Lutein (E161b)

Names on a label

• E161b
• E 161b
• Lutein

Labels outside Europe often print the number on its own, without the E.

What regulators and scientists say

• EFSA set an acceptable daily intake of 1 mg per kilogram of body weight per day (February 14, 2012). For a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, that’s about 70 mg a day.¹
• The FDA permits it as a color additive by regulation (21 CFR 73.275, 73.295, 73.315).²

An acceptable daily intake is, in EFSA’s words, “an estimate of the amount of a substance in food or drinking water that can be consumed daily over a lifetime without presenting an appreciable risk to health.”³