Artificial food colors make ADHD worse?

[Tommerag]

So I just saw this on the news.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee began weighing evidence Wednesday on whether dye additives in food affects behavior in children. The panel listened to testimony from doctors and scientists who contend that studies, although small in many cases, do show that some kids begin to show signs of hyperactivity once they are exposed to certain dye mixtures.

CNN Article

Does anyone thing this is possible? I don't really but I dont have a chemistry background to full understand either.

 

[Emma]

I heard this on NPR the other morning. If I'm remembering correctly, there are a group of studies that say there's a link. This is what the FDA is investigating.

I don't have the resources right now to go dig those studies up, but I'm sure they're easy to find if you have access.

 

[abckidsmom]

Anecdotal, I know, but we don't do food dyes here. It makes some of my kids completely insane when they have red and blue dye. I have excluded yellow, for the most part, but it's easier just to say, "No colorful foods" than reading the labels.

We also exclude common preservatives.

Check out www.feingold.org.

 

[mycrofft]

Show me the science

FDA will study anything as long as it is politically supportable. I'm still awaiting a scientific medical definiton for ADHD besides "You know it when you see it".

 

[MrBrown]

The FDA is a joke, just like Foodsafe NZ and the European Food Safety Agency - they say aspartame is safe, that vaccines are not linked to ADHD and that, presumably food dye does not cause hyperactivity.

It's quite true.

 

[usalsfyre]

FDA will study anything as long as it is politically supportable. I'm still awaiting a scientific medical definiton for ADHD besides "You know it when you see it".

I think ADHD is a bit like fibromyalgia, there's a few legitimate sufferers but it has become a massively overused dumping pit diagnosis for societal problems and Axis II disorders.

Speaking as a guy for whom ADHD medication has been absolutely life altering, I resisted the idea of starting it because I thought it was an excuse to drug people up. Fast forward, I realize it's probably saved my job and marriage.

 

[abckidsmom]

I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't blaming ADHD for the food dye interactions. For whatever reason, in a couple of my kids, it reduces their ability to cope with any stressors at all. Increases the screaming quotient dramatically.

 

[mycrofft]

Gotcha

Maybe the coloring is in foods with other ingredients, or kids learn to associate gaily colored food with "party-time"? What psychoactive ingredients are in food coloring?

My kids was declared ADHD by her teachers, after a three month wait she was screened and fond not to have it. When she came to understand that she needed to fasten her attention, now that energy is harnessed.

ANYWAY...FDA is like a hammer wielded by third grader. Drive nails, open walnuts, lobotomize little sibling, its all the same. After the meddling in scientific results we saw under GW Bush and others, federal scientific credibility needs to be repeatedly reestablished.

At least they spotted lead in Pakistani candy named "Radioactive Sludge"!