The impact of synthetic food colors on target proteins is suspected to have negative e↵ects on the human body, an in silico study

Color additives are one of the most widely used additives to foods, beverages, medicines, cosmetics, etc. Daily, many food colors enter the human body in different ways. Artificial food colors are used more than natural food colors due to their easier accessibility on an industrial scale, high color intensity, and low cost. Therefore, the need to examine the artificial food colors with human biological systems is felt highly due to their synthetically. In this In silico study, the effects of color additives on systematic proteins have been investigated.۱۰۴ color additive status was obtained from the PubChem then ligands were prepared with the Schrodinger’s maestro ۱۲.۹ software. Afterward, the systematic proteins were received from the Protein Data Bank, and after the preparation of these proteins, molecular docking was done by using the Schrodinger’s maestro ۱۲.۹ software. Finally, the obtained results were analyzed. As a result of these studies, it was found that a large number of these artificial colors have significant interaction with the biological targets of the body. This issue can be the source and cause of many common diseases, so this finding shows the importance of limiting the usage and consumption of these artificial colors and replacing them with natural dyes. Some of these synthetic colors, for example, Hematoxylin, Acid Leather Orange G, iron gluconate complex compounds, and Disodium edetate, interact with several body systematic proteins, including thyroid receptor alpha (PDB ID: ۱NAV), thyroid receptor beta۱ (PDB ID: ۱NAX), androgen receptor (PDB ID: ۱T۷۴), and mineralocorticoid receptor (PDB ID:۲AA۲) with a docking score range of -۸ to -۱۲, which cause thyroid, prostate, and hypertension-related diseases. This makes it a priority to stop using these colors that interact with multiple targets. Finally, it is suggested to use natural colors or change the structure of these colors in such a way that they do not interact with these biological targets and prevent the occurrence of related diseases.

کلیدواژه ها:

Food colors ، Molecular docking ، Thyroid ، Cytochrome P۴۵۰ ، Androgen ، Glucocorticoid