re children, ADHD and food colorings

[movie zombie]

an interesting article and "food" for thought:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/add-adhd/0330/20-surprising-artifically-colored-foods.aspx?xid=nl_EverydayHealthWomensHealth_20110405

MoZo

 

[Mara]

I saw this too in a few places and posted it last week on a mom group I am on. I have a friend who has a 7 year old who was having issues with concentration, focus, and acting out...she cut out food colorings from his diet (very hard to do she said, they were in soooo many things) and she said he was like a different child within a week. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

[chemgirl]

Wow, my mom was ahead of her time. I wasn't allowed food coloring except as a rare treat. She told me that the color red made me especially ill behaved.

I always thought she was over thinking things.

Guess not.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Wow, my mom was ahead of her time. I wasn't allowed food coloring except as a rare treat. She told me that the color red made me especially ill behaved.

I always thought she was over thinking things.

Guess not.

The red 40 is suppose to be the big one! I'm not totally strict with my kids, but don't allow them very many foods with dyes in them. I've found reasonably priced fruit strips/snacks that are natural. The other day, my son came home and showed me that at lunch he had traded his natural ones for the crappy ones! AHHHHH!

 

[innerkitten]

Interesting. I have a hyperactive child. Maybe I'll try it and see if I notice anything. Although I'm not sure my DD is eating lots of food coloring. The only fake colored thing I can think of right now that she eats is yogurt, and it seems to be colored with beat juice.

 

[charbie]

Growing up, I remember a girl in elementary school who always told us she was allergic to food dyes...I wonder if her parents didn't want her eating them for this reason. I remember her being a hyperactive kid...hmm. thanks for posting!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Whenever I see stuff like this I have to wonder...if it's this common, why don't more kids have these sort of problems? Or adults, for that matter. I know I drink sodas that have colors in them (or at least, I think they do) but I'm not sure about other stuff. Hm.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Whenever I see stuff like this I have to wonder...if it's this common, why don't more kids have these sort of problems? Or adults, for that matter. I know I drink sodas that have colors in them (or at least, I think they do) but I'm not sure about other stuff. Hm.

I agree. It's like the whole (FAKE) vaccination debate. What came first the chicken or the egg? Food coloring is in everything. Maybe it is more a sugar issue. Sugar makes kids hyper. Sometimes I just think parents NEED to have some (false) sense of control so they cling onto hope that solving a behavioral issue is as simple as a change in diet. Personally I think energy should be spent on behavioral interventions and possible medications to the children who would benefit.

 

[TravelingGal]

Whenever I see stuff like this I have to wonder...if it's this common, why don't more kids have these sort of problems? Or adults, for that matter. I know I drink sodas that have colors in them (or at least, I think they do) but I'm not sure about other stuff. Hm.

I agree. It's like the whole (FAKE) vaccination debate. What came first the chicken or the egg? Food coloring is in everything. Maybe it is more a sugar issue. Sugar makes kids hyper. Sometimes I just think parents NEED to have some (false) sense of control so they cling onto hope that solving a behavioral issue is as simple as a change in diet. Personally I think energy should be spent on behavioral interventions and possible medications to the children who would benefit.

Tacori- my friend and I were having this discussion last night. We were a generation who grew up on powdered Kool-Aid...so we think it's more the sugar these days than anything else. "The screamer" (another friend's kid") is a bit hyper. But he will drink 3 capri juice packs in 3 hours. I mean, that's a LOT of sugar...it doesn't have to have coloring or anything else to make a kid go nutty! I still remember while I was pregnant how a bit of juice was a surefire way to get Amelia kicking around...it amazed me how fast juice could get into your bloodstream. I can only imagine what lots of juice can do to a kid.

 

[Pandora II]

My husband's on a low-carb diet right now and I've become much more aware of what is in different foods. Yesterday I was drinking a small bottle of orange juice - it had 28g of carbohydrate of which 25g sugars. Since he is only supposed to eat 30-40g of carbs a day, that little bottle of orange juice contained over half his daily allowance and other than vitamin C it contains absolutely nothing worth having.

I'm not convinced on the food dyes thing these days. Maybe it's different in the USA, but here they have been ultra-strict for years on the use of things like tartrazine (yellow colouring) in any food and food designed for children is almost entirely natural colouring.

I'm also interested in the rates of things like ADHD in different countries. The rate of diagnosis in the UK is rising but I didn't hear of a single child in the eight years I was in Italy with ADHD. I wonder whether it is a) over diagnosis b) parents looking for any excuse to explain bad behaviour other than their child's natural temperament c) fashion...

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Interesting. I have a hyperactive child. Maybe I'll try it and see if I notice anything. Although I'm not sure my DD is eating lots of food coloring. The only fake colored thing I can think of right now that she eats is yogurt, and it seems to be colored with beat juice.

Yogurt has A LOT of sugar in it. Some brands (even organic) have nearly 25-30 grams! More than a candy bar. The only one kind I've found w/out very much is Yopait Light, but that instead has aparatame to make up for it. Also, the kid-size ones (Danimals) have less, but the portion sizes are also smaller.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

My husband's on a low-carb diet right now and I've become much more aware of what is in different foods. Yesterday I was drinking a small bottle of orange juice - it had 28g of carbohydrate of which 25g sugars. Since he is only supposed to eat 30-40g of carbs a day, that little bottle of orange juice contained over half his daily allowance and other than vitamin C it contains absolutely nothing worth having.

I'm not convinced on the food dyes thing these days. Maybe it's different in the USA, but here they have been ultra-strict for years on the use of things like tartrazine (yellow colouring) in any food and food designed for children is almost entirely natural colouring.

I'm also interested in the rates of things like ADHD in different countries. The rate of diagnosis in the UK is rising but I didn't hear of a single child in the eight years I was in Italy with ADHD. I wonder whether it is a) over diagnosis b) parents looking for any excuse to explain bad behaviour other than their child's natural temperament c) fashion...

Yeah, juice is bad, too. My kids get about 2 cups A WEEK due to sugar content. One ingredient my husband noticed caused a reaction, our kids too, was sucralose. Seemed to him, it's just as bad as sugar.

There are two kids who were in my son's class last year with ADHD and I know this b/c one of the moms told me her son is on meds for it and my son told me the other kid leaves the room every day for his "medicine," and then never eats. Easy to put together. Not sure if it's fashion or not (convinienc), but NEITHER of these kids have benefited from the meds because one has a horrible reputation as a bully and has been known to regularily punch kids in the face. So, the parent can say if meds don't help, nothing will.

Who knows, but I do see in our society that on many TV shows, the kids run the households and leave the parents looking like smucks. Doesn't help any when the kids grow up thinking that it's natural for the kids to be in charge.

 

[kama_s]

Growing up, I remember a girl in elementary school who always told us she was allergic to food dyes...I wonder if her parents didn't want her eating them for this reason. I remember her being a hyperactive kid...hmm. thanks for posting!

Food dye allergies do exist, even to specific colours.

I don't really think there is any correlation between ADHD and food colourings. Sugar, yes. Colourings, highly doubt it. And doing a study to prove any sort of causation with nutrition is ridiculously hard, if not impossible.

Re: juice - So often we push juice over soda, but truth be told, they're relatively interchangeable in terms of nutritional value. Even
natural' juices are loaded with sugars. I am huge on water (and wine ), which is what I usually tend for reach for when seeking a drink. Perrier is awesome!

 

[Izzy03]

My husband's on a low-carb diet right now and I've become much more aware of what is in different foods. Yesterday I was drinking a small bottle of orange juice - it had 28g of carbohydrate of which 25g sugars. Since he is only supposed to eat 30-40g of carbs a day, that little bottle of orange juice contained over half his daily allowance and other than vitamin C it contains absolutely nothing worth having.

I'm not convinced on the food dyes thing these days. Maybe it's different in the USA, but here they have been ultra-strict for years on the use of things like tartrazine (yellow colouring) in any food and food designed for children is almost entirely natural colouring.

I'm also interested in the rates of things like ADHD in different countries. The rate of diagnosis in the UK is rising but I didn't hear of a single child in the eight years I was in Italy with ADHD. I wonder whether it is a) over diagnosis b) parents looking for any excuse to explain bad behaviour other than their child's natural temperament c) fashion...

I'm with Pandora on this one, I have spoken with several people who have been school teachers for over 15+ years, and they expressed concern over parents using this diagnosis as excuse for their child's behavior. They also told me they believe autism is the new ADD/ADHD as far as being over diagnosed for poor behavior. Just something to think about.......

If we fill our kids up with wholesome food, a little processed crap in moderation shouldn't hurt them.