Is yellow 5 lake (ci 19140) safe in food and drink?

Under the app's default Cautious lens, yellow 5 lake (ci 19140) in food and drink rates Swap: the app would put this near the top of your swap plan. 3 sourced concerns count (irritant · allergen, consensus tier; suspected carcinogen, emerging tier; metabolic, emerging tier). This is research with sources, not medical advice.

What do the Clean, Low, Watch and Swap levels mean?

They are cut from a continuous concern level the app computes from the sourced claims that the chosen evidence lens shows: each claim counts its concern class, tier weight, confidence and dose relevance, combined worst-first with a decay so one serious finding outweighs many small ones, then scaled by how much of the substance reaches you in this use. Clean is below 0.35, Low below 1.1, Watch below 2.0 and Swap above that, on a 0 to 3 scale.

Is Yellow 5 Lake (ci 19140) safe on skin (left on)?

Cosmetics2 uses researched5 sourced claims

Where it turns up: yellow pigment, cosmetic colorant, common. Detox My Life researched yellow 5 lake (ci 19140) under 2 different uses, because the same substance means something different in each. Every claim below carries its evidence tier, how sure the research is that it applies here, and the sources it cites. The level is computed by the app's own deterministic engine, so the page says exactly what the app would.

Level by use and lens

Use	Mainstream	Cautious (default)	Based	Concerns · favour · fringe
On skin, left on	Watch	Swap	Swap	2 · 0
Eaten or drunk	Watch	Swap	Swap	3 · 0

Mainstream shows consensus claims only; Cautious adds emerging research; Based adds fringe claims, labelled as such. The last column counts, under Cautious, the sourced concerns, the findings in its favour and the fringe claims Based would add.

Safer swaps: the app's swap catalog has no entry tied to this ingredient yet. When you scan a product that contains it, the app suggests cleaner alternative types for that product; the swap categories list what the catalog covers today.

On skin, left on Swap

Under the default Cautious lens yellow 5 lake (ci 19140) on skin (left on) rates Swap: the app would put this near the top of your swap plan. Mainstream (consensus only) rates it Watch; Based (adds the fringe) rates it Swap. Researched 2026-09-03.

Sourced concerns (2)

ConsensusRestrictedconfidence 90%

Yellow 5 lake (CI 19140) is approved for use in cosmetics in the United States by the FDA, requiring batch certification, and in the European Union, where it is listed in Annex IV of the Cosmetics Directive and products containing it must carry a warning label regarding potential allergic reactions.

Why here: Regulatory bodies in major markets have specific rules and restrictions governing the use of yellow 5 lake in cosmetic products, including dermal leave-on applications.
What would have to be true: Use in cosmetic products.

Sources the engine cites:

Yellow 5 Lake - Cosmetics Info — cosmeticsinfo.org (2026) · review
1 web article (webmd.com), linked in the app.
1 community or commercial page, not counted here.

EmergingSuspected carcinogenconfidence 60%

Yellow 5 (tartrazine) has been linked to potential carcinogenicity due to the presence of benzidine, a known carcinogen, and has shown genotoxic effects in in vitro and animal studies, including inducing breast cancer in rats.

Why here: While many studies focus on ingestion, the presence of carcinogenic impurities and observed genotoxic effects, combined with the potential for enhanced skin absorption of yellow 5 lake, raises concern for dermal exposure from leave-on products.
What would have to be true: Dermal absorption of yellow 5 lake from leave-on cosmetic products.

Sources the engine cites:

Toxicology of food dyes - PubMed — nih.gov (2012) · regulator or public body
3 web articles (amenclinics.com, healthline.com, rupahealth.com), linked in the app.

Eaten or drunk Swap

Under the default Cautious lens yellow 5 lake (ci 19140) in food and drink rates Swap: the app would put this near the top of your swap plan. Mainstream (consensus only) rates it Watch; Based (adds the fringe) rates it Swap. Researched 2026-09-03.

Sourced concerns (3)

ConsensusIrritant · allergenconfidence 100%

Ingestion of yellow 5 lake (tartrazine) can cause allergic reactions such as hives, skin rashes, asthma, itching, coughing, and vomiting in susceptible individuals, particularly those with aspirin sensitivity.

Why here: This is a direct effect of ingesting the substance.
What would have to be true: Ingestion of products containing yellow 5 lake, even at dose levels within the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for sensitive individuals.

Sources the engine cites (no regulator, review or study among them):

2 web articles (amenclinics.com, webmd.com), linked in the app.

EmergingSuspected carcinogenconfidence 70%

Ingestion of yellow 5 lake (tartrazine) is suggested by in vitro and animal studies to potentially contribute to DNA damage and increase cancer risk due to the presence of benzidene, a known carcinogen, and observed tumor growth in animals.

Why here: This claim directly addresses the potential for carcinogenicity through ingestion.
What would have to be true: Prolonged ingestion of tartrazine, or ingestion of products containing benzidene at levels that may increase cancer risk (e.g., 1 in 1 million).

Sources the engine cites (no regulator, review or study among them):

1 web article (amenclinics.com), linked in the app.

EmergingMetabolicconfidence 80%

Ingestion of yellow 5 lake (tartrazine), especially in combination with other artificial food colors and sodium benzoate, is linked in studies to increased hyperactivity, irritability, restlessness, and sleep disturbance in some children.

Why here: This claim directly addresses the neurobehavioral effects observed after ingesting the dye.
What would have to be true: Ingestion of products containing yellow 5 lake, particularly in children. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) found "limited evidence" of a "small and statistically significant effect on activity and attention in children selected from the general population" when consumed in a mixture with other synthetic colors and sodium benzoate.

Sources the engine cites (no regulator, review or study among them):

1 web article (amenclinics.com), linked in the app.

Not researched here

The engine has no dossier for yellow 5 lake (ci 19140) when cooked with heat, in cold food, as a finishing ingredient, in heated food packaging or other uses. The app researches an ingredient for the use it infers from your product, so a scan fills these in; this page only shows what has already been researched and source-verified.

This is research, not medical advice. Detox My Life shows sourced claims sorted by evidence tier. It does not diagnose, treat, or tell you to start or stop anything. Talk to a qualified professional about your health.

Scan your own. The app reads any product label with your camera, works out how you are about to use it, and researches every ingredient for that use with live sources. Every scan adds to a Detox Score for your home, where 50 is a typical home in your region, and a plan of next swaps.

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