What is this lethal dose 50 value?
I received a lot of good responses after my first article was published. So the question that many people had in that article was, what is the lethal dose 50 value? This is just a general word for those who have done food science. But most people do not know about this. So I thought I’d write an article on lethal doses for everyone to understand.
The FDA has introduced a series of tests to confirm the safety of foods, and the following tests will be performed to determine if the food additives are toxic to organisms.
- Metabolic Test
- Acute Toxicity Test
- Sub-acute toxicity test
- Sub-chronic Toxicity Test
- Chronic Toxicity Test
- Teratogenic and carcinogenic.
- Generational Test
The second of these, the Acute Toxicity Test, is published by LD50. This examines the extent to which the toxicity of an additive affects an organ or system. The Lethal Dose 50 Value means the dose required to kill 50% of the animals used in the test. Here, there is an inverse relationship between the toxicity of the substance and the LD50 value. That is, the amount of hazardous substance contained in a substance with a low LD50 value is higher than the substance with the LD50 value, and the risk is higher. For example, salt toxicity at LD50 = 3g / Kg is higher than MSG at LD50 = 15g / Kg. It further explains that it requires more MSG than the amount of salt needed to kill 50% of the experimental animals.
LD50 explains using figure
Researchers also say that diluting the material with water may increase it. All these tests are performed using laboratory mice.
Below are some of the LD50 values of some materials for your information.
| Material | LD50 Value |
| Salt | 3g/Kg |
| MSG | 15g/Kg |
| Aspirin | 0.2g/Kg |
| Caffeine | 0.15-0.2g/Kg |
| Water | 90g/Kg |
| Sugar | 29.7g/Kg |
| Glucose | 25.8g/Kg |
References
- Frequency and Occurrence of Ld50 Values for Materials in the Workplace – Agrawal – 1996 – Journal of Applied Toxicology – Wiley Online Library
- download (fda.gov)
- LD50: A Measure of Product Toxicity – Center for Urban Agriculture (ugaurbanag.com)
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