Food Dye Makers Fight Back Against Hyperactivity Claims

Food dye makers argued on Thursday there is no proof their colorings make kids more hyperactive, aiming to fend off a consumer group's call for a government ban or warning on artificially brightened snacks and sodas.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has long deemed the dyes safe but is reviewing recent studies of the colors' effects on children's behavior at the consumer group's request.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest argues there is enough evidence to show the colors that have been added to foods for decades worsen hyperactive behavior in some kids.

The committee of outside experts is set to make recommendations later Thursday that the FDA will consider in the coming months. Critics agree a ban is unlikely and are pushing for a warning to parents on product packaging.

The research that raised concern is "very difficult to interpret. This is a very complex series of studies. They haven't been done using any standard method," Sean Taylor, scientific director of the International Association of Color Manufacturers, told an FDA advisory panel.

The artificial blue, green, orange, red and yellow food colorings show up in everything from PepsiCo's Gatorade, Cheetos and Doritos to Kellogg's Eggo waffles and Kraft's Jell-O desserts.

A ban or warning could impact major food manufacturers as well as Sensient Technologies Corp, a company that makes seven of the eight dyes the consumer group wants banned.

Companies say the dyes are needed in part to brighten natural colors that fade during processing. If a product that is naturally red appears dull at the grocery store, "the consumer then is concerned. They say it's not safe to eat," Taylor said.

FDA staff reviewers said in a preliminary report that scientific research so far suggested some children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be affected by food coloring. The disorder affects up to 5 percent of U.S. children, according to government statistics.

The review itself has added weight to a decades-old consumer debate on whether parents should let their kids eat artificially colored foods.

Concerns erupted in the 1970s when a pediatrician, Dr. Ben Feingold, claimed the artificial colors were linked to hyperactive behavior and proposed a diet eliminating them.

Critics say use of artificial food coloring has jumped dramatically in the past few decades. The colors are obvious in brightly colored cereals or cupcakes but also appear in some packaged potatoes, waffles and fast-food pickles.

Some companies are offering new products without added colors or with natural colors in response to consumer demands.

Kraft, for example, said it was selling products such as Back to Nature Macaroni & Cheese with natural coloring.

For parents who want to avoid artificial colors, "they are clearly labeled on the packages," Kraft spokeswoman Valerie Moens said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Silver Spring, Maryland and Martinne Geller in New York, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[CindyM272]

08:42 AM on 04/05/2011

"Companies say the dyes are needed in part to brighten natural colors that fade during processing..." I'm sure there's an answer in there somewhere...
If people weren't so stupid as to be fooled by pretty colors, marketing tricks and packaging truth stretching, then we wouldn't need to have the FDA. So apparently, no, we cannot make these decisions ourselves.

[AlonzoQuijana]

11:29 AM on 04/04/2011

A ban on food coloring? More Nanny Statism. The government needs to keep its hands off my Cheetos.... and light bulbs, toilets, dishwasher soap, shower heads, menthol cigarettes, caffeinated beverages, gasoline, restaurant menus, car, motorcycle... and whatever else I may or may not want to use or consume.

Seriously, we're adults. We can make our own decisions on costs vs benefits, without a bureaucrat's "help."

[Gary Drechsel]

12:25 PM on 04/02/2011

I've seen food with food coloring (especially red #40) make my kids go insane. It makes them moody, angry and upset. It makes them hyper too. We've noticed bad effects from foods containing sodium benzoate. We have since tried our best to avoid foods with these additives and we've notice a big improvement in behavior and their general happiness.

[peegan]

09:58 AM on 04/02/2011

The science is there,along plenty of subjective observation. Artificial colors are bad for kids with ADHD and ADD.  Nice to see our FDA dragged kicking and screaming over to the podium to make this announcement. Fortunately most parents with ADHD and ADD kids have long known this. But maybe it will wake up some parents whose kids don't suffer from these conditions to the effects artificial food can have on their children, even when the consequences aren't as obvious or immediate.

[CoolerHeads]

08:03 PM on 04/02/2011

The subjective observations are there, as were all the subjective observations that sugar causes hyperactivity. Turns out that sugar does NOT cause hyperactivity. This is settled science at this point. So, despite all that certainty, it was, in fact, not happening. It's amazing how wrong subjective observations can be. There is only confirmation bias and regression to the mean to recommend these diets. I know several men who died of prostate cancer even though they were certain their soy based diets would save them. It's sad that they couldn't enjoy a steak in their last few years. Ah, magical thinking.

[TakeSake]

08:14 PM on 04/02/2011

It wasn't magical thinking that caused my kid to get rashes that took months to track down. It was Yellow #5.

[peegan]

08:18 PM on 04/02/2011

You skipped the first part of my statement, "The science is there." There are plenty of peer reviewed studies that point out the link between artificial colors, flavors and preservatives and ADHD. These studies have been published in many journals including The Lancet, Pediatrics, and Journal of Pediartrics.

[ddanimal]

12:03 AM on 04/02/2011

Gee, shouldnt these concerns have been investigated BEFORE artificial colors were allowed into the food supply?

[peterghansonmd]

11:54 PM on 04/01/2011

Whether or not artificial dye causes hyperactivity, what earthly good is it doing? How can aerosol spray cheese belong in the human body? Food company profits are magnified when they have a product that never goes stale, primarily because it is never fresh in the first place. There is so much money involved that "scientists" and "medical researchers" can invent arguments to disprove even the most obvious facts. The real human body needs real food. Thats how we get the proper building blocks for our tissues, and for our defenses against disease. Hyperactivity has many causes, mainly the lack of exercise and over stimulation from video screens. But idiotic ersatz "foods" are certainly no help. Lets not look for loopholes, but simply eat as we were intended to. My patients are learning about good foods to help their stress defenses at www.stressworksinc.com

[CoolerHeads]

01:26 AM on 04/02/2011

Is this a scientific assertion or a religious one. "Eat as we were intended to." By whom? God? We were intended to survive by using a highly adaptive digestive and immune system to get the nutrients we need. Decay produces toxins too.

[photocyte]

09:13 AM on 04/02/2011

Your logic could be used to rally against the paranoia of hand-washing.

Or washing your food before you eat it.

Or cooking it, for that matter.

Our highly adaptive digestive and immune systems should just rise to the occasion and protect us, and you're gonna die from *something* eventually, why bother with such religious devotions to sanitation?

[Bushisgone]

07:54 AM on 04/03/2011

What are you saying I don't have to wash my hands anymore

Cool

[ddanimal]

11:51 PM on 04/01/2011

These colors should be banned. There is no compelling reason for them to be in foods. They provide no objective benefit Unlike preservatives, they dont provide any safety benefit.

Also, ask yourself why the FDA is dragged its feet for 30 years on this issue?

They should have been banned long ago.

[Robert Nix]

09:13 PM on 04/01/2011

One of the things I always ask myself when I'm reading the ingredients: Did they put that in there for them or me?

[Oginikwe]

03:38 PM on 04/02/2011

One of the things I always ask myself when I'm reading the ingrediants is "what the heck is THAT?" If I don't recognize it as a food, I don't buy it. We make our own.

[thepoliticalcat]

07:30 PM on 04/01/2011

Why is this even a conversation worth having? Parents who feed their children "brightly colored foods" that come in boxes from a "food processing company" are definitely not doing the right thing by their kids. That's a given. Because nobody goes into business for YOUR health or your KIDS' health. They go into business to make a profit. A business makes a profit when its cost of doing business (ingredients, space, employee salaries, etc.) cost less per unit than they sell each unit for. Only someone who loves a child will do what is in that child's best interest. Expecting a corporation to put your child's health and safety first is incredibly naive. If you want to feed your kid "brightly colored" things, give them apples and tomatoes, peppers and peaches, bananas, berries, carrots, and chard. Those are perfect foods with naturally bright colours. Feeding your kids Eggos and Doritos is as close to a crime as it gets.

[CoolerHeads]

09:08 PM on 04/01/2011

Wow. Parents who feed their kids food that you don't approve of are committing a crime? For reals? You are the stuff of Rush Limbaugh's wet dreams.

[Mom of 5]

09:28 PM on 04/01/2011

So many posters assume colors are only in "junk" foods. Check your breads, rolls, cheeses, yogurts, pickles, soups, applesauces, and your MEDICATIONS. Dyes are in far more things than you realize.
Again clear isn't always clear sometimes it's Blue #1.

[CoolerHeads]

04:00 PM on 04/01/2011

There is a contamination, all right. It's the contamination of "natural" and "purity" obsessed thinking. Sure we want good governmental oversight. Yes large companies don't always put our health first, but the notion that there is a purity diet that will eliminate illness or troubling behavior is just silly. There is no such thing as zero exposure. We have not fallen from some natural grace. We are organisms in a highly toxic and dangerous world. That is not the fault of business, that is a fact of who and what we are and have been for millenia. We are organisms meant to live 30 years in a hostile environment. Everything about us (and all organisms) is a response to that hostility. Sex is a genetic strategy to fool the genes of the microbes and other predators who want our energy for their own survival. There is no mommy out there who can change that for you. You are going to die, your children are going to die. Eat healthfully, but not religiously. Don't ruin the years you do have with an obsession to get years you weren't promised and that no one owes you.

[blingbling65943]

04:26 PM on 04/01/2011

I'm sorry my friend, but you have no idea what you are talking about.

We have extensive evidence that what we ingest into our bodies has a significant effect on how we think and feel.  

it really is just common sense, you are what you eat.

And ingesting poisons on a daily basis, has a profound impact on our bodies and our minds.

I don't think you have any idea what you are actually eating, its scary stuff.

[CoolerHeads]

05:51 PM on 04/01/2011

It's only scary stuff if you don't understand chemistry and biology. If you did, then you would understand that we are complicated adapting organisms with myriad systems for dealing with toxins, most of which are either naturally occurring or made through our own metabolic processes. There is no clean environment and there is certainly no such thing as food purity. Natural is not ipso facto better. And the adage that "you are what you eat" is nothing more than folk phrasing. You are engaged in magical thinking which leads you to believe in magical eating.

[photocyte]

04:51 PM on 04/01/2011

Processed food is essentially an arms race between corporations.

"Yes large companies don't always put our health first"

I'd argue they never put our health first. They put profit first.

It's why you can get 2300mg of sodium in a single serving, it's why sugar levels are off the charts in foods that don't need sweetening in the first place.

It's what gave us trans-fats!

Corporation A finds out consumers prefer Corporation B's breakfast cereal because it's got 15% more sugar . . . Corporation A retaliates by adding even more sugar to theirs and the cycle continues. Same with artificial colors. "Crap, their apricots look fresher than ours . . . order more Yellow #5!"

Consumer education is one path to the solution, regulation is another. They should ideally both be running parallel towards the same goal, taking action at the same time.

[CoolerHeads]

07:12 PM on 04/01/2011

I'm not interested in defending the food industry. Rather, I challenge the mindset that is predicated on OCD tendencies, magical thinking and paranoia. There is an emotional toxicity behind this type of thinking. If your life is dominated by these types of thoughts, I would look more closely at your own issues than at the food labels.

[Endotoxin]

03:46 PM on 04/01/2011

Issue a public health campaign educating consumers on the natural color of the product. Show before and after pictures of the product showing scales of rancidity and what appearances should be a cause for concern.

Spend 10% of your ad budget on that and that will be satisfactory. The costs saved from not having to add dyes and instead re-educating consumers will pay off in both the short and long-run.

No excuses.

[dopamineboy]

03:18 PM on 04/01/2011

Meanwhile over in Europe!
From 20th July 2010: All EU nations - foods that contain certain artificial food dyes must display a warning label. This warning label must state that the food may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children. The regulation is mandatory for six colors.

[Bruce Winter]

01:23 AM on 04/04/2011

Don't worry, the US never learns from other countries, even if they have a higher living standard, (most of Europe). Why? Because we're "special."

[dopamineboy]

03:12 PM on 04/01/2011

Who's guessing the FDA will do nothing?
Just in - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Advisory Committee on March 31 voted 8-6 against recommending warning labels on foods with synthetic color additives; however, the panel did call for more studies to determine if there is a link between food colors and hyperactivity in children.

[ddanimal]

12:00 AM on 04/02/2011

The EU takes action, and the corrupt FDA delays and passes the buck. Ridiculous. Everyone should take note of this decision and never trust the FDA about anything.

[Bushisgone]

08:07 AM on 04/03/2011

You should never trust any government in any kind of form

Its about Power and money

No government cares about its people
Just power

[maribelles]

03:09 PM on 04/01/2011

Gee, when I go to the farmers market, or even to the produce section, for that matter, all I see is a riot of color. But wait! I am seeing Real Food. Then I move on to look at wild caught salmon and trout and it is orange- again - Real Food. My eggs and milk from local cooperative farms raw dairy are creamy and yellowish- not dyed and bleached- again - Real Food. Does anyone want to know more about obtaining - Real Food ? Start out by 1) shopping at a bulk natural foods section- nothing is dyed or processed 2) Get one of several hundred books which can teach a second grader how to cook with grains, seeds, nuts, beans, and vegetables. 3) Eat what you make. Problem Solved. If this happened all over you can bet your bottom dollar Kraft and Carnation and Kellogs would be falling all over themselves opening up organic bulk food stores and conducting simple cooking classes.

[playsindirt]

02:53 PM on 04/01/2011

I buy very little processed food for my family - not because of the health concerns but because I like to cook REAL food and like the look and taste of REAL food. We need to stop pumping hormones, HFCS, dyes, and flavorings into our food system. Eat real cheese, bake real treats, shop farmers markets and eat locally and seasonally. If it comes in a bag or a box, avoid it. Shop the outside aisles of the store - produce, meat, dairy - and avoid the center aisles. That's better than nothing.