Interesting how you conclude that dies are harmful to us when even in the article they admit that studies do not show that except for "certain susceptible" children. If your child was allergic to peanuts would you insist that we ban peanuts too? She is your child and it is your responsibility to keep things you feel are harmful away from her, not from the rest of us who have no problem with them.

As has been said, this has been a problem for YEARS. My son is 36 years old now, but when he was a toddler we KNEW food dyes affected him adversely--and severely. What did my pediatrician write in my son's file when I asked for a liquid antibiotic that was not colored or flavored? "Mother needs therapy." I found this out when I got the records after changing doctors. Why the research now? Some drug company is ready to make big bucks on this "research." It has nothing to do with helping children or promoting health. Those are low priorities in this country, I am sorry to say.

Whether or not it affects your kid adversely why would you WANT to feed them unnatural dyes & chemicals.

My 10 year old son has a similar reaction to Red 40. Often I hear of hyperactivity associated with the dyes which is NOT what we experience. My son loses focus, becomes hostile and will vomit when he consumes Red 40. Obviously we cut it out where we can but dining out still proves challenging. Red 40 is in so many non-obvious food. Interestingly enough, we just spent a week in France. We ate out three times a day and my son did not vomit once. Both my husband and I agreed, it was like we had different child with us. I would love to see all dyes banned. I can only imagine how many children these dyes impact unbeknownst to their parents.

My son, now in his mid 20's most definitely reacted to red dye and caffine as a child. I once mentioned this to my mother-in-law and received a "yeah, right" kind of look. She decided to take him to Florida to visit his great-grandparents when he was 4. While there she called me in an absolute panic one evening. I was told that he was behaving like he was "possessed", eyes glazed, panting, running out of control. What was happening to this child who up until this point was quiet and well behaved???? After being asked "what did he eat?" I heard a list of foods among which was "a popsicle". "What color?" I queried. "Red". Let's just say after this I NEVER had to worry about him getting the the wrong foods at grandmas house!

I agree with ADS80 - why do we need these dyes & chemicals in our foods? Why in God's name is anybody DEFENDING it? Because Froot Loops are pretty? Wake up, people. Manufacturers should not be adding pointless chemicals to our food just so they can make more money off us by dangling bright colors in front of our idiotic eyes.

So we are going to let the Food Cops win? Whats next? What will they go after next? Pizza? Any drink other than water? The Food Cops will not let up until the only food left will be Bread and Water. Oh, I forgot, Bread has seasonings gotta get rid of that now too!!!

Another target for parents, that have no control over their children, to blame for their horrible parenting skills or lack there of. The Center for Science in the Public Interest. LOL! Don't make me laugh.

Just because it is on the market does not mean you have to buy it. Don't like the pretty colors of Fruit Loops, don't buy it. And, remember, genes have a lot to do with a lot of things.

Blame all you want, but you better look inside yourselves at what you do. We don't need food cops only a better brain when it comes to you own family.

This is almost the same thing with the video game and media violence hoax. Sure maybe some of the dyes have links to cancer or some other disease but that said if this were true everyone in the country would be screwed over and they are not. I can only conclude this is because only a certain subset of susceptible people are going to feel any effects.

From what I am reading some parents are just turning this into another boogieman, like the violence thing I mentioned earlier.

Instead of entertaining the idea that your kid might have something wrong with them on a psychological level you jump at the chance to blame their quirks on what they consume. Just like if your kid ends up being violent or rebels against you at some point, "oh well it has to be the games they played or the shows they watched" and not the cause or a mistake or oversight while you were raising them.

Maybe parents will use this as an excuse for why their kids are failing in school, because food dyes gave them ADD, yet another tool of delusion for some parents to comfort themselves with.

Not saying this report is fake, but people should approach it like they would any report from a government agency if they normally scrutinize the crap out of them. Like the media violence linked to real world violence studies they probably cherry picked their experiment set to some extent.

Just don't eat the stuff and they will quit making it. Supply and Demand!!! We don't need to spend a cazillion dollars on some bureaucratic government study.

I am somewhat sympathetic to the general concern over food additives. In many cases, there is very little testing for safety. The philosophy seems to be "we can make money by adding this to your food and so we'll just keep doing it until there are 500 studies that conclusively show harm". Of course, if you assume everything is safe until harm is absolutely proven you get a situation where we are all exposed to THOUSANDS of synthetic compounds without really having evidence they are safe. This needs to change. If you want to expose the world to your synthetic chemical the burden of proof should be upon you to show that it is safe.

However -- the other side of this coin is that we also shouldn't take parental anecdotes as evidence that additives cause ADHD. This is a scientific question that requires carefully designed studies involving a very large sample of persons, careful controls, and successful replication of results. You can't just assume that a food dye causes ADHD just because your child "seems hyper" after eating a particular food. There are just too many other variables that you might not have thought of that could account for it.

We saw an Oxford Hospital (UK) Allergy specialist about asthema for our son in 1985. She asked if we knew he was hyperactive. Denial on our part. Test it for 2 weeks was her advice. We stopped all foods and drinks that had a certain selection of artifical additives and colorings. After a week he had stopped climbing the walls, was attentive in class and my wife was asked by his teacher what we had done as he was "a different child" in her words. Loaded him up on artifical-colored soft drink at the end of the two weeks and he was back to the can't-sit-still, agitated, et al, state. Eliminated the junk from then on. He appreciated the peace and at age 31 tries to buy natural foods for himself, that in the USA are much harder to find, so he can have a level of peace in himself and avoid the ADHD meds that mess him up in other ways - yes they can produce suicidal thoughts and depression and there isn't a good one among the raft-full he's had over the years. Why meds? Because U.S. foods are loaded with junk and the labels use names that change to disguise what's natural and not, so the only resort was to meds for some relief. Food producers have improved in the last year or two, such that we can now find good food and can junk the meds.

Advise getting a list of artificial colors and additives and, yes it will take effort, try the test yourself by only giving natural or artificial additive-free foods, especially avoiding colored drinks. If your child mellows out, you know what to do for their sake... Don't even bother with the end-of-trial load up on colored junk...

It was proven over thirty years ago that BHAs, BHB's, and food coloring caused ADD/ADHD in kids - Yet big pharma still pushes Ritalin.

http://feingold.org/adhd.php

Side note: if you refer to kids in third party (meaning you don't have one), don't bring kids into it trying to quantify your argument - you lost before you even clicked on reply.

My mom used to tell me that when I was little I had a pair of purple pants, and everytime I wore them I was really bad. My question to her when I had rambunctious toddlers of my own was "why didn't you throw out the purple pants?" The truth was I probably didn't have enough extra clothes for her to throw something out (today's parents would not understand this but kids that grew up the 50's and 60's might). But my point is, I'm pretty certain the pants weren't making me act up, maybe I just felt spunkier in purple.... it may be something other than the the pants or the dye, that makes kids act up.

Geowil- Stick to a topic you know something about because you are dead wrong here! Preservatives, food dyes, added hormones ,antibiotics and steroids are products that do not need to be added to the food supply and from my personal experience, they are harmful to my health! If you enjoy chemicals so much, feel free to ingest as much as you like but the rest of us would like our food as pure as it can get!

@Dee

Was not suggesting that people should not do so if they want to, but they should not force everyone to conform because they think that way. What is needed is not banning of foods but a wider selection of foods that appeal to everyone.

The article is painting a picture for parents who choose so to say that their kids problems are cause by what is in their food and not because of family problems, emotional imbalances, or parenting issues, which I pointed was the same case with the media violence topic.

If you have found that you have problems with certain additives in foods then by all means avoid them, but people who do not have problems should have the choice to continue consuming them if they so choose.

Just to put this out there. There was one extensive study done that had landslide conclusions (against food dye), that this article fails to mention. It was a double blind study where neither those administering the study nor the parents monitoring the behavior of their children knew whether or not a child had received the food dyes or not. The conclusion of the study showed that the majority of kids - whether they were "clincally" ADHD or not were affected by the dyes. This helped fuel the ban of dyes in the UK.

There are studies out there. This article just failed to mention them.

If you're curious just google "University of Southampton Food Dye Study" - it was published in the Lancet, a reputable UK medical journal.

And this website talks a lot about that study.

I don't think it's fair to blame parents of children who have ADHD (exacerbated by food dye or not) for their child's behavior.

It is interesting that you would mention Kellogg, maker of Morning Star Farm products.....before Kellogg bought them out (Worthington Foods), they NEVER used artificial dyes in their products. Beet juice was used for the red coloring in their "dogs", etc. Once Kellogg bought them out, suddenly the dogs were colored with red dyes and I stopped buying the products. John Harvey Kellogg would turn over in his grave if he knew his company was doing this to a "natural, vegetarian" product. He was an amazing man who developed the original corn flake cereal as part of his research and treatment of TB patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. He also wrote the definitive textbook on the art of massage therapy.

Thank you for this report on the food dyes. The FDA and food companies have known for years (since the 70's) that food dyes are harmful not only to our children but to us.

No kidding. That is why I'm wondering - why is the FDA making it out like they just discovered this.

My brother (born in 1969) was super hyper active. The doctor wanted to put him on Ritalin. My mother disagreed and never did put him on drugs.

She cut out ALL ARTIFICIAL ANYTHING and he became super calm.

I don't really read labels on food because I do not buy any processed foods whatsoever. I abhor chemically processed food.

Here's the thing, there's a market for foods made with out the artificial dyes and preservatives. So, why are companies not willing to do it? They can continue making their dye-loaded offerings and have a line of foods catering to those of us who choose not to give it to our children for whatever reason. Give your customers what they want.

One of my children cannot have dyes. So, I buy those gummy fruit snacks that have no dyes in them. You only get 5 packages per box with 10 pieces in each bag (like the cheap junky stuff). Unfortunately, you can't get the "healthier" alternative with known kids' characters. And even more unfortunate, a box of cheapy character fruit snacks at a Walmart an run $1 to $1.25 for a box of 10, while the better non-character alternative runs $3.50 and up for the box of 5.

Sadly, it's the price we parents have to pay because big business only wants what's cheap and fast and to heck with whether or not it's good for kids.

I see no great purpose for the food dyes, and likely don't have many in my diet. yet I also (darn science and risk assessment background) think we worry about insignificant risks too much. I would call this insignificant risk. I am sure the same people that posted great concerns here have not tested their homes for radon for example. In spite of it posing 4 time the cancer risk of second hand smoke. They likely drive around using cell phones knowing that the risk of accidents and deaths are near that of drunk driving. It is always easier to ask someone else to change your risk, than do something yourself.

My points being, there is no such thing as zero risk. And f you don't like the product, vote with your feet. I suspect food color dye eaters as a rule have a much greater risk from a poor diet in general, than the risk related to colorants.

You raise some good points. Especially regarding the situation with schools. Kids have vastly larger amounts of stimuli in their lives than say someone like me who grew up in the fifties. They seem so much smarter to me than we were. One reason for that is probably that toys are designed to be more educational in nature now. However, the way for them to learn the concepts of sitting and listening and obeying remains the same. Parental and family relationships. As an example: if you buy your 5 year old a cell phone, don't expect them to pay much attention to the room they are in. If they spend hours in front of a computer, they will be lesslikely to pay attention to a teacher because it may just seem boring. It shouldn't mean the need drugs.

Raising children to become well balanced and motivated is the hardest job on earth and takes motivation, time and effort by the parents. The same as it always did.

mn,

But I also think many cases of ADHD are actually cases of behavioral problems caused by parents that wait until their children are almost in school before they teach them concepts like sitting and listening and obeying. Too often the initial "diagnosis" is made by teachers that are fed up with kids acting out and school systems that insist kids need drugs to control their behavior.

Totally agree with you. If I was a child today I would have been been diagnosed with ADHD. I was hyperactive. They found out at the age of 5 that black coffee settled me down. Been drinking it ever since. :) But most children have not been raised right. The parents can't be bothered. The teachers end up having to get the kid drugged so the kids that know how to behave can learn. And nobody complains. The parents don't, the kid is now docile. The teachers don't, the kid is now docile. The drug companies don't, their making money hand over fist. The doctors don't, they just want to get the loser parents out of their office.

Some cases of ADD/ADHD can be explained through other causes, but there are many studies out there that have also linked ADD/ADHD to genetics. Living with ADD for alomst 20 years now, I have developed certain coping mechanisms that I can use to seem normal, or at least close enough to normal that strangers wouldn't be able to tell the difference. But it is something I truely struggle with everyday.

The idea that so many are willing to blow-off deep study into the subject and just blame something is astounding. First it was TV, then video games, then processed flour, then it was pesticides, and now it's food coloring. I guess for some people it's easier to believe in a largescale conspiracy encompassing the FDA, the food industry as a whole (from the farm to the grocery store), the education system, insurance, medical professionals, and big pharmacueticals. But someone has to be blamed! And shouting and raising pitchforms is a more tangible form of doing something than contributing to ongoing research to find a true root cause.

The most compelling evidence for me has been a study linking ADD/ADHD to a genetic mutation that results in fewer seratonine/dopamine producing glands in the brain. It explains the paradoxical affect of ritalin and adheral, as well as the results of several studies showing the ADD/ADHD individuals have a much higher occurence of other mental health issues (bi-polar, depression,...) and a secondary learning disability (dyslexia, G&T).

Yes, there are sure to be plenty of cases where the child is just bored or acting out and gets misdiagnosed. And I'm sure there are plenty of cases that can be explained by sensitivities to certain objects. But to call this disorder, with which I live and have no control over, a simple "behaviour problem" is like saying Cancer is just a "diet issue".

Everything I do causes Cancer.

We already have a bunch of idiots who think vaccines cause autism.

A major part of the problem is that most of the people who have young children nowadays are ignorant when it comes to math and science because the dumbing down of America started back before they were even born. The parents don't have the scientific knowledge to gather legitimate data and make an informed decision. They jump to accept whatever fad is popular at the time without even checking the facts. A few years ago, it was "vaccines cause autism". Now it's f"ood dyes cause ADHA".

Newsflash, people- No one has to feed his or her kids foods loaded with dyes. Modern technology actually makes it possible to prepare meals starting from scratch with unprocessed produce, meat, fish and chicken. Get off you lazy butts and prepare a good, home cooked meal rather than stopping by McDonald's for dinner. Feed them oatmeal for breakfast rather then Fruit Loops. It's really that easy.

Scales67,

The point is that children miss out on things - like candy at a friend's party, or dumping half of their Trick or Treat haul. We do prepare food from scratch and we do give our kids oatmeal for breakfast. The problem is that life's little extras - like Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for a Saturday morning breakfast have red and yellow dye in the icing....which is WHITE!

We avoid nuts for our kids due to allergies but I still eat them and certainly wouldn't ban them, afterall, why miss out on something? When it comes to dyes in food though, what is the benefit? What are YOU missing out on if we limit their use in everyday foods?

RobertS - we all miss out on something in life that we would like to have. That applies to adults and children alike. Most of us had to deal with worse situations than dumping half of our Trick or Treat haul when we were kids. Your children are not going to be damaged for life if they can't eat candy at a friend's party.

As for cinnamon rolls on Saturday morning...why does it have to be Pillsbury cinnamon rolls? Why not purchase them from a local bakery that sells rolls that don't include additives, preservatives and other junk found in Pillsbury rolls? Not only would your kids not be consuming all the additives that are included in addition to the dyes, you would be supporting your local economy. If it's the experience of popping open a can and baking preformed rolls that you want you children to have, then that's a real shame that you don't take the time to show them the fun of making them from scratch. That's what we did when I was a kid. My mother taught me, then when I was old enough, I would make the cinnamon rolls and have them ready and hot out of the oven when my parents awoke. All that's required is some time and thought on your part. By feeding them Pillsbury rolls, you are teaching your kids to consume processed foods. Why are you so concerned specifically about food dyes if you are so willing to serve them processed foods that contain perservatives and other additives that are equally as harmful?

I don't care one way or the other whether dyes are added to food because I don't eat processed foods. What I do care about is when parents think that the rest of the world has to conform to whatever they want for their kids. Sorry to have to tell you this, but your kids are only special to you. They are your responsibility, not mine or the rest of the world.

I had severe dietary restrictions as a child for several years because of a health condition. A lot of the foods my friends and family consumed I couldn't and I had to give up a lot of my favorite foods. I had to always eat before going to parties because everything served there (typical party food of soda, pizza, and [chocolate] cake) was something I couldn't eat. It was tough, but that is life. Also, when I went trick-or-treating I had to give up almost ALL of my candy, but alas here I am today doing just fine and not emotionally scared.

Do I think we need all these food dyes, no. Do I think it is ridiculous about parents complaining about them, yes. Don't feed your child processed foods- it is as simple as that. Find all natural candy they can have in moderation and do your own baking if it is that big of a deal. You CAN make your own cinnamon rolls with icing that don't have dyes in them. We can all do with eating more fresh fruits and veggies.

I also wonder sometimes if is not just the dyes in the food, but the actual food itself that causes issues. If we put junk into our bodies how do we expect them to perform? I'm guilty of it too, but I admit it. If we put poor quality gas into our cars (gas with water in it, etc) we can expect our cars to have issues. I believe it is the same way with our bodies.

Gee, maybe some of your son's problem is your husband, the boy's father. If the father is allergic to almost everything, stands to reason, genes has a play in your son.

Traci - thank you for a very sane, logical response to this article. It's so refreshing when a parent doesn't blame every problem that a child might have on someone or something else. Some things just happen.

While reading your post, I began to wonder how many parents think that their child has ADHA when in reality it is merely bad parenting. The daughter of a friend of mine had all the symptoms of ADHD. My friend's mother, the little girl's grandmother, lived with them. No one ever said "no" to that child. She got away with murder and was never disciplined. I tried to stay out of it because it was not my place to comment. However, there were a few occasions when I could no longer stand it and would tell the child to stop doing something. She was initially surprised, but would stop, settle down and behave. She is 23 years old today but is still self-centered, selfish and has problems being considerate of others.

It is amazing the things our bodies do to tell us something is bothering them and far too many of us just think that is normal and go on with life.

Good for you. You did the mental work to figure out what was bothering you.

They don't do anything at all if they are not susceptible to what ever they can cause or trigger. I ate tons of this crap growing up, no problems.

Are you sure it was the dyes in the foods you were eating? Maybe it was just the food itself. Just wait....I'll give a month, maybe two.... then there will be a long line of people waiting to sue food companies for putting additives in their foods.

You can find the content of almost any food by going to the manufacturer's website. If you want to know what is in Campbell's tomato soup, use those as keywords and search until you find the correct page. Works for fast foor restaurants, etc., as well.

www.feingold.org

The Feingold website/ organization that tells you what foods are free of additives. Extremely helpful. You will be so impressed with the positive changes in your family.

Seriously? You've got to be kidding me. A generational curse broken by prayer? LOL

Yeah...like a pastor is going to know anything about autoimmune disease. From which school did he obtain his medical degree?

If your kid had a peanut allergy, you'd check for peanuts in food prepared away from home, too. No difference. Your kid, your responsibility.

You could just not let her eat marshmallows at all if it is really a problem. Grapes, strawberries, cherries, kiwi are all great snacks, get dehydrated ones for easy take along treats. Make your own cookies, make your own candies, you can even make your own marshmallows for her. Yes it is more work, but if it is a matter of keeping your child healthy isn't it worth it. And if you make it you know what is in it. If it is manufactured you don't have control of the ingredients.

Molly - stop assuming that because something affects your child that everyone else on the planet has to be inconvenienced. You need to take the time to teach your child what she can eat rather than expecting a certain ingredient be removed from ALL foods and other products because they affect her. She will need to know how to take care of herself when she is an adult if the same problems persist. Start training her now. It's for her own well-being.

Also, it's possible to find products without the offensive ingredient. Toothpaste? Try using baking soda. It's actually supposed to be better for gum health. All it takes is a little research rather than being lazy and expecting someone else to do the work for you.

Gina, mn, and scales, you all match the complancy of the FDA.. Well done!! You must be the few who have perfectly normal children. It's not a matter of 'inconvenience', it's a matter of having the kahuna's to care for someone other than yourself. You assume that Molly's daughter is old enough to know. What if she is 3? Heck, what if she has been subject to children's medicine that for some stupid reason has food dye in it. Kids don't give a rats butt about the color! But no, we pummel them with this and other additives when their immune system is developing.

Anyway, all this will be null and void since I am sure the 2 thousand Red #40 lobbyists are already lined up to 'talk' to our government representatives. They have a bigger voice than the parents who see this all unfold in their homes. I guess that's okay with some of you though since you won't be inconvenienced..

How about pre natal exposure------absolutely no studies there.