What is yellow #5?What does it do, What is it?

Question

My friendz tell me dont drink mountain dew, cause it has yellow 5 which shrinks you Pen*s, and someone told me it takes away sperm count, and it shrinks your balls, is it actually true or it's fake, i dont know, i used drink some stuff with yellow 5 like gatorade, mountain dew but not that much and it didnt happen to me??

Answer 1

NO, neither Mountain Dew nor the food die yellow #5 will harm or shrink the male reproductive system. That is an unfounded rumor that even conspiracy fans are having trouble finding any evidence of.

Simply put the FDA regulates the artificial substances put into our food. They have removed certain substances that were known to cause problems only in rats, just on the suspicion that it might harm humans. If the FDA had any proof that the food dye would damage the male reproductive system they would pull it from the market faster than you can say “Jack Rabbit.” Especially since at least half (probably more) of the scientists and researchers are male. They would remove that food dye if there were just a shade of real evidence to back the rumor.

The food dye yellow #5 is the chemical tartrazine, it has no harmful effect on adults, except that it may inspire an allergic reaction in some. Its effects on children are debatable some people with children that have ADA (Attention Deficit Disorder), or those who are hyperactive, and some who are not, seem to have a reaction to the chemical, but there is little real evidence to support this. The FDA caution on limiting the intake of tratrazine ONLY applies to those people who might be allergic to it.

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartrazine
“There is an urban legend that the tartrazine in Mountain Dew causes shrinkage of testicles. [1] This legend is false; tartrazine has been deemed safe and used since 1917. Another variant of this urban legend is that tartrazine decreases male sperm count, which is also false.
The Hyperactive Childrens Support Group believe that a link exists between this additive and hyperactive behavioural disorders in children.
Tartrazine is a very commonly used colour in the United Kingdom and the United States. Use of tartrazine is banned in Norway and was banned in Austria and Germany, before EU regulations lifted the ban again. Its consumption, however, is still not recommended for children.”

According to Reference #1 Snopes.com: http://snopes.com/medical/potables/mountaindew.asp
““Wild rumors like the ones quoted above about a popular brand of lemon-lime soda have been circulating for several years now. The first clue to its questionable veracity is the variety of reported effects: Drinking Mountain Dew will shrink your testicles. Or decrease your sperm count. Or cause your penis to grow smaller. Well, whatever occurs, it only happens to guys, and it hits them below the belt, right? Sounds a lot like the early 1990s legend that claimed Tropical Fantasy brand soft drinks contained a "secret ingredient" to cause sterility in black male drinkers, doesn't it?

These rumors are primarily spread about PepsiCo's Mountain Dew soft drink, although it has also been told about Mello Yello (a Coca-Cola product which, though still available, has been supplanted by Surge). The key factor is the presence of a dye called Yellow No. 5 in these drinks (presumably in large quantities), a food coloring that allegedly has nasty effects on one's manhood.

Yellow No. 5, also known as tartrazine, is an FD&C (i.e., approved for use in food, drugs, and cosmetics) coloring dye commonly used to give various foods (such as beverages, candy, and ice cream) a bright lemon yellow color. It has long been deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration. It has also been in use since 1916, so if it were shrinking penises and testicles, we'd probably have heard something more than rumors about it by now. (The FDA's established acceptable daily intake [ADI] for tartrazine is 5.0 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, which is about .01 ounces for a 132-pound person.) Many other common food products contain Yellow No. 5 as well, so more than just Mountain Dew drinkers would notice the effect if it were real. (Soft drinks don't contain a significantly larger amount of Yellow No. 5 than other food product.) The FDA has required since 1979 that food and drugs containing Yellow No. 5 be labeled to indicate its presence (and the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires similar labeling for meat and poultry), but that requirement came about because tartrazine was found to be associated with a variety of allergic type reactions in sensitive people, not because it wreaked havoc with the male reproductive system.

If you're male and drink a lot of Mountain Dew, you will notice one related but perfectly harmless side effect: quite a bit of yellow liquid will flow out of your penis."

This website says: http://hilarym.masterone.com/yellow5.html
“I've been doing some research on it lately because some people don't believe that this artificial food color doesn't harm you. So far I haven't been able to come up with that much. Although I have found some other artificial colors that could harm you. There are some that are banned, such as Orange #1, Red #3, Red #2, and Yellow #4. Blue #1, Blue #2, Green #3, and Yellow #6 could hurt you but scientist aren't positive yet if they actually do.

Okay, two of my guy friends wanted to know if Yellow #5 actually shrunk the penis or any of that. So, they decided to call the Jolly Rancher Company, which puts yellow 5 in their product. The company said that ALL YELLOW #5 is an artificial coloring. It can't do any harm to you at all and if it did it would only have to deal with allergy's.”

This is from a person that clearly is worried about the food dye Yellow #5.

Megaheart: http://www.megaheart.com/foodlabels-definitions.html
“The second most common food dye. Yellow #5 may cause itching or hives. It is listed on FDA labels so that you can avoid it if necessary.”

Healing Well: http://www.healingwell.com/library/allergies/kaemmerer5.asp
“One dye, yellow #5, also known as tartrazine, must be specifically listed if it is an ingredient. It is used in many different food products and medications. In susceptible individuals it can cause symptoms such as bronchospasms and hives. Also, some aspirin-intolerant people can have cross-reactions to tartrazine such as asthma attacks, hives, and, rarely, anaphylaxis. Some of this is discussed in an American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement entitled, " 'Inactive' Ingredients in Pharmaceutical Products" at http://www.aap.org/policy/re9706.html . The AAP states, in that same pharmaceuticals statement, that the current opinion is that dyes are not a "cause or aggravating factor" in hyperactivity.
However, many parents have found that food colorings, particularly yellow #5, affects their child's behavior. Parents find that tartrazine can aggravate the symptoms of ADD and ADHD; it can also have a negative effect on the behavior of some food-dye sensitive children who are not hyperactive. Different individuals can be sensitive to varying amounts. Also, some children can react immediately; others have problems 24 hours later. More information can be found at Dr. Doris Rapp's website at http://www.drrapp.com./ She is the author of Is This Your Child? Discovering and Treating Unrecognized Allergies in Children and Adults.”

Answer 2

Yellow 5

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is yellow #5?What does it do, What is it?
My friendz tell me dont drink mountain dew, cause it has yellow 5 which shrinks you Pen*s, and someone told me it takes away sperm count, and it shrinks your balls, is it actually true or it's fake, i dont know, i used drink some stuff with yellow 5 like gatorade, mountain dew but not that much...

Answer 4

yellow #5 is a dye. It is what makes mt dew Yellow. I have not heard any thing about it shrinking penises or decreasing sperm count. Its a dye.
There is an urban legend that the tartrazine (yellow #5) in Mountain Dew causes shrinkage of testicles. [1] This legend is false; tartrazine has been deemed safe and used since 1917. Another variant of this urban legend is that tartrazine decreases male sperm count, which is also false.

Answer 5

Its a ingredient in certain foods such as skittles or mountain dew or starburst.....I've heard this before about it causing sexual side affects but its a myth. I'm not sure how it all started but its definitelly a old one. I'm sure I've had a quite a bit of intake of it and so far I haven't seen any side effects.

Answer 6

I don't know about shrinking you thing but I did here it can make you sterile. It is a food coloring dye. Any artificial coloring in food is bad for you, just like everything else in this world.

Answer 7

It's a DYE. a food coloring.

Answer 8

Yellow dye #5 is just a food coloring. everything people say are just rumor. ask them what proof they have.

Answer 9

It's definitely possible, that's for sure

Answer 10

"Oh" thats just die coloring stuff that looks like the guts of a squished catapillar. it's the red die # 2 you hav to worrie about, it's made of stuff that looks like racoons remains from a road kill.