Food Additives and Hyperactivity

both_tub.jpgOne of my kids has always fallen into the pretty-darn-active category, as in constantly moving, talking, and looking for entertainment. Then we started seeing some bizarre tantrums, and ALWAYS after she’d eaten artificial colors. I’ve asked random pediatricians and therapists about this. They all report that the research is inconclusive. They all more or less considered it hearsay, and somehow I felt like one of those freaky paranoid parents who thinks the tap water is full of carcinogens and that only raw food is healthy. I’m not really like that. We noticed an absolutely predictable. obviously causal, reaction. So why doesn’t the medical industry or the FDA do something about these chemical additives in kids’ food? Why isn’t there any reliable research on this?

Well, we know that these days, testing is sponsored by corporations to ‘prove’ that a product does something, to aid in the sale of their products. Independent and government agencies rarely test for bad effects from chemicals that are already in wide use. Why rock the boat for food corporations if you don’t have to? It doesn’t make money for anyone, so why would you want to do it? Thankfully, European agencies have done further research and determined that there is a definite link between food colorings and hyperactivity in children.

According to a recent CBS News article:

In 2007, a British study published in The Lancet concluded that consuming artificial coloring and preservatives in food can increase hyperactivity in kids. Scientists have been studying the link between food additives and hyperactivity in children for more than 30 years, with mixed results. But the results of the 2007 study compelled the European Food Standards Agency to urge companies to voluntarily remove artificial coloring from food products. The FDA, however, hasn’t changed its opinion on the use of FDA-approved artificial food colors

Thanks, FDA!

The good new is you don’t have to eat this junk. Though, according to this summary of an industry market analysis, the use of additives is only predicted to increase over the next few years:

Increased food production and gains in value-added sweeteners, nutraceuticals and natural additives will drive US food additive demand up 4.8 percent annually through 2008. Flavors and flavor enhancers will remain the largest segment, while alternative sweeteners grow the fastest. Grain mill products, pet food and snack food show best market prospects. This study analyzes the $4 billion US food additive industry. It presents historical demand data for 1993, 1998 and 2003 plus forecasts to 2008 and 2013 by product (e.g., flavors and flavor enhancers, texturizers and fat replacers, emulsifiers, preservatives, nutraceuticals, colorants, enzymes, alternative sweeteners, acidulants, phosphates). [EEEWWWW!!!]

Here’s another quote from MayoClinic.com, where they hedged their bets and refused to come down on the side of agreeing that chemical additives in food are BAD:

The issue of whether food additives affect children’s behavior has long been controversial. Some research suggests that artificial colorings and preservatives may be associated with hyperactivity in children. But an association is not the same as a proven “cause-effect” relationship. There is no proof that food additives cause attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is most likely due to a combination of changes in the structure of the brain and certain environmental factors.

However, a recent study funded by the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency is sure to throw more fuel on the heated debate about food additives and hyperactivity. Researchers tested 300 children between the ages of 3 and 9 years old. Results published in September 2007 showed varying degrees of hyperactive behavior in the children after they consumed fruit drinks containing a mixture of food colorings and preservatives. The additives assessed in the study included sodium benzoate, sunset yellow, carmoisine, ponceau 4R, tartrazine, quinoline yellow and allura red. The study was unable to determine which of the additives may have affected behavior because all of the children were given a mix.

That’s just weak.

A last quote from a 2008 paper published by the American Academy of Pediatrics:
“Thus, the overall findings of the study are clear and require that even we skeptics, who have long doubted parental claims of the effects of various foods on the behavior of their children, admit we might have been wrong.”

If your child seems cranky, irritable, bossy, or just plain unhappy after eating any of the myriad foods that contain colorings, preservatives like sodium benzoate, or other additives, consider changing your shopping habits. Your child will love you more. It’s worth it!

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January 12, 2009 | Filed Under Problematic Parenting 

Comments

2 Responses to “Food Additives and Hyperactivity”

  1. Robert Hazleton on January 17th, 2009 6:39 am

    Good article. We put way too much stuff in our mouth that was invented instead of grown.

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