Food Advisory Committee

It has been almost a year since the FDA has released any official statements in regards to food dyes; unfortunately no large studies have been completed since 2007. As a parent I have no doubt in the huge difference we have seen in our child's behaviors. 

"For certain susceptible children with ADHD and other behavior problems, the data suggest that their condition may be exacerbated by exposure to a number of substances in food, including, but not limited to, artificial food colors"   FDA’s Food Advisory Committee met on March 30-31, 2011. 

I do have to say that the wording of this statement greatly annoys me. Children with ADHD and spectrum disorders do not necessarily have behavior problems. Many "behaviors" are compensatory for a brain, that has, as my sweet boy put it "like a 1000 thoughts at once". And I would love to see the FDA give further detail to the "number of substances in foods" line. Do they mean nitrates, preservatives, hormones, antibiotics, and dairy?

Food Dyes Under Scrutiny

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is asking the FDA to ban these artificial food dyes.

	Dye	Common Name	Found In
Twizzlers	Red No. 40	Allura Red	The most widely used food dye in terms of pounds consumed, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Found in cereal, gelatin, candy, baked goods.
Mountain Dew	Yellow No. 5	Tartrazine	The second most widely used food dye, according to CSPI. Found in soft drinks, pudding, chips, pickles, honey, mustard, gum, baked goods, gelatin and other foods.
Reese's Pieces	Yellow No. 6	Sunset Yellow	The third most widely used food dye. Found in cereal, orange soda and other beverages, hot chocolate mix, baked goods and many other foods.
Maraschino cherries	Red No. 3	Erythrosine B	Candy, popsicles, cake decoration and other baked goods, maraschino cherries
Blue M&Ms	Blue No. 1	Brilliant Blue	Ice cream, canned peas, candy, drinks, dessert powders, mouthwash
M&Ms (darker blue ones)	Blue No. 2	Indigotine, Indigo Carmine	Widely used to color beverages, candy and other foods.
Cotton candy	Green No. 3	Fast Green FCF	One of the least used food dyes, according to CSPI. Found in canned peas, vegetables, fish, desserts, cotton candy and other candy.
Sausage casing	Orange B		Hot dog and sausage casings. According to CSPI, batches of Orange B haven't been certified for use in at least a decade.

There are several blogs and informative sites out there, where information can be found on food dye free alternatives, raising food dye free kids, and personal experiences of elimination. 

Green Eggs and Ham

We always called Tylenol "purple crack" ..same thing with birthday cakes or candy... we always thought the erratic behaviors were from sugar.  But a "sugar rush" is over quickly, food dyes stay in your system for much longer. My "ah-ha" moment was when Avery was still in preschool. We had eliminated dairy, restricted glutens, and inflammatory foods, everything was great. Then we had "Green Eggs and Ham" day. The teacher smiled as she told me how much he loved them and that he ate 3 plates, but my stomach sunk. Since preschool was so stimulatory it was hard to get an initial assessment on whether or not he would be effected. But by the next morning it was clear... where we had been at a more "normal" baseline we were all of a sudden back to arm flapping, oral fixations, hyper erratic behaviors, and extreme emotional lability. It took about a week to see him return to baseline.

It tore me up because I somehow felt like it was my fault, I should have prevented it. There are many journal articles world wide citing this hyper reaction. In Europe the use of dye has been drastically reduced and foods that contain certain dyes are now labeled as "potentially causing hyperactivity in children".  Many Eurpean products use natural coloring (vegetable, fruit based) yet the same products sold in the US contain food dyes instead. 

It's interesting when you start paying attention to the food dye issue. It goes beyond the obvious. Just the other week we are in the grocery store. The kids wanted some pickles... guess what there is yellow food dye in most pickles - I never imagined! And it is in everything from cereal to soup, to condiments. 

The more you look the more you will find it. 

We are an aesthetic country, everything must appear perfect, yet we are sacrificing our own health for it. Our "spectrum disorder" rates are growing daily at an alarming rate but we are more concerned about the shortage in our medications than working to resolve some of the triggers. 

Articles of Interest

ADHD Med Shortages

Food Dye Report 2010

CNN Report