A dense, white, opaque pigment composed of a mixture of Zinc sulfide (30%) and Barium sulfate (70%) with trace amounts of Zinc oxide. Lithopone, first produced in 1874, was called Orr's white. The mixture of the two components is so intimate that it is hard to distinguish microscopically. Lithopone is an inert, transparent pigment which is often used as a filler or as a base for lake pigments. Lithopone was widely used in house paints in the first half of the 20th century. It was also used for some artist grounds, inks and as a filler in Paper, Leather, and Linoleum. Now lithopone has mostly been replaced by Titanium dioxide.

It adds a bright white color to coffee creamers, baked goods, chewing gums, hard-shell candies, puddings, frostings, dressings, and sauces. But the nanoparticles found in “food-grade” titanium dioxide may accumulate in the body and cause DNA damage—which is one way chemicals cause cancer and other health problems. 

In a review published in 2022 in the journal Archives of Toxicology, researchers found that the ingestion of E171 is a “a definite health risk for consumers and their progeny.” After reviewing dozens of in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro studies on the toxicity of E171, the researchers wrote that two facts must be noted: “First, reprotoxicity studies show that animals of both sexes are impacted by the toxicity of these nanoparticles, underlining the importance of conducting in vivo studies using both male and female animals. Second, human exposure begins in utero via maternal-fetal transfer and continues after birth by breastfeeding. Children are then chronically re-exposed due to their food preferences. To be relevant to the human in vivo situation, experimental studies should therefore consider nanoparticle exposure with respect to the age or life period of the studied population.”

The updated evaluation revises the outcome of EFSA’s previous assessment published in 2016, which highlighted the need for more research to fill data gaps.  

4.3 g/Cm3

if you compare the levels—which went as high as 50,000 milligrams/killigrams per day— to what humans are actually exposed to, we're talking orders of magnitude. It was a huge amount, Norbert Kaminski, PhD, a professor of pharmacology & toxicology and director of the Center for Research on Ingredient Safety at Michigan State University told Health.