The Effect of Some Synthetic Food Colorants on Selected Biochemical Indices of Male Wistar Rats

The aim is to evaluate the effect of tartrazine and erythrosine on serum glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides. A total of 20 adult male Wistar rats were divided into five groups with 4 rats per group. Group 1 served as the control and was given only water and feed. Whereas group 2, 3, 4, 5 were administered 5 mg/kgb.wt, 10 mg/kgb.wt, 20 mg/kgb.wt, 40 mg/kgb.wt of Tartrazine and Erythrosine via orogastric feeding for 21 days. At the end of 21 days, blood samples were collected via ocular puncture and used to measure glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride concentration in the serum of the animals. The results were analyzed using One way ANOVA, followed by post hoc multiple comparisons and level of significance set at p<0.05. The result revealed that there was a significant difference p<0.05 in the mean glucose concentration of Group 4 (5.81±0.40 mmol/L) and Group 5 (5.28±0.25 mmol/L) when compared with the control (3.27±0.11 mmol/L). Although Group 4 showed a higher mean cholesterol concentration (0.92±0.27 mmol/L) when compared with the control (0.18±0.05 mmol/L) the difference was not significant p>0.05. Furthermore, Group 5 showed no significant mean triglyceride concentration (2.01±0.15 mmol/L) when compared with the control (2.95±0.04 mmol/L). This result revealed that the colourants increased the glucose and cholesterol levels in the test group in a dose-dependent manner. The increase in serum glucose concentration may be an indication of pancreatic cancer caused by the hydrocarbons contained in the colourants.