Artificial food coloring Wiki

Welcome to Artificial Food Coloring The Center for Science in the Public Interest Urges the FDA to Ban food coloring in America. Dyes are being phased out in European countries because of important new evidence showing that the dyes, and perhaps the preservative sodium benzoate, cause hyperactivity and other behavior problems in children. This wiki is a place for all reports and information found on why artificial food coloring should be banned.

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Food Coloring 

Child Nutrition Basics

By Vincent Iannelli, M.D., About.com Updated: June 09, 2008 About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

Food colorings have been used throughout history, although until recently, most food colorings were natural and didn't include the artificial food dyes that are commonly used today. For example, saffron is a natural food coloring that has been used to add a yellow color to foods since the early Roman Empire and even before then, in Egypt.

Food Coloring Although we often think about the food coloring in sugary kids' cereals, such as Cocoa Pebbles, Lucky Charms, and Trix, food coloring can also be used to make other foods more appealing.

Food coloring is used to make certain foods have a more uniform color, to simulate the color of fruits and vegetables that aren't actually in the food, and in many foods that are targeted at kids to make them more fun looking.

Commonly used artificial food coloring agents include:


 * Blue 1, a bright blue food dye that is commonly used in beverages, dairy products powders, jellies, confections, condiments, icings, syrups, and extracts
 * Blue 2, royal blue food dye that is commonly used in baked goods, cereals, snack foods, ice cream, confections, and cherries
 * Green 3, a sea green food dye that is commonly used in beverages, puddings, ice cream, sherbet, cherries, confections, baked goods, and dairy products
 * Red 40, an orange-red food dye that is commonly used in gelatins, puddings, dairy products, confections, beverages, and condiments
 * Red 3, a cherry-red food dye that is commonly used in cherries in fruit cocktail and in canned fruits for salads, confections, baked goods, dairy products, and snack foods
 * Yellow 5, a lemon-yellow food dye that is commonly used in custards, beverages, ice cream, confections, preserves, and cereals
 * Yellow 6, an orange food dye that is commonly used in cereals, baked goods, snack foods, ice cream, beverages, dessert powders, and confections

Natural food coloring agents are also used in many foods, and in addition to saffron, include beet juice, annatto extract, and caramel color.

Food Coloring Problems Is it safe for your kids to eat foods with artificial food coloring in them?

The Food &amp; Drug Administration regulates all artificial food colorings and certifies them for use in foods. Although the FDA says that adding food coloring to food is safe, some groups, including the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), insist that they aren't and want them banned.

The idea that artificial food coloring could be a problem for children was popularized in the 1970s by Dr. Ben Feingold and his Feingold Diet. This diet eliminated a number of items from a child's diet, including artificial food coloring, artificial flavoring, aspartame (an artificial sweetener), and artificial preservatives.

Although most initial studies discounted the effects of the Feingold Diet any link between food coloring and behavior problems or ADHD, a couple of newer studies from the United Kingdom suggest that maybe they do. One study alternately gave children either a drink with food colorings and preservatives or a placebo drink over a four week period, and parents reported worsening of their children's behavior, even when they were given the placebo drink. The behavior was a little worse with the drink with the food coloring in it, but even more significantly, the testers in the clinic doing the research didn't notice any difference in the behavior of the children, whether they were drinking the food coloring mix or the placebo drink.

Another research study from the United Kingdom that was published in the journal Lancet found small increases in hyperactivity in a group of 3 year olds and another group of 8 to 9 year olds, but it was both when they drank a mix or artificial food coloring and when given a drink with a food preservative.

Benefits of Food Coloring Do we need food coloring?

Without food coloring, many processed foods likely would have a drab or uneven color, which would not always be appetizing. That doesn't mean that we need artificial food coloring though, as more natural food coloring can usually get the job done too.

The CSPI reports that many big companies sell different versions of foods in the United Kingdom with natural food colorings, while in the United States, they contain artificial coloring. For example, M&amp;M's, Skittles, Starburst Chews, and the strawberry sauce that McDonald's uses on its sundaes. The strawberry sauce is made with Red 40 in the United States, but in the United Kingdom, they use real strawberries.

But even with artificial food coloring in foods, it doesn't have to be in everything your child eats.

What does chocolate milk mix look like without Red 40 in it? Does your child's candy really need to leave a tattoo on his tongue? Does everything he eats need to leave a temporary stain in his mouth and around his lips?

Do all foods for kids have to be blue, orange, or purple? Apparently not, which may be why Heinz doesn't sell blue and green ketchup anymore.

Avoiding Food Coloring Most children with ADHD likely don't need to be on special diets, but if you are concerned that food coloring is causing your child's behavior problems or other reactions, then you could work to avoid artificial food coloring by:


 * giving your child more whole foods and avoiding or limiting the amount of processed food he eats.
 * reading food labels and checking for artificial food coloring agents on the ingredients list, including Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Red 3, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6.
 * look for foods that use natural food coloring, which is indicated by ingredients such as annatto extract, beta-carotene, beet powder, caramel color, fruit juice, paprika, saffron, turmeric, and vegetable juice.
 * avoiding flavored milk (strawberry milk doesn't have any strawberries in it)
 * avoiding or limiting foods with a lot of different bright colors on them, for example something like Kellogg's Pop-Tarts Frosted Double Berry toaster pastries. These breakfast treats look fun, but if you check the food label, they do have almost all of the artificial food colors in them, including Red 40, Blue 2, Yellow 6, and Blue 1.

If you start reading food labels more actively, you might be surprised that artificial food coloring agents have already been replaced by natural food coloring ingredients in many foods. Not surprisingly, snack foods, sugary cereals, and most foods that wouldn't be on any ones list of healthy foods had artificial coloring added to them.

Sources: U. S. Food and Drug Administration. Food Color Facts Brochure. Complementary and alternative medical therapies for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism. Weber W - Pediatr Clin North Am - 01-DEC-2007; 54(6): 983-1006. Bateman B, Warner JO, Hutchinson E, et al. The effects of a double blind, placebo controlled, artificial food colourings and benzoate preservative challenge on hyperactivity in a general population sample of preschool children. Arch Dis Child. 2004;89:506–511. McCann D, Barrett A, Cooper A, et al. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2007:370(9598):1560–1567.

This exerpt was copied from http://pediatrics.about.com/od/nutrition/a/0608_food_clrng_2.htm ©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.