Did you know that food coloring plays an important role in your appetite for any food item? Let me give you an example. Recently, in a departmental store I came across royal blue colored ice-cream! Now, this is not something new. Purple, royal blue and black food coloring are being increasingly used for new varieties of desserts and fast food to introduce some novelty. But what marketers are forgetting is that food coloring is something that can make or mar the popularity of any food item sold in the markets. Psychologists say that colors like yellow, cream, brown and reds are amongst some of the colors that are generally acceptable. Blue, purple and black are generally repulsed by most of us. Like those cupcakes below?

Well, you might ask don’t we eat blueberries which are blue in color or don’t we eat eggplant which is purple in color? Yes, we do! But what you must remember here is that blueberries and eggplants are naturally colored blue and purple respectively. The problem is with artificial food coloring. Blue and purple food colors seem to be appetite suppressants. For that matter, I feel dark green can also be quite repulsive. However, the lighter shades of the colors used on some food seem to be doing well with the consumers.

Marketers should realize that food coloring is of prime importance because this is one of the first factors to influence your desire for the food. An item might be taste and smell good, but its visual appeal is the first factor to draw you towards it. Personally, I find pink ice cream irresistible! Definitely a dark green one will be a sure appetite suppressant for me. What about you?

Here's an interesting link that tells more about how food coloring affects your appetite

Image credits : Johnny2scoop, Travellerspoint