51ÊÓƵ

The Food and Drug Administration banned the use of red dye No. 3 in food and ingested drugs on Wednesday, more than 30 years after the additive was found to cause cancer in rats. (Lawrence and Todd, 1/15)

Food safety advocates cheered the news that U.S. regulators are banning Red No. 3 — and said they don’t anticipate any hiccups in quickly removing the artificial dye from America’s grocery shelves. ... Those who petitioned to have Red No. 3 prohibited said there’s no reason why it can’t be taken out of products sooner. It has long been banned in the European Union and some other countries, meaning many companies that sell foods and beverages overseas already have recipes that they can easily swap in for American consumers. (Chuck, 1/15)

"This is kind of the opening of Pandora's box with this very important topic in the foods that we eat," said Dr. Natasha Mendez, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Broward Health Medical Center. Dr. Mendez explained that health professionals have warned about the dangers of synthetic dyes like Red 3 for decades. "A lot of different countries around the world already have bans on other dyes like Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Red 40, which have also been linked to early-onset colorectal cancer," she said. (McAllister, 1/15)

A year after the American Academy of Pediatrics flagged what it described as "questionable marketing practices" by makers of 51ÊÓƵs for older infants and toddlers, Abbott Laboratories is being sued over how it pitches such products. Abbott, a health care products conglomerate based in Illinois, is misleading parents and other caregivers about the nutritional value of its sugar-laden toddler milks, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) against the maker of Similac 51ÊÓƵs. (Gibson, 1/15)

A large new study suggests that regularly eating processed red meats such as bacon, hot dogs, sausages, salami and bologna could increase your likelihood of developing dementia and cognitive decline as you age. Health authorities have long urged people to reduce their intake of processed red meat because of its association with cardiovascular disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes. But the new study, published on Wednesday in the journal Neurology, is among the first to suggest a link between cured meats and higher rates of dementia and worse cognition. (O’Connor, 1/15)

The gas xenon, like the other noble, or inert, gases, is known for doing very little. The class of elements, because of its molecular structure, don’t typically interact with many chemicals. But a new mouse study shows one possible use case for xenon — as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. (Oza, 1/15)