Protecting Children: Artificial Dyes and Hyperactivity
The next time you stock up on snacks like Mountain Dew and Skittles, think twice. You may not want to eat them if they contain the artificial food dyes Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, and Yellow 6. According to a CSPI press release, these "widely used artificial colorings are linked to hyperactivity and behavior problems in children."
Follows of the Feingold diet (named for the allergist Ben Feingold) have long suspected artificial food coloring as the source of children's behavioral problems. Now studies in the U.S. and abroad confirm this.
The United Kingdom is already working to phase out several of the problematic dyes named above. In America, we've gone in the other direction; the FDA raised the amount of food dye certified for use from 12mg per capita per day in 1955 to 59mg per capita per day in 2007.
The list of foods containing these dyes includes everything from bestselling cereals (Fruity Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Trix, Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, and Fruity Pebbles, to name a few) to Kraft Guacamole Dip and Aunt Jemima Blueberry Waffles.
Lunchbox staples like Fruit Roll-ups, Fruit-by-the-Foot, and Lunchables are also on the list. So are candies of course - Starburst, Skittles, and M&Ms, to name a few. These dyes even pop up in unsuspected places, like Betty Crocker's Au Gratin "100% Real" Potatoes.
In the United Kingdom, several of the products listed here are actually colored naturally. For example, the red strawberry sauce on your McDonald's sundae is made red by strawberries in the U.K. (as opposed to Red 40 in the U.S.) Apparently removing harmful artificial coloring can be done, and the food manufacturers already know how because they are doing so in other countries. When the choice to remove the dyes is optional, they choose not to do so - even if it means harming their customers.
Recipe for America joins with CSPI in calling on the FDA to ban on the use of the 8 artificial food dyes listed above.
