also: Xanthophyll · Marigold extract · Tagetes lutein
The yellow pigment in kale and egg yolks, extracted from marigold petals to colour drinks, sweets and ice cream.
Scan a barcode to check a food for lutein. NutraSafe Pro · £3.99/month · iOS
Sugar, Maize Starch, Concentrates: Spirulina, Carrot, Sweet Potato, Radish, Apple, Hibiscus; Glazing Agent: Coconut Oil, Beeswax: Colour: Paprika Extract, Lutein.
Lutein is a yellow carotenoid, a fat-soluble plant pigment from the same family as beta-carotene.
321
of the 43,325 UK supermarket foods we checked declare E161b in their ingredients
That is 0.7%, counted by its code or its name.
Counted by NutraSafe from UK supermarket ingredient lists, September 2026. How we counted
Lutein is a yellow carotenoid, a fat-soluble plant pigment from the same family as beta-carotene. For food it is extracted with solvents from dried marigold petals and purified into an orange-red powder. It also occurs naturally in kale, spinach, egg yolks and many other foods.
It colours food and drink yellow to orange. Because it dissolves in fat, it suits margarine, sauces, baking and flavoured drinks. In the body, lutein builds up in the part of the eye used for sharp vision, where it filters blue light.
Flavoured soft drinks, ice cream, cakes and pastry glazes, sweets, desserts, flavoured dairy, sauces and seasonings. Labels call it lutein or E161b.
European reviewers looked at lutein in 2010 and set a daily limit of 1mg per kg of body weight. They divided by 200 instead of the usual 100, because there was no multi-generation reproduction study and no long-term cancer study. Lutein did not damage DNA in the tests available, and 90-day animal studies showed no effect on reproductive organs. A 2012 follow-up found adults were unlikely to go over the limit, but children in the UK and the Netherlands at high intake could, once lutein already in food was counted.
Reviewers set a daily limit of 1mg per kg of body weight, using a safety factor of 200 because multi-generation reproduction and long-term cancer data were missing.
Lutein did not damage DNA in the lab and animal tests available, and 90-day rat studies found no effect on reproductive organs.
Using corrected use data, adult intake from the colour was 0.1mg per kg of body weight on average and 0.3mg per kg at the top end, below the limit. Children went over the limit at the highest intakes in the UK and the Netherlands when lutein already in the diet was included.
The international committee set a shared limit of up to 2mg per kg of body weight for lutein and zeaxanthin in 2004. In 2018 it changed lutein from marigold to no numerical limit, based on a wider set of studies showing no toxicity.
The international committee set a shared daily limit of up to 2mg per kg of body weight for lutein from marigold and synthetic zeaxanthin.
The international committee changed the limit for lutein from marigold to not specified, because a wide range of studies found no toxicity and lutein is a normal part of the human body.
Studies of large groups consistently find that people who eat more lutein and zeaxanthin have less late age-related macular degeneration, a common cause of sight loss in older people. But European reviewers have repeatedly turned down a health claim linking lutein to normal vision, finding the evidence did not show cause and effect at dietary amounts. The link is consistent, but it is a link.
Pooling observational studies, people with the highest intake of lutein and zeaxanthin had clearly less late macular degeneration than those with the lowest.
Reviewers concluded a cause-and-effect link between dietary lutein and normal vision had not been shown at amounts reachable through normal diet.
Daily limit. European reviewers: 1mg per kg of body weight a day (2010), the figure used in UK and EU law. The international committee: not specified (2018).
No group is told to avoid lutein as a food colour. People allergic to marigold or other plants in the daisy family may want to know it comes from marigold petals, though allergic reactions to food-grade lutein are not recorded in the regulatory literature. Look for lutein or E161b.
Lutein is already in your body, in your eyes and your blood, from foods like kale and eggs. As a colour it adds yellow-orange tones at amounts that for most adults are a small fraction of the European limit. It is less settled for children eating a lot of coloured food, where the limit could be passed. The international committee dropped its numerical limit in 2018 after a wider set of studies, but the stricter European figure still applies in the UK. The eye health link is consistent in observational data but not accepted by regulators as proof.
No. Lutein is approved in Great Britain and across the EU.
In 2010 they divided by 200 instead of the usual 100 because the studies available did not include a multi-generation reproduction study or a long-term cancer study. The international committee's 2018 review, with more data, concluded no numerical limit was needed.
Flavoured soft drinks, sweets, ice cream, cakes and glazes, desserts, sauces and seasonings. Labels call it lutein or E161b.
Yes. It is extracted from marigold petals, with nothing from animals.
Last reviewed: 20 June 2026
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