Jenifer Lovell
Mrs. Keltz
English 111-4113N
20 November 2013
The Dangers of Artificial Food Dyes Have you ever wondered why the food we eat is more vividly colored than nature? The food industry knows the highly processed foods they create are colorless and therefore appear bland to the consumer. Color adds appeal and the suggestion that the item is delicious and therefore, desirable. In the fall of 2011, I started to wonder if these bright colors could possibly have anything to do with the unexpected diagnosis of ADHD given to my then nine year old daughter. The thought of giving her powerful drugs to control her behavior terrified me and compelled me to look for natural ways to control the behavior. What I discovered was more terrifying than the drugs used to treat ADHD. Having grown up in the 1970’s and 1980’s, I ingested my fair share of brightly colored drinks and snacks and wonder what effects they are having on me. What I found in my research shocked and angered me. The food my parents fed me and the food I was now feeding my children contained additives that research has shown to cause a plethora of health problems. Melinda Fulmer, in the Los Angeles Times, reports that despite research results showing the dangers of ingesting artificial food dyes, they are being used in record amounts in foods produced for consumption in the United States. According to Fulmer, in the years between 1955 and 2007, the FDA approved a five- fold increase in the use of artificial food dye “from 12 milligrams per capita per day in 1955 to 59 milligrams per capita per day in 2007.” Although research has been done to identify some effects artificial food dyes have on the human body, adequate research has not been done using the higher consumption amounts. Scientists and nutritionists do not yet know the long term effects these higher amounts will have on our health, yet parents continue to allow their children to ingest copious amounts of brightly colored and highly processed foods. Even though the FDA approves the use of artificial food dyes, research indicates these dyes are linked to multiple health risks, such as hyperactivity, cancer, and obesity in children and adults. The negative effects of hyperactivity are being observed by parents, teachers, and pediatricians leading all to question why over the past several decades there has been a rise in the number of diagnosed cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD. The answer may be as simple as looking at the effects artificial food dyes have on children’s ability to focus and whether they increase hyperactivity in some children. Laura Beil points out the Food and Drug Administration currently approves nine dyes for use in food items, many have been used for generations in the United States (23). One of the most well-known studies done in the United States was conducted by Dr. Ben Feingold. According to Beil, in 1975, Dr. Feingold wrote a book entitled Why Your Child is Hyperactive, where he outlines the results of his studies and observations of the effects dyes have on children (23). Because of Dr. Feingold’s book, Beil writes, a study was done to test if eliminating artificial flavors and colors from children’s diets would improve symptoms such as hyperactivity and lack of focus, and the results of this study were published in the journal, Pediatrics, in 1976, indicating the children displayed improvements in focus and attention when dyes were removed (23). More recently in 2004, Dr. David Schab, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, evaluated fifteen scrutinized studies and surmised artificial dyes increase hyperactivity in both categories of children, those already diagnosed with hyperactive behavior and those without a prior diagnosis of hyperactivity (qtd. in Fulmer). It is clear from these studies that artificial food dyes adversely affect children who consume them. The rise in ADHD diagnoses is concerning, but the link between artificial food dye and cancer is a greater health risk. Artificial food dye is in all the usual suspects like brightly colored drinks and candies, but they are also found in products not generally known to contain dye. In previous research I found dyes being used in white frosting, pickles, frozen waffles, and some au gratin potatoes. It seems most items in our grocery stores contain one or more of the nine dyes approved for use in the United States. Of these nine dyes, three seem to pose the greatest threat, Red # 3, Red # 40, and Yellow # 5. Michael F. Jacobson and Sarah Kobylewski point out that Red # 3 was banned twenty years ago from use in cosmetics and drugs applied topically due to evidence of thyroid cancer in animals. Jocobson and Kobylewski reports the FDA, however, did not ban its use in food and ingested drugs, instead, “the food industry has poured five million pounds of Red # 3 into the food supply” since banning it from cosmetics and topically applied drugs. In the studies done on Red # 40, Jacobson and Kobylewski observe conflicting results, one study suggests tumors emerge more rapidly with the use of Red # 40 and the other study suggests they do not. Because the results were conflicting, more research needs to be done before it can be said to be safe for use in food. Testing done on the dye Yellow # 5, as reported by Jacobson and Kobylewski, shows damage to DNA in six of eleven experiments conducted on animals or in test-tubes; “a sign that a compound is a carcinogen”. Jacobson and Kobylewski suggest that until further research is done, neither Red # 40 nor Yellow # 5 should be approved by the FDA for human consumption. There is so much evidence pointing toward the carcinogenic properties of artificial food dyes, it is not surprising consumers are now demanding food companies use natural dyes derived from plant sources and not artificial dyes derived from petroleum. Hyperactivity and cancer threats are enough for parents to worry about but the third and more harmful effect of childhood obesity appears to be caused, in part, by the use of greater amounts of artificial food dye in foods marketed specifically toward children. Lisa Leake contends that children and adults are choosing “highly processed food, which in many cases is being eaten instead of fresh whole foods”. David W Schab and Michael F. Jacobson point out that fresh real food is low in calories and high in nutrients whereas, processed foods full of chemicals and dyes are high in calories and very low in nutrients leading to the epidemic of obesity we see in American today. Furthermore, these highly processed dye laden foods according to Leake, “trick your senses”. Leake quotes author Michael Pollen from his book In Defense of Food, “products of food science…lie to your body… [and] confound the senses we rely on to assess new foods and prepare our bodies to deal with them. Foods that lie leave us with little choice but to eat by the numbers, consulting labels rather than our senses”. Consumers have become slaves to the nutrition labels and have abandoned common sense when shopping for foods. The alluring colors from artificial dyes have tricked our minds into thinking brightly colored foods are better for us than wholesome real foods. The Huffington Post suggests “these dyes have no purpose whatsoever other than to sell junk food” (qtd. in Leake). Artificial food dyes pose serious health risks to children and despite mounting evidence, the FDA continues to allow their use in food products in the United States. Research done in the United States and in European countries exposes the damage artificial food dyes inflicts on the human body. Among the many health risks associated with these petroleum derived chemicals, hyperactivity, cancer, and increased obesity are among the most dangerous because of their long term effects on children. Most countries in the world have imposed some type of restrictions on the use of artificial food dyes; either the outright ban of them altogether or the requirement of warning labels on products that contain them. The United States is one of the few countries who still allow the use of artificial dyes in food products without any restrictions. With all the research pointing to the risks, consumers are left to wonder why the FDA still approves the use of these petroleum based chemical dyes and “how much evidence is necessary to add product warnings” (Beil 23).