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. 

Beginnings

Since November of this past year we have done a complete overhaul of our families diet. I always cooked whole foods and we ate healthy, but it was the little things that I believe were building up. We may have never noticed it ourselves, but when you have a child with a "lower threshold" everything shows up as an extreme. So rather than medications we chose to initiate a LIFE CHANGE.  We eliminated dairy, food dyes, preservatives (i.e. nitrates, MSG), and reduced our gluten intake. I began making all of our own bread (which I love now!) and we introduced a combination of fish oil, Magnesium, and B vitamins for our son. 

We have seen an incredible response from our son*. Many of his sensory and hyperactivity symptoms drastically decreased. As a pediatric nurse it breaks my heart to see how many kids are comprehensively medicated. But no one has taken the time to educate the parents on the "fuel" they are putting in the child's body and the extreme effect it can have. If you have a child like mine then you know how sensitive they are to external factors... imagine what we are doing internaly with the food they eat?

*Although we choose not to pursue any formal diagnosis, our son exhibits some mild autism and sensory processing sensitivities as well as hyperactivity. The definition of "spectrum" is range, gamut, sweep, extent, scope, span; the definition is truly inclusive of the many children that fall in that rainbow of dispositions.*