I know, I’m all like “Blah blah blahbity blah blah Monsanto blah blah blahbity Additives blahbity blahbity blah blah More vegetables blahbity blah blah My house is a mess blah blah blah Cook more blah.”
But as long as I’m on a roll….
Over in Britain, they’re phasing out a bunch of food additives that are damaging childrens brains. Apparently the damage to children’s brains caused by these additives (about 5.5 IQ points) is as bad as the damage caused by lead in gasoline before they phased it out. They’re thinking that this move will cut the number of hyperactive children by a third.
Over there, the suspect additives are food colors: tartrazine (E102); quinoline yellow (E104); sunset yellow (E110); carmoisine (E122); ponceau 4R (E124); and allura red (E129).
Don’t recognize them? Don’t feel reassured. Three of the banned additives are approved and widely used in the U.S. — their more familiar names to us Yanks include: FD&C Yellow 5; Yellow 6; and Red #40. Now you recognize ‘em, right? Sigh.
Just another reminder to blah blah blahbity buy foods that are as whole as possible blah blah blah blah stay away from foods with ingredients that you don’t recognize blahbity blah blah farmers’ markets blah blah nutrition blah blah blah.
Many thanks to Jack from Fork and Bottle for the link.
Well it doesn’t sound like blah blah to me! I have seen what a small amount of food dye can do to an otherwise well-behaved child. What the food labels don’t tell you is that many food additives (dyes, many artificial flavors and some preservatives) are manufactured from crude oil. In fact, most of the dyes used in foods in the US begin in petroleum refineries in China.
In addition to hyperactivity and attention problems, these additives have been shown to be linked to many health problems including DNA damage, nerve damage, reproductive damage, respiratory problems and cancer. See http://www.diet-studies.com.
The good news is that it’s surprisingly easy to avoid the worst of what the Brit’s call the “artificial nasties.” The non-profit Feingold Associaiton of the US has been helping folks find the foods they enjoy minus the additives they hate. See ADHDdiet.org for details.
AHA! I have always tried to keep food colorings out of my kids’ diets (because I too have seen what a small amount of artificial colorings do to my 3-year-old too… reference Easter candy at my mom’s house a few weeks ago. It was not a fun afternoon.) thanks for posting this!
Wow, we don’t eat much processed food because of my daughter’s food allergies. Now I feel relieved she can’t eat wheat, dairy or soy. Basically, nothing in a box.
How is it even possible that these additives are in “food?”
Interesting post. Thanks
My sister has an anaphylactic reaction to one of the red dyes. As a result I have to be pretty careful with my 5 year old who has a bunch of other allergies.
My daughter had a virus over the weekend accompanied with hives. She takes Zyrtec for the hives. Her pediatrician suggested if she was still having break-through hives, that I should give her a dose of Benedryl at bedtime. I picked up the generic Target brand. It has both Red #40 and FD&C Yellow #5. In ALLERGY medication?! I was really surprised.
Having a kid who is sensitive to artificial food coloring is a nightmare, especially when it come to OTC medications. My daughter is five and it’s a trial to get her to take a five-year-old size dose of (admitted atrocious-tasting) liquid medications — because they’re the only ones that are dye-free.
It doesn’t help that relatives don’t get this isn’t just me being picky about what she eats, because really? I let her eat anything. Actually, really, genuinely ANYTHING… but a stick of gum with Red #40 in it will send her into a red-faced, screaming, face-clawing fit that will make me wonder when child services is going to show up.
There are days I wonder just how much of that crap I’ve ingested in my lifetime. It would explain a lot.
I once had a co-worker(who we all thought was a little “off”, turns out he was, but anyway) who would sit at his work station all day long telling us different conspiracy theories and the like. One of them was about tartrazine and how it is a cancer causing agent etc and how it is a major ingredient in candy and other things children eat. I did give him a little credit once I started looking around online for info on it. It disgusts me that Kraft puts it in so many of their products and then tries to sell their processed food as wholesome and healthy for your family. Blech!
I agree with many of the commenters that children’s OTC medicine is riddled with these horrid dyes. We try to avoid them in my kids’ food on a gut level, ie, there is none of *that* in nature! Which of course, means you either make your own stuff or pay 6x as much for it. So annoying! Thanks, FDA. Anyhoo great post and links.