Color Me Hyper

May 7, 2018

Artificial food colorings (AFCs) are EVERYWHERE.  You can obviously find them in candy, sports drinks and colorful cereals like Fruity Pebbles and Lucky Charms, but food dyes have also made their way into tons of other foods like chips, baked goods, popsicles, pudding and personal products like makeup, toothpaste and pain relievers like Tylenol, Motrin & Aleve (including the children's versions!).  And here are a few more places you might be surprised to find food dyes lurking.

When food dyes were first introduced, they were from natural sources like turmeric (yellow) and beets (red).  But the search for "better" colors at cheaper prices led to the development of artificial food dyes, which are toxic to our health -- especially that of our children.  Some scary facts about food dyes are:

(1) most are made from petroleum
(2) our intake of food dyes is 5x higher than it was 50-60 years ago
(3) the FDA's testing is typically on one food dye at a time -- combining them could increase their toxicity (we just don't know this yet for sure)
(4) the FDA doesn't require food dyes to be tested for developmental neurotoxicity, so we don't know what they're doing to our children's growing brains

The most common reactions we see to food dyes are symptoms of hyperactivity (although in our house they have the opposite effect -- one of our kids becomes immediately sluggish and moody if she eats any food that contains AFCs), increased aversive behavior and sleep disturbances -- so it is especially important for children with ADD/ADHD to avoid products containing artificial colors.

The European Union got wise to the whole artificial food dye thing a long time ago.  In 2010, it became a requirement in Europe that all foods containing AFCs be labeled "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children."  And the British government disallowed the use of food dyes in 2009 after several studies concluded they caused undesirable behavior in children. 

Here are 3 examples of products with U.S. vs U.K. ingredients (I am, by no means, saying that any of these foods are healthy -- I just find the comparison fascinating/alarming):

In the U.S., Fanta orange soda is dyed with Red 40 and Yellow 6, Kellogg’s Strawberry Nutrigrain bars are colored with Red 40, Yellow 6 and Blue 1, and McDonald’s Strawberry Sundaes are colored with Red dye 40.

In the U.K., Fanta orange soda is dyed with pumpkin and carrot extract, Kellogg’s Strawberry NutriGrain bars are colored with beetroot, annatto and paprika extract, and McDonald’s Strawberry Sundaes are colored with strawberries.

The FDA fully admits that food dyes may pose some health risks and has a Q&A section on their website to help consumers navigate their food choices.  I understand how hard it is to keep food dyes away from your kids 100% -- they are, most likely, exposed to food dyes on a daily basis at school.  But you can do what you can to minimize their (and your own) exposure by clearing the food dyes out of your house.  Take a half hour this week and look at everything in your pantry -- if it has a number on the ingredients list, toss it. 

Find something that surprised you (pickles?!?!?)?  Let me know!