So, what does it all mean for you, the consumer? Should you stop eating Skittles or begin checking foods for the presence of titanium dioxide? Here's a closer look.

In cosmetics, titanium dioxide’s properties enhance coloration and can help protect skin from damaging UVA and UVB rays.

Mexican researchers sought to evaluate the effects of E171 across a span of conditions in mice, including its influence on behavior, along with the effects on the colon and liver. The research, published in 2020 in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, showed that E171 promoted anxiety and induced adenomas, or noncancerous tumors, in the colon. They also found that E171 heightened goblet cells hypertrophy and hyperplasia, which is typically seen in asthma patients and triggered by smoking or external pollutants and toxins. They also noted mucins overexpression in the mice, which can be linked to cancer cell formation. 

Titanium Dioxide Description

Titanium dioxide (E171) is an additive that is used in food as a colour. The function of food colours is to make food more visually appealing, to give colour to food that would otherwise be colourless, or to restore the original appearance of food. Titanium dioxide is used to provide whiteness and opacity to foods.

It is a white crystalline powder, which is a mixture of zinc sulfide and barium sulfate. The more zinc sulfide it contains, the stronger the hiding power and the higher the quality. The density of lithopone is 4.136~4.34/cm3 and it is insoluble in water. It easily decomposes when exposed to acid to produce hydrogen sulfide gas, but does not work when exposed to hydrogen sulfide and alkaline solutions.

The overseas demand for Chinese TiO2 rose up by about 17% in 2016, which enabled an export increase of the manufacturers in China. As a fact, Chinese TiO2 is highly demanded in overseas markets, due to the comparable small price of the suppliers. The export of TiO2 is responsible for about one-third of the total output in China.

Why Did Europe Ban Titanium Dioxide?

CARACTÉRISTIQUES

This cytotoxic effect was also reported before; i.e. Natarajan et al. conducted an experiment that found a strong oxidative stress, morphological changes in mitochondria and substantial loss in the fusion of primary hepatocytes exposed to P25TiO₂NPs [52].

Tioxide process. This process is similar to that used to produce fumed silicas. Ultra-low particle size titanium dioxide (15-35 nm) is obtained for use as photocatalyst or UV absorber (for instance in sun protective creams).