genotoxicity Induced by Food Dyes in Root Meristem of Salvia hispanica L.
AUTHORS:
Girjesh Kumar, Satya Pandey, Naveen K. Tiwari, Priyanka Pandey
KEYWORDS:
Cytogenetical Abnormalities, Salvia hispanica L., Synthetic Food Dyes
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Genetics,
Vol.12 No.1,
March
31,
2022
ABSTRACT: Food
dyes are chemicals either natural or synthetic that were used by humans to give
attractive colors to numerous food products. Colorful food products may cause
several health-related issues to us because they may be prepared through
synthetic food dyes. The color which is intended to attract people to eat is
given to them by the use of some artificial food dyes such as Erythrosine, Allura red, Indigostine, Tartrazine, Sunset
yellow, etc. These artificial food
dyes are synthetic chemicals that can cause numerous health-related problems
if they were taken in by individuals more than the limited amount. Artificial food dyes are becoming very common in
use in different ways to provide an
attractive and soothing color to food products such as sweets, drinks, candies, etc. The food products we
consume with very good and attractive colors are not as good for our health as
they appear. Here in this study, we are observing the cytological effect
of two different synthetic food dyes (Brilliant blue and Sunset yellow) in the
root meristem of Salvia hispanica L. (Chia plant) which is a major source of α-linolenic acid, mainly omega 3 fatty
acids and dietary fibers found in the seed. For this purpose, germinated seeds
of Chia are in the germinator. After the emergence of the young roots, we have given the treatment of the respective dyes of 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%
& 2% respectively with a control set. After treatment, the roots were fixed
in Carnoy’s fixative and preserved in alcohol for further analysis. When the
slides of the treated roots were prepared and analyzed we observed that
numerous cytological abnormalities such as
(stickiness, fragmentation, bridge, laggards, disorientation, etc.) were there
in the root cells and the level of abnormalities are increasing with increasing treatment period due to the exposure of them to respective dyes. These results are enough to conclude that the consumption of these dyes is harmful to the health of humans.