To improve the food qualities in Korea, two hundred and fourtynine kinds of food additives have been allowed in food processing, of which one hundred and nineteen kinds could be used under the limitted conditions. Hence, in practical uses in food processing, many kinds of them are mixed at random within the permitted amounts for their special purposes. For last several years, many kinds of the food additives were prohibited because they have been proved to be toxic even with the single dose.
Until recently a few studies on the toxicity in the mixture of food additives were reported, however, they were shown to be no severe additional effect on the animal.
This study was performed to see if any elevation of chronic or subacute toxicity of food additives occur especially- when they are mixed with each other, using three kinds of food additives (DHA, AF-2, BHT) most widely used as food preservatives, antiseptics and antioxidants.
One hundred and fifty young male rats were taken and. divided into ten feeding groups, one first control group (food additives blank), three second control groups (DHA 0.1%, AF-2 0.1%, BHT 0.5%), three mixture groups of low level (mixture of each 60% of two second control level) and three mixture groups of high level (mixture of each 90% of two second control level).
As the methods of biological and clinical tests, the change of body weight (growth rate), daily intake of diets, organ to body weight ratio, histopathological findings of organs, hematological observation, liver and kidney function tests were checked three times during the periods of 24 weeks.
The following results were obtained.
1. The low level group of DHA, AF-2 mixture and DHA, BHT mixture revealed a little retardation in growth rate than the first control group, however, they were similar to the second controls, while all the mixture groups of high level showed a more remarkable retardation than the first and second controls.
2. Average daily intake of the diets was the same in each group, showing a similar decreasing tendency (70-1008/㎏ of body weight) in accordance with the growth rate. It was observed that there are no differences in the taste and appetite in each group of rats.
3. Abnormal enlargements of kidney and lung were not seen in all the mixture groups compared with the controls, while a slight hepatomegaly was observed in all mixture groups of low level as in the second controls. Significant differences (almost 1% level) were observed between the high level groups and the first control group.
4. Histopathological effects of the food additives on lung, kidney and liver tissues were found in all mixture group of high level. The less frequencies of the same effects were also seen in the low level groups.
5. The esterified cholesterol to total cholesterol ratio in the mixture groups of high level showed a little lower values, and the activities of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase and alkaline phosphatase decreased almost with significance of 5% level compared with the first control group. The serum A/G ratio in the mixture groups also decreased. The results demonstrated that the liver function was decreased in the mixture groups compared with the controls.
6. In all groups throughout the test period, kidney functions (concentration of protein and creatinine excreated per hour in urine and renal filtration rate) were shown almost as normal as the first control.
7. Average values of hematocrit, erythrocytes and leucocytes in the mixture groups were in the normal ranges as in the controls, which denotes that the production of blood cells in bone marrow were also normal in all groups.
With the above results, it is concluded that when the food additives (DHA, AF-2, BHT) were given together to the rats in several combinations even in less amount, they showed more toxic signs than the single doses.
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