I love when I can serve up a colorful meal for my kids – who doesn’t prefer something visually appealing compared to a bland plate from shades of brown and white, right? But when I see this colorful meal in my head, it’s more about a variety of fruits and vegetables that bring the rainbow of produce to our plate rather than colors concocted in the science lab.Food from the science lab? Yep. Some call them artificial food colors, others call them food dyes but either way you look at them, these colors aren’t natural and many scientists believe they don’t belong in our food, and especially in our children’s food.
Photo credit: Moira Donahue
The Slippery Side of the Rainbow
After much research, the European Parliament last year set into law the requirement for any foods containing synthetic food colors to carry a warning label indicating “consumption may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children”. And now, our own U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hold hearings next month on whether food dyes negatively impact the health of our children.
Many say, “it’s about time”.
Pediatric allergist, Ben Feingold, was the first prominent doctor to link the relationship between diet and behavioral problems with children – specifically food additives (such as food dyes), among other foods. His findings were reinforced in 2007 after research from the University of Southampton found a direct connection between behavior and food dyes.
According to the Seattle PI…
Every year, manufacturers dump about 15 million pounds of eight synthetic dyes into foods in America. Per capita consumption of dyes has increased five-times since 1955, due in part to brightly colored breakfast cereals, fruit drinks, and candies designed to appeal to children.
Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 have been known for years to cause allergic reactions in some people. The Center for Science in the Public Interest says that while these reactions aren’t common, they can be serious and provide reason enough to ban those dyes. In addition, studies have demonstrated that dyes cause hyperactivity in children.
However, cancer is the biggest concern, according to the center. In 1985, the acting commissioner of the FDA said that Red 3, one of the lesser-used dyes, “has clearly been shown to induce cancer” and was “of greatest public health concern.” Each year about 200,000 pounds of Red 3 are poured into such foods as Betty Crocker’s Fruit Roll-Ups and ConAgra’s Kid Cuisine frozen meals.
And Yellow 5 that’s used in Kraft’s Macaroni and Cheese Dinner? The FDA tests show that Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Red 40 are tainted with low levels of cancer-causing compounds. It’s not just orange macaroni and cheese that have artificial food dyes to pump up the visual appeal, so do Fruit Loops, Ritz Bits Cheese Sandwiches, Pop Tarts and Eggo Blueberry Waffles. Even pickles and salad dressing.
As we pointed out in yesterday’s post, our country’s top food manufacturers are already selling dye-free versions of their foods in other countries, so we know they can produce a similar experience without the dyes.
This is likely not naturally colorful
Get the Dye Out
While the verdict is still out on how the USDA will proceed, many parents feel that their children’s health just isn’t worth the risk. While it may seem overwhelming to take on this challenge to remove artificial colors from your child’s diet, it’s achievable. Really.
Here are six easy ways to get the dye out, in addition to Robyn O’Brien’s tips that we shared yesterday:
- Read labels. It’s truly the best way to know if the color in your blueberry yogurt is really from blueberries or Blue dye.
- Use natural food dyes. Whole Foods typically carries these but you can make your own from fruits, vegetables and spices like coffee, beets, blueberries and turmeric.
- Shop the natural or organic aisles when possible. Many of these manufacturers offer discounts on their products at their website or Facebook page so check those out before you shop, and stock up when they go on sale.
- Have a healthy stash to swap out the bad stuff. We know they’re going to come home with Halloween candy, party treats, and other snacks from school, so be prepared with dye-free alternatives at home or in the car.
- Shop smart at Trader Joes, Whole Foods or your local natural foods market. These stores have a commitment to keep artificial ingredients out of their products so you can bring your kids there and let them choose their treats.
- Cook at home. The closer to raw ingredients you use, the more you can rest assured that you’re avoiding artificial ingredients.
BONUS: Get the color out of your child’s favorite macaroni and cheese when you serve it homemade for just about the same amount of time and money.
A Better Way to Color Lunch
Take it one day at a time and be easy on yourself. Cleaning out your pantry and fridge tonight is a huge undertaking (believe me, we’ve learned that one the hard way) that I don’t recommend – remember, you want to sustain this. Make cuts each week until you get to a level that you and your family can live with.
Some foods will be harder than others to cut out. What do you think will be the hardest for your family to give up?
UPDATE: I’m writing a guidebook for parents on how to tell if their child is being negatively impacted by their diet. If you’d like to know when this resource is available, sign up for free updates from me here. Thank you!
63 Comments
My middle child’s behavior is strongly affected by Red Dye #40, so much so that all relatives have been warned. How do I get them to abide by the warning? They know if they give him Red #40, he’s going to be spending the night at their place.
Now that he’s five, he’s excellent about asking adults if it’s fake red or “real red.” I also love our dental hygienist who took the initiative to check the polishing compound, toothpaste, and dental floss for red dye without being asked. I had simply noted it on the form.
Another unexpected source is medication, Benadryl and amoxicillin both have it unless you buy the dye free or ask a compounding pharmacist to avoid it.
It’s a royal pain in the butt, however the difference in behavior is worth reading all the fine print.
My son is 25 now but when he was little if he had red food coloring additives he was like someone on speed. Took him off of it and concentration inmproved and developmental lags began to resolve. I believe additives and preservatives are very dangerous and should be avoided or limited.
My oldest is dye free and we still really struggle with family “compliance”. My parents, the aunts and uncles, etc. want to give him candy “just to be nice” etc.
I tried explaining it to them that it’s similar to a diabetic- just as it’s not “nice” to give a diabetic candy, they can’t give food dyes to my son. Also time has helped- they’re used to it now, more aware of it. It’s starting to become routine.
Next up? How about getting Big Food’s marketing departments to tone down the brightly colored packages of their highly processed, unhealthy foods that are well-designed to get kids attention? In other words, let’s take ALL the artificial colors out of these foods!
I’m so glad you all felt comfortable sharing your stories. Just like when we told our story with high fructose corn syrup last year, I’m thankful that other parents are talking about their experiences. The more attention and awareness we can bring to this, the more families we get voting with their dollars to have the food manufacturers stop using food dyes.
My son (who’s turning 7 this week), has had horrible reactions to food color (and high fructose corn syrup) – much like some of you have mentioned. A few years ago we had that same “like he took speed” response & wasn’t sure what to do.
We removed food coloring (all) and high fructose corn syrup from his diet and have seen significant behavioral improvements. He also has a dairy sensitivity that results in similar – yet not as extreme – behaviors so he’s completely off dairy as well.
Not having dairy means that we’re buying food that rarely has artificial ingredients, and we cook and bake from scratch at home. We send his own cupcakes to parties so he can still participate and not feel like a pariah with his friends. It’s really part of our “normal” everyday life now.
Thanks again for sharing. I hope more parents do.
Great post, Gina. Our daughter doesn’t have the sensitivities or reactions to food dyes and preservatives that some kids do, but she definitely ramps up after eating grocery-store birthday cake. That’s just one of the many reasons we eat the way we do. My last colored holdout was her annual birthday cake, but we said goodbye to that last month.
I blogged about that last week, as well as all the reasons artificial colors are so awful for us (kids and adults). And how ubiquitous they are, even in products that look white or “natural.” Readers have been having quite a discussion about everything from behavior to marketing ploys to natural alternatives (http://spoonfedblog.net/2011/01/22/the-color-of-trouble/).
Truly, food dyes should be banned. So glad you’re spreading the word!
Thanks for sharing, Christina. I’m glad there’s many of us talking about this in our voices throughout the web.
Great blog! Your readers should be aware of the Feingold Association, the parent group that has been helping families since 1976. It was formed by parents to learn where those dyes, etc. are and how to avoid them. be sure to watch the video at their website: http://www.feingold.org or http://www.ADHDdiet.org
Hi Markey. I’m very familiar with the Feingold Association and his findings. We had my son on his diet to help us figure out why he’d respond to severely to foods. Thanks for sharing.
When I was a kid, I ate a whole jar of maraschino cherries and broke out in hives. A few times since then I have had a spot or two show up if I have red koolaid or red-hots, so I’ve always tried to avoid Red #40. I make everything from scratch now anyway, but I will actively be avoiding all the other dyes as well!
Thanks for the great post. It’s so vital that we monitor the ingredients of the food we give our children.
I don’t have a source for this, but a decade ago I was talking with a doctor who focused on nutritional analysis. One of the things that he found was that there was a significant decrease in Zinc found in a person who had recently ingested food dyes like Red #40 or Blue #1. Zinc is a mineral that is very important in regulating mental health, and a lack if zinc in the body has been linked to disorders such as ADHD. Eliminating food colors will have a significant positive effect on the mental health of our children.
Great post! It’s absolutely disgusting that so many foods have artificial coloring. I’ll never forget when I saw a mom, who I considered fairly healthy, giving her kids rainbow colored goldfish crackers. Why?? I didn’t get it and still don’t.
I’m pretty late in the game but I just have to comment. As a Feingold follower, I read every label. Rainbow Goldfish are dyed by natural means, such as beet juice, etc.
Hi Alison. Thanks for sharing! I know many parents who are very thankful that the Goldfish manufacturer has changed their policies on ingredients.
LOVE IT- We banned these from our home when my oldest son was 6- he’s 14 now. He was on the autism spectrum, and used to have scary Jekyll/hyde episodes- when I read studies on the NIH website with contradictory results, some pointing to dyes as a causative effect of behavior issues, we took them out one at a time, keeping a journal of the results. The results were amazing.
Red dye made him aggro, yellow dye made him spin in circles, blue dye made him weepy and morose. And when we removed the dye, the kid changed drastically. In fact, six months later, he didn’t test on the spectrum anymore.
The more I read about these petroleum based dyes and their possibly damaging effects, the angrier I got. In my mind, the benefits simply don’t outweigh the risks.
Great article- but Trader Joes does stock some foods with dyes, though many are natural. But Whole Food doesn’t use them ever, or high fructose corn syrup.
Cheers!
Ryan – That’s really interesting about the link to zinc, and one I hadn’t heard of before. I’m going to ask our naturapath about that too. I know that it’s common for kids with neurological disorders (ADHD, autism, sensory processing disorder) to be given zinc as a supplement and I’m really curious as to that connection.
In our own family, we’ve seen significant behavioral improvement by keeping artificial food colors out of the kids diet. It’s amazing and certainly worth all the efforts.
Luckily, we have been watching the food dye for a while now. But I know I am still not at a 100 percent with this. Although, we have no known sensitivities. I can bet that some of the behavior issues can be directly related. I am going to be even more vigilant now. Great article Gina!
Thanks Jodi. It’s not easy at first, but reading labels is key and becomes easier the longer you do it. It’s second nature to us now. And the improving behavior is worth it.
I have a normal, intelligent child, not placing on the autism spectrum, nor with any food allergies… Enter Blue #1. Within about ten minutes of consumption, she becomes verbally or physically violent, strikes out at the nearest person, then becomes extremely paranoid and will hide under furniture or in a closet until we drag her out and take her to the doctor. It took us awhile to figure this out, as we are natural food consumers at home, and this only happened in Sunday School, at birthday parties and sleepovers, etc. As the reaction wears down, she perspires profusely, trembles violently, and gets a horrid headache. She’s ten now, and has become an avid label reader — there’s blue food colouring hiding in many white foods, pickles, shampoos… Sigh.
LJ – Thank you so much for sharing your daughter’s experience here with us. I’m so sorry that she has that reaction – it’s upsetting that so many kids do, and yet food manufacturers continue to include food dyes in products marketed to them. Parties are hard for us too.
What have you done about situations at parties, sleepovers and Sunday school?
I am 43 y/o and Red Dyes have been the bane of my existence since as long as I can remember. Ever since elementary school, I can remember years of being not “hyperactive” but physically ill with apthous ulcers in my mouth & throat, loss of appetite, unable to gain weight, severe GI distress that progressed in to years of GI bleeding and a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. After many trips to the doctor over the years, they only treated the symptoms and put no thought into the cause. By the age of 25, after being sick for years and now miserable from months of continuous steroid therapy, my misery led me to my own discovery of Red Dye being the cause. I cannot eat it, wear it, breath it, etc…!It is in everything you can possibly imagine and wouldn’t suspect! Even a small exposure causes my glands to swell and ulcers in my throat and esophagus and bloody diarrhea. If I can catch the exposure early, I can take claritin twice a day for 3 days and stop the progression in to the painful ulcers and the swelling in my glands will go down as well. Avoidance of Red Dye has become my lifestyle and I am used to it now. Amazingly enough, a few years ago I even had an allergy specialist tell me that he didn’t believe I was allergic or intolerant to Red Dye. This after 18 years of healthier living as a result of eliminating it from my daily life and exposures responding to antihistamines! When he tested my blood, he didn’t even test me for the FD&C Red Dye, only the natural beetle dye and FD&C Yellow Dye which I don’t have a problem with. I was appalled at his ignorance and ego that he refused to “listen” to his patient who had been successfully managing the problem for 18 years by then. I have also had more than my fair share of disagreements with pharmacists who simply “look” at the color of the medication and tell me it doesn’t have Red Dye in it because it is yellow or blue or any other color. Each time I insist on reading the package insert and the looks on their faces are priceless when they read in black & white that it has Red Dye. Antibiotics I’ve discovered are the worst. I am amazed at how many people suffer the same symptoms as I have and are not familiar enough with the possiblity that FD&C Dyes could be the cause and trust that the doctors & pharmacists know best when it comes to your health. They are only human and don’t have a personal stake in your misery. They simply treat what is in front of them. You have to be your own advocate. Don’t get me wrong, I happen to like doctors and have been in the medical field for 24 years.
I just wish more people knew more about FD&C Dyes and didn’t have to suffer the effects. I also wish that the dyes would be banned from consumption altogether.
Wow, Maxine. What a story you have. I too wish that more people knew about food dyes and that they would be banned in our country, like they are in others.
I can’t thank you enough for sharing here.
My son is one of the rare few who is extremely allergic to artificial dyes. Our home became completely dye-free last summer when he ended up in the emergency room with full-body hives and breathing problems after having a yellow popcicle.
http://unemployediniowa.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/did-i-say-there-was-drama/
We have to be careful not only with food, but toothpaste, shampoo, mouthwash, and most over the counter medicines as well. Even Benedryll, which was supposed to TREAT his hives, made him break out worse because it includes Red 40 in it’s ingredients!
Great post !
So important. The more we talk and share our stories, the more this issue gets in the forefront. Our paper recently had a front page article on food dyes.
I’ve made awareness of artifical food coloring a passion in just the few months since I figured out that my daughter has very strong reactions to them. She was a perfect baby until I started giving her prepackaged foods. Waffles were the worst! Within 10 mintues she was flailing and screaming and trying to bang her head on toys or the changing table. It’s a challenge to cut it out, but I feel very strongly that continuing to put chemicals into a child who reacts this way is just as bad as physically violent child abuse. Why should anyone feel out of control like that, especially at the hands of someone else?
I tell every parent with a spunky child to try to cut out artifical coloring– it’s not always well-received, but maybe if they hear it again from someone else, they’ll give it a try. I just told another mom today that if she finds herself saying “what’s the matter with you?” she should check the labels of whatever her daughter ate to see if that’s the problem. I’ve found that the bad behavior cannot be corrected– they can’t help themselves, but as parents, we can– and I feel very lucky to have figured it out by the time my daughter was 15 months old.
I’ve also found that it’s very hard to get family compliance, especially from my MIL, who likes to spoil the kids. She and my SIL wanted to give my daughter jello last month and when I said no, she can’t have food coloring they said “oh, but it’s fun!” I responded by explaining *exactly* what will happen if she “has fun” with jello and how long she will cry, and that put an end to that discussion!
Laura – thanks so much for sharing your story here. It’s amazing how many people I talk to almost daily that has a child who reacts this way to food dyes. I’m sure more do too! Please keep sharing so that the message spreads, and these conversations continue!
We have found a solution to the party problem at school. At the beginning of the year, we went to the grocery store and let T pick out his own regular snack and birthday treat, to replace the crazy dye-full versions. T’s friends have even started telling their parents to give him a non-red piece of cake at parties. For Halloween, etc, we always have non-artificial alternatives ready.
I actually owe our diagnosis gratitude to my mother-in-law, who spent years dealing with a wild and crazy son until she cut out his artificial colors. Apparently this sensitivity is genetic. At least I didn’t have to work hard to convince them of the issue!
As a school counselor (intern) I was not allowed to suggest to parents that artificial colors or flavors could be a culprit in their child’s behavior issues. We were allowed, however, to suggest “testing” for ADHD, AND to “suggest” medication.
Ear infection or spinning head. Put on your body armor, because you Have to get rid of the ear infection. haha!
Good thing I’m a rule-breaker by nature.
I was mad aware of this issue by the parent of one of my camp kids. In 9th grade she was finally “diagnosed” with ADHD–after having problems in school since 1st grade. An IEP meeting was scheduled for the week following winter break. The parent knew she would never medicate her daughter (which is what the school was explicitly asking for) so started researching. At the beginning of winter break they removed ALL artificial colors and flavors from their diet. By the time the sceduled appt rolled around (after about 4 weeks) the girl’s behavior had so drastically changed that they actually decided against an IEP. If the girl eats so much as one (for example) purple mini tootsie roll (which, by the way, are disGUSting. Why do they even Make them?) she is off the hook for at least three days.
After learning of this and researching it, we removed all artificial colors from our 4 year old’s diet. He didn’t have anything close to resembling ADHD, but at times (few) he’d have fits that rivaled The Exorcist. haha! Those fits stopped.
However, if your child Ever has to take medication you will be hard pressed to find some that is not pink or purple and artificially flavored.
Oh, and to (I think it was) Allison–the rainbow Goldfish are colored with natural colors (now anyway–hence their current lack of vibrancy! ha!)
Also, things you would never suspect–WHITE marshmallows, for example are full of Blue (Yep, just like the kind you’re great gramma used to keep her hair white with, back before we all had to stay brunette til death. haha!)
This makes me sad because I Love marshmallows.
I love the stainless steel lunchbox in the picture! Where did you find it?
Great post! I need to print this out and pass it out to all of the people who think I am too picky about what my family eats!
LML – We do something similar for class parties & events. Our freezer has cupcakes that I’ve made & we pull them out the night before, frost them, and send him off to the event with his Cup-A-Cake container. I love knowing what he’s having!
Carrie – That is the Planet Box. You can get more information on it & other lunch gear we love here:
http://www.feedourfamilies.com/kidsafe-back-to-school-gear.html
To think that ingesting a petroleum produce will not cause adverse reaction over time is ridiculous. Anyone would be hard pressed to find a regular food on the market that does not contain some sort of food dye. It is in everything we eat. It is said that an average human being eats about 11 pounds of toxic chemicals each year and we wonder why ADD, ADHD, Bipolar and Cancer are growing at an alarming rate. There is absolutely no reason to add a petroleum product (food coloring) to anything we eat. The only reason the manufacturers do it is strictly marketing related. They have performed studies that show the human brain perceives bright colors like we see in nature, apples, grapes, oranges, tomatoes as good for our bodies. Therefore if they add color to it and make it brighter, human instinct kicks in and our brains crave it. In reality we are slowly killing ourselves and our children.
I absolutely hate when I read articles that state there are no studies that show food coloring is harmful. That is just the FDA’s way of saying the lobbyist have more power than you do. I have a child that began to act out with aggression and behaviors that were not natural, nor logical. We struggled for years as he was kicked out of daycare after daycare. As a last resort we took him to a doctor who diagnosed him as bipolar and put him on medication. We hated this but at the time; it was all we could do. We did not want him to hurt himself or anyone else. At one point he jumped out of a car at stoplight on a busy street because we passed a toy store and he was mad that we did not go there. After he was placed on medication, his issues lessened but did not go away completely. After about a year on the medication, he went through about a three week period where he slid back into the uncontrollable personality that he had been before the medication. I began to look at what had changed. I realized that a family member had given us a case of the little orange crackers and a case of a well known ranch flavored potato chips (I don’t want to mention names). Our kids at these standard US snacks at the rate of about 5 or six packages a day during those three weeks. I began to put two and two together and realized the common denominator was food coloring. We removed all foods with artificial food coloring, which by the way was not as easy as it sounds, and within a few days our child was calmed, sweet, and caring again. The few times he had a meltdown was directly related to a food with dye in it. One time we could not figure out why he was acting out, all he had was pizza. Then I found out there is yellow dye in pizza crust. Why you might ask? So it looks pretty and your brain tells you it is healthy food.
I find it amazing as I look around and kids are cramming cupcakes with bright blue frosting in their mouths at alarming rates, while the parents stand there and say, “I don’t know why everyone things little Johnny is ADD. Where did I go wrong?” … Really? I challenge you to walk in your local convenience store and find an item without artificial dye and by the why “Carmel coloring” found in many products is not natural either, it just sounds like it is.
Wake up America! The FDA has to quite playing the lobbyist money game while our children are the pawns.
I live in the UK and its been banned here for a number of years, why is it still in food in the USA?
Love your post (and your planet box, we too are a planet box loving, artificial color dispising family!)
Thanks for sharing your knowlege and your passion for helthy colorful happy food!
DYE FREE! YIPPEE
I’m highly allergic to blue dye #1, I found out when I was a 7th grader when i got invisaline and they put capsules filled with blue dye #1 on the back of them and the more i wore the invisaline the more the color would fade (it was ment to make sure i wore them often enough). At one point in time the blue capsules on the back fell of and i swallowed it. I got a fever of 104 and couldn’t get out of bed for 3 days after that. We asked the othodotics what was in the capsules and they sayed nothing but blue dye #1 and they were astonished that i reacted like that. The orthodontist then made a special set of invisaline for me with out the blue dye #1 capsules and for then after i was fine with the invisaline. Its now 4 years later and im still reacting violently to it. Im allergic to latex also and I took benadryl to counter act a reaction to latex. With in 10 minutes my tongue went nomb and my throat closed because there was blue dye #1 in the pill (even though the pill was red) and i had to be rushed to the hospital. A month later i had one cool ranch dorito at my friends house. My lips started tingling. I wanted to wait the reaction out. Three hours later my throat started to close, my temperature spiked and i had to take benadryl (liquid generic brand benadryl this time since that doesnt contain blue #1) and this time the reaction subsided on its on. Over the summmer i was in and out of the hospital due to latex and blue dye reactions, its unbeleivable how many things they sneek it into. Ive seen blue dye #1in WHITE candy before. Less than a month ago I ate some cherries before I went to bed (around 11:00) I woke up at 12:00 shaking, white as a ghoast with a pounding headache with my throat getting tighter and i had to take benadryl around the clock for three days after that just so i didnt go insaine because of the pain. The cherrys snuck in the blue dye #1. On the ingrediantss they but “Food colorings: (red #40)” but we then called the company and they said that there was only a little bit of blue dye in it so they didnt feel compelled to list it considering they said the words “food colorings”. I found out the hard way that not all companys are truthful…….
In my family my older cousin always throws up when she has blue dye #1 and gets a fever. Her little sister is allergic to red #40 and she also throws up and gets excruciating stomach pains when she has it. As for my brother, he can’t eat any dye with out feeling compelled to run in circles and have randoom mood swings that are uncontrollable. When we were little and we had our very first reaction to dyes it was hard to make sure that we didnt have the food dyes but now that we all are older (youngest of us in 7th grade) and we’ve seen how painfull our reactions can get, we all make sure to check ingrediants before we eat anything (or take any medicine) (which didnt help in the case of the cherrys and other companies who arent honest) and when we eat out we ask if they know if there is any dyes in things. Ive also learned not to wash my clothing with blue detergent or get any blue ink on me or where clothing before they are washed because the color will seep into ur blood streem. I’m hoping some day the whole world will go die free!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. The more we tell these stories, the more awareness we generate. People need to see and hear that there is a problem in our food system. Best wishes!
I’m so glad I found this forum. I have a 10 year old on the Autism Spectrum. He already has very violent tendencies, but when he is given candy, fruit snacks, etc. he bemba like Jekyll and Hyde. Last week he had a cherry icee and immediately started vomitting and complaining of a headache.
Since he already has an Epi pen for other food allergies, I took him to the allergist and asked them to do an IGG test (results pending). Yesterday, my mother (who I have cried to about his violent outbursts) gave him Peeps!
I told her she should stay the night and see how he will be.
Today, he had a dentist appointment at his special needs clinic which has long waits for appts. Anyway, I didn’t even get out the door because I was so badly attacked while trying to get him to brush his teeth. Not only did I have to cancel the appt., but could not send him back to school. He’s been hitting, kicking, biting and now won’t stop crying. I found and empty packet of M&Ms (which I took from him), that he had gotten in to. That confirms my suspicions. Food dyes are evil! Where do I even go from here? I’m devastated seeing my child suffer like this, but feel like dyes are everywhere!
-Rebecca
Oh Rebecca, I’m so sad to read about your experience. It’s not easy but there are so many replacements for foods with artificial food dyes and we’ve found that it is absolutely worth it. In fact, my 8yo son takes it upon himself to make sure no one around him slips up since the impact to him is so horrible.
I’m happy to help if you want to tell me about the foods that are going to be the hardest for him to give up. It will also make a big difference to start reading food labels and cooking more at home. Do you have a Whole Foods near you? They do not sell foods with artificial food dyes so it’s a great place to shop where you know he’s safe.
Tap into all that we’ve learned! And best wishes.
hugs
We eat an all natural GAPS diet as a family for my son with SPD. This means all whole food from scratch with nothing artificial. The last time he had anything with dyes was at the dentist…the polish was red. He was a total kook for 4 days. Now we get just plain pummice at the dentist. And on antibiotics for ear infections, you can treat with garlic oil, but if you must use an antibiotic, get it made at a compounding pharmacy.
Carrie – I’ve never heard of the GAPS diet – what is that?
We have to be careful at the dentist too. And science class! An experiment about the six senses had the kids tasting different liquids including green water. It was four days of craziness until it was out of his system. He, nor the science teacher will make that mistake again.
My son is 4 1/2 and has been very agressive at school and the past week he has gotten worse. We had someone go into his class to observe him and she has suggested we have a “therapist” come in and do play therapy to see what his triggers are. After talking to his teacher she suggested that we look into his diet because her son was the same and his character was being tagged as lazy and a little tyrant when it wasn’t him, it was what he was eating. I have been researching all weekend to see what it could be and I have to admit I am OVERWHELMED to say the least. Does anyone have any pointers on where to start this whole process??? We are not big “chefs” in our family, we don’t cook by scratch and like most families where both parents work, we don’t have a ton of time… Please help me!!!
Hi Shauna. Thanks for your note. I’m so sorry to hear of your challenges and would love to help! First, here’s a bit on how we figured out what was triggering certain reactions with my child (behavior, sleep, etc). http://www.feedourfamilies.com/2010/09/discovering-food-issues.html
I will admit that finding a good three period of time to “clean” their diet so that you can test different things isn’t easy, but I’ve worked personally with many families to build a menu plan that removes common triggers, while keeping the family dynamics in mind. If you want more information on working together, feel free to send me an email at ginarau(at)feedourfamilies(dot)com.
I also highly recommend finding a good naturpath to work with. Ours, for example, works specifically with children and didn’t take the blood work for allergies and sensitivities at face value but suggested the food challenge described in that blog post above to find the culprits. Had we followed the test results, we’d still be struggling today.
Getting artificial ingredients like food dyes and preservatives could prove very helpful as well. That comes down to reading every label (even those you’d never suspect!) and asking questions at restaurants or school. We’ve found natural alternatives for everything, even M&Ms which are worth every extra penny to us.
I hope this starts to help a little bit. Please let me know how I can help or support you!
Sooo wonderful to find this blog/site. My two youngest are sensitive to dairy, which started our journey to a more natural/whole foods way of eating. It has been a long 4 year journey…and I still struggle convincing my family (including my husband) that the kids can NOT eat that stuff. The society we live in is centered around food, and eating it because it tastes good, not b/c it is good for us. I have kept detailed journals over the years of what my kids ate, and how they reacted. I cried and prayed a lot, but those journals led me to the connection between dyes and my daughters seriously irrational behavior. She reacts AWFUL to Red #40, but I’m noticing that because my children don’t have dyes very often at all, others can bug them too. My current concern is that she has developed a facial “tic”…it showed up last Fall, after she had two new things done 1) ears pierced, and 2) sealants placed in her molars. Trying to find connections between the frequency and other factors that may affect. Any ideas are more than welcome!! Thank you!
Hi Michelle. I’m so glad you left this note — your journey with food for your children sounds so similar to ours. I’m not sure which food dyes my son has strong reactions to so we just keep them all out of our diet. For my daughter, who doesn’t have extreme reactions like him, still experiences some negative consequences because her little body just isn’t used to it like most kids.
I don’t remember the details or where I came across the information but I seem to remember something regarding behaviors and dental work so keep up that search!
Thanks again for sharing here! I hope you’ll continue to!
Birthday parties & holidays with all their treats are the hardest for my son. We recently bought a cool cupcake shaped container he can use to bring his own cupcake to parties. I’m also looking into natural food dyes.
Christina – We find birthdays and school celebrations to be really hard for us too! We probably have that same container – I think it’s called a Cup-A-Cake. It’s ideal! Let us know if you find natural dyes. I usually incorporate foods with strong colors like beets, spinach and berries to color foods like cupcakes.
My heart is breaking for my son. He will be repeating kindergarten this year because of his maturity/behavior issues. He is extremely intelligent…. is able to read on 5th grade level and comprehend what is being read…… advanced in math also. He is never violent but has a horrible time paying attention/spacing out. I realize now that it was what I was feeding him!!! I sent his lunch to school filled with artificial color (Cheetos, Hawaiian Punch, Colored Yogurt). Ugh…. I have been slowly removing the colors from his food in the last few days and he is MUCH better!!! If I had only known….
Oh, Tricia, I’m so sorry to hear this. I know exactly how you feel but don’t beat yourself up too much – nobody tells us about these dangers and that some kids have these strong reactions. My pediatrician thought I was a nut (he likely still does). Foods and artificial ingredients can absolutely affect some kids in frightening ways and it’s great that you’ve figured out that your son is one of those unfortunate kiddos because now you can remove them and help him out!
Feel free to email me at ginarau(at)feedourfamilies(dot)come if you need help. Watch for things like toothpaste and even clear drinks or white cupcake frosting. Most times, they have just as much food dyes as the brightly colored foods! I’m happy to help however I can!
Best wishes to you and your son.
Hi, just one more terrifying incident, after my four year old granddaughter, ate a small piece of Red velvet Duncan Hines cake. First incident was, she fell of the chair, right after she finished it, and we put it down to being tired or just try to get off the wrong way, but my uncle noticed it was very unusual fall, like thrown down from the middle of the chair.
Next one , she was having a small piece of the same cake ,packed in her lunch at school, the teacher found her on the floor with her tongue swollen, and just hanging out of her mouth, eys shutt closed, and they could not wake her up.
This terrified phone call came from her school, and my daughter almost had a heart attack on the way to school, she is the youngest of her four daughters.
They rushed her to emergency where she was given the epi pen, and some anty allergy medicine, so after a few hours she was give a popcikle and by pressing down on her tounge, the swelling subsided, and thank God she has recovered.
After many tests it was established she reacted to R E D
# 40, color in the Duncan Hines mix., red velvet.
It was a very scary experience for the whole family, and we hope it will never happened, again, to anyone.
So , please informe all your readers, and warning should be on all the labels, or better , yet, all chemical coloring , should be removed from human consumption, as is band long time ago in Europe and UK.
I talked to Duncan Hines co., and they assured me , they will remove the Red # 40, and I did suggest to use natural red color from beets, or purple kale..
Carol – Thank you so much for sharing this story. It’s so important for us to tell other parents of our personal experiences with food dye as they can be very serious, as in the case of your granddaughter. Your story is exactly why I personally invest time, money and energy on these topics through Feed Our Families. Our children deserve the same artificial ingredient free food that children of other countries do and we need to keep telling our food supply that it’s time for change. I’d love to connect with you or your daughter on this.
My son just turned 5 & has had trouble in Pre-K from the first day. He had gotten so much better (not great, but better) until around Halloween & he has spiraled downward. The last few days have been horrible! After reading this & thinking about what all he has eaten lately I realized he has been eating a lot of fruit roll-ups. I am going to try & cut out red dye & see if that helps. He is so smart & would be doing awesome if only he would do what he is supposed to, namely sitting in his chair and not messing with all of the other kids and their toys. He also completely refuses to look anyone in the eyes and no punishment has any effect on him. I am really hoping that this may help him. I know he can be good, I have seen him do it. Just have to figure out how to get it to where others can see it too. Hoping to find fruit snacks he likes that do not contain red dye because that & pudding are his favorite snacks.
Julie – I’m so familiar with everything you’ve described here! Do you have a Trader Joe’s near you? They have fruit roll ups without food dyes that my kids love! You can also make your own. We haven’t done that yet since my kids love the ones from Trader Joe’s. Also, Clif (like Clif Bar) make a fruit twist product they like that has no artificial food dyes.
Good luck!
How long once you remove they dyes until you see results to know if it helped? Is it an almost instant thing or does it take a while to “get it all out of their system”? I just want to make sure I give it enough time before giving up that it will help.
Hi Julie! I sent you an email to make sure you get this response but I’ll answer it here for others as well.
The pediatric naturopath that we worked with recommended a three-week elimination diet to identify issues. Unfortunately, you might not always notice improvement when you remove foods, but after the elimination part, you might notice a range of reactions when you reintroduce the food. The reactions can range from sleep and behavior, to emotions and rashes and tummy troubles.
The few situations where my son has had food dye (even just a drop in a science class lesson) since we’ve gone through this process, it has taken about a week with tons and tons of water and healthy foods for him to fully recover, with each day seeing improvements.
Let me know if I can help with anything else!
I am also a little confused on 33 vs 40. I know 40 is the one in food & it needs avoided but do I need to limit the exposure to 33 like in bubble bath, etc? If I stop one but not the other will it hinder the experiment?
Hi Julie. I think each child is different in terms of how sensitive they are, and how strongly they’ll react. And, to make things more confusing, this could change over time. My son won’t risk feeling the way he does when he has ingested artificial food dyes so he avoids it 100%. He also has very sensitive skin so we’ve always used personal products like bubble bath and shampoos without dyes so I’m not sure how he’d react. You could remove them completely and then try something, like the bubble bath and nothing else for a few days, to see if there’s a reaction. Or go cold-turkey, like we did, if his reactions are strong enough. I hope that helps!
I am a concerned grandparent who’s 6 year old grandson has recently been waking throughout the night with what the family physician has diagnosed as a viral infection the first time and laryngitis the second. It’s almost 2 a.m. and we’ve just had another bout, approximately an hour ago, with the same breathing difficulties. He wakes, gasping for breath, is usually irrational in his behavior during the episode, however is not fully awake and recalls none of it in the morning. He was given Fruit Loops as a “snack” before bed.
So much of what I’ve read here makes sense even beyond the nightly episodes. I work in the public school system and can see some great correlations between diets and behaviors. I’d love to be more informed and become an advocate for children and their families in this area of concern.
Hi Darla! Thanks for sharing your story. If your gut tells you that food could be impacting your grandson, follow your instinct! I wish I could say it’s easy to find out, but it’s a bit of challenge, especially when they are school aged and exposed to so many processed foods and ingredients. There have been many studies that document the link to behavior, specifically hyperactivity, and food dyes so it’s worth exploring!
I’m wrapping up work on something that I can’t wait to share with you as a resource to help answer these questions you have! I hope that you subscribed to my updates so that you’ll be notified right away when I’m ready to share!
My 7 year old son, who is on the Autism spectrum, has been gluten/dairy & artificial food color free for over 4 years. Each year he makes so many improvements. Last year he ate 1 fruit loop at school. Within 45 minutes every Autistic behavior came back, spinning, flapping and humming. His teacher and aide were amazed by his transformation. I was actually kind of glad his school could see the concrete proof why I was so strict about his diet. It took three days for him to get back to normal. I also keep cupcakes in the freezer and keep some natural color sprinkles on hand for a touch of color.
Jennifer – I’m so sorry that he had to experience that at school in order to demonstrate to the staff that this is real but so many times that’s necessary. My husband had to see it for himself in order for his parents to believe the seriousness of the situation. Your son’s reaction sounds similar to mine. Best wishes to you!
The comments here have been so helpful to us today that I thought I’d comment in case it helps someone else. My nearly 7-year-old son is now sleeping after a massive meltdown. This morning he was literally kissing us and telling us what a wonderful time he was having (on holidays) and how appreciative he was for the treats we were having. By 11am he was not listening, kicking us when we held his hand, kicking the car, screaming repeatedly in a frightening way and telling us he hated us. He continued to scream and yell as he was bundled into his room and eventually went to sleep after all-body trembling, saying things were pinching him etc. This has happened previously after sucking on strongly coloured ice (science experiment) and today was a blue strap lolly. He is a highly intelligent and affectionate boy, but we have always struggled with his behaviour and today, after finding this blog and reading the comments, we feel like it truly is the start of a new beginnning! Step 1 is no more blue colour!!
Sue – Thanks for sharing. I’m so sorry to hear about your son’s experience today. The first time it happened to my son, we had no idea that this was even a possibility! And our doctor had no help for us. Tons of research and tests later, we figured it out, changed his diet and we’ve never looked back. Now it’s just how we live: free of artificial colors, flavors and ingredients. It wasn’t easy at first, but believe me, it does get easier!
Best wishes! Gina