When Food Dyes Color Our Child’s Behavior

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Food For Thought

Sunday, March 20, 2011

I love when I can serve up a colorful meal for my kids – who doesn’t prefer something visually appealing compared to a bland plate from shades of brown and white, right? But when I see this colorful meal in my head, it’s more about a variety of fruits and vegetables that bring the rainbow of produce to our plate rather than colors concocted in the science lab.

Food from the science lab? Yep. Some call them artificial food colors, others call them food dyes but either way you look at them, these colors aren’t natural and many scientists believe they don’t belong in our food, and especially in our children’s food.

The Slippery Side of the Rainbow

After much research, the European Parliament last year set into law the requirement for any foods containing synthetic food colors to carry a warning label indicating “consumption may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children”. And now, our own U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hold hearings next month on whether food dyes negatively impact the health of our children.

Many say, “it’s about time”.

Pediatric allergist, Ben Feingold, was the first prominent doctor to link the relationship between diet and behavioral problems with children – specifically food additives (such as food dyes), among other foods. His findings were reinforced in 2007 after research from the University of Southampton found a direct connection between behavior and food dyes.

According to the Seattle PI…

Every year, manufacturers dump about 15 million pounds of eight synthetic dyes into foods in America. Per capita consumption of dyes has increased five-times since 1955, due in part to brightly colored breakfast cereals, fruit drinks, and candies designed to appeal to children.

Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 have been known for years to cause allergic reactions in some people. The Center for Science in the Public Interest says that while these reactions aren't common, they can be serious and provide reason enough to ban those dyes. In addition, studies have demonstrated that dyes cause hyperactivity in children.

However, cancer is the biggest concern, according to the center. In 1985, the acting commissioner of the FDA said that Red 3, one of the lesser-used dyes, "has clearly been shown to induce cancer" and was "of greatest public health concern." Each year about 200,000 pounds of Red 3 are poured into such foods as Betty Crocker's Fruit Roll-Ups and ConAgra's Kid Cuisine frozen meals.

And Yellow 5 that’s used in Kraft’s Macaroni and Cheese Dinner? The FDA tests show that Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Red 40 are tainted with low levels of cancer-causing compounds. It’s not just orange macaroni and cheese that have artificial food dyes to pump up the visual appeal, so do Fruit Loops, Ritz Bits Cheese Sandwiches, Pop Tarts and Eggo Blueberry Waffles. Even pickles and salad dressing.

As we pointed out in yesterday’s post, our country’s top food manufacturers are already selling dye-free versions of their foods in other countries, so we know they can produce a similar experience without the dyes

Get the Dye Out

While the verdict is still out on how the USDA will proceed, many parents feel that their children’s health just isn’t worth the risk. While it may seem overwhelming to take on this challenge to remove artificial colors from your child’s diet, it’s achievable. Really.

Here are six easy ways to get the dye out, in addition to Robyn O’Brien’s tips that we shared yesterday:

Read labels. It’s truly the best way to know if the color in your blueberry yogurt is really from blueberries or Blue dye.
Use natural food dyes. Whole Foods typically carries these but you can make your own from fruits, vegetables and spices like coffee, beets, blueberries and turmeric.
Shop the natural or organic aisles when possible. Many of these manufacturers offer discounts on their products at their website or Facebook page so check those out before you shop, and stock up when they go on sale.
Have a healthy stash to swap out the bad stuff. We know they’re going to come home with Halloween candy, party treats, and other snacks from school, so be prepared with dye-free alternatives at home or in the car.
Shop smart at Trader Joes, Whole Foods or your local natural foods market. These stores have a commitment to keep artificial ingredients out of their products so you can bring your kids there and let them choose their treats.
Cook at home. The closer to raw ingredients you use, the more you can rest assured that you’re avoiding artificial ingredients.

BONUS: Get the color out of your child's favorite macaroni and cheese when you serve it homemade for just about the same amount of time and money.

A Better Way to Color Lunch

Take it one day at a time and be easy on yourself. Cleaning out your pantry and fridge tonight is a huge undertaking (believe me, we’ve learned that one the hard way) that I don’t recommend – remember, you want to sustain this. Make cuts each week until you get to a level that you and your family can live with.

Some foods will be harder than others to cut out. What do you think will be the hardest for your family to give up?

Gina is the founder of Feed Our Families, a a new site that aims to inform, inspire and empower parents to make healthier choices for their children. She shares her own family's adventures with food, like this one, at her Feed Our Families Blog.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of
Healthy Child Healthy World.

Posted by Mr Michael on 04/11/2011 at 09:30 PM

I work with elementary kids. Whenever we have a problem with kids at school…. hyper this or can’t focus that….The first thing we do is have the parents STOP ALL food coloring, especially RED 3 and RED 40. NO RED ANYTHING, no artificial colors period…. AND have the parents stop all refined sugars and corn syrups. In 95% plus of the cases the kids settle down in about a month. Try to refining your child’s diet for a month before your place them on a drug.

Posted by Stephanie on 04/01/2011 at 09:26 AM

As a parent that believes in feeding my children whole, raw and organic foods it is hard to compete with the colorful packaged foods sometimes. Thank you for writing this article and hopefully concerned parents can work together to support foods without artificial ingredients so that they can eventually be taken off the shelves.

Posted by Ed Logan on 03/29/2011 at 07:00 AM

Great information to share. I appreciate your approach in the last paragraph advising people to phase these things out and not get overwhelmed by the idea of replacing everything all at once. The idea of having to toss the entire pantry all at once might make people hesitant so it’s good advice to remind people they can begin with small steps each time they go to the grocery store.

Posted by Julie on 03/26/2011 at 11:46 PM

I am soooooo happy you are addressing this issue. I have suspected for a while but recently confirmed that my daughter is very sensitive to all artificial food dyes. Not only does she get hyperactive (which tends to be her initial reaction to the dyes) but she becomes extremely cranky, irritable, aggressive and distracted for several days after consuming even a tiny amount (e.g. one Tylenol containing dye). We’ve rarely given our children candy or junk food, which is why we were even able to discover the link to the dye in the first place. I feel like I finally have the child I was meant to have and she is so much happier! Removing the dye has also made us a much happier and relaxed family; it’s amazing how one out-of-control child can negatively affect so many aspects of family life.

I can only imagine how many children out there are ingesting this stuff every day and being diagnosed for behavioral and cognitive problems (as I mentioned, one consumption of dye take 4-5 days to get out of her system, so for a child who is sensitive and getting this stuff every, there is no relief).

The more this issue gets attention, the less people like me look crazy asking schools and other caregivers to remove these sustances from our children’s diets. Also, let’s not forget the pharmaceutical companies. My daughter’s last two episodes involved both prescription and over-the-counter medication that contained food dye. Dye-free versions should not only be available, they should be the norm. The last thing a sick child needs is something to make them feel even worse than they already do.

Thank you so much for all of the work you do on behalf of children and families.

Posted by Lezelle on 03/26/2011 at 01:06 PM

Thank you for the information.

We have been pretty good at eliminating dyes in our groceries.
Our biggest struggle now is childrens medication, everything
seems to be colored with Red40. Any tips out there?

Posted by Brita Brownstein on 03/26/2011 at 12:31 PM

Great article! Thank you for helping to raise awareness about this. Let’s hope the FDA forces change in the use of these dyes. I work with a natural and organic candy company, Surf Sweets. Surf Sweets is one step ahead of the game by providing candies that are free of artifical dyes and flavors. They’re delicious, fruity and free of all the icky stuff!

Posted by Deb @KidsGummyMum on 03/25/2011 at 12:55 PM

This is why we make our IronKids childrens gummy vitamins with only all natural colours and flavours. Great article. Hope you don’t mind if I link to this post from our Facebook page. We want to educate more parents about the potential risk of artificial colours in the foods you mentioned and also their childrens vitamins.

Posted by Melissa Charron Nutt on 03/25/2011 at 12:32 PM

I find the information I get from this web site incredible. It really makes me aware of what I should and should not be putting in the mouths or minds of my kids. THANK YOU!!

Posted by Marcia on 03/22/2011 at 02:15 PM

I’m glad you mentioned Dr. Feingold and his work. Because of him, a support group in 1976 was formed by parents to help parents find ways to avoid these dyes. It is a wonderful group—full of great information and support. The website shouldn’t be missed: www.feingold.org Many of these are still volunteering.

Posted by Christina @ Spoonfed on 03/21/2011 at 10:07 AM

Great piece. With the FDA hearings next week on the link between food dyes and behavior, people can sign a petition against food dyes that will be presented to the FDA Wednesday. Details here: http://spoonfedblog.net/2011/03/21/reclaiming-of-the-green/

Posted by Johnny Pedontist on 03/21/2011 at 04:40 AM

I hope this article helps to open the eyes of today’s parents. Not to mention, reading the label of the foods we purchase for our children is one of the key steps to actually reducing the amount of synthetic ‘science foods’ we introduced to our child or children.

Posted by Brooke on 03/20/2011 at 02:47 PM

I appreciate this information. I already was aware of what Red dye does to my son, and recently saw Blue doing the same. He becomes so antsy, and restless, and out of control. I have really limited the amount of dyes we consume, and after reading this information, I am going to try to remove all artificial dyes. I appreciate Mom’s best marshmallow cereal, because it is colored with natural colors from beets, etc, as well as many other “health” food options. I’m going to share this information with everyone I can. Thanks again for this post!

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