All artificial food dyes have safety issues. But we need to talk about FD&C Red #40, because you'll see it in everything. It's a known hormone disruptor and makes kids hyperactive. But there really aren't a lot of studies out there about the safety of ANY artificial colors. And I have concerns about that, considering the fact that in a recent study, they counted all the food items in a typical grocery store that were marketed to children, anything edible--even toothpaste. 810 items! And 43% contained artificial colors, 30% had Red #40. 96% of candies had dye in them, 78% had Red #40. So a kid could conceivably get a dose of artificial coloring in every meal and snack every day. And then brush his teeth with it before bed! The daily exposure is massive. So to those who say, show me the evidence that they're harmful, I say, YOU show me the evidence that they're NOT harmful! How are these any different than a drug that requires safety testing? Look at the structure of Red #40 next to human hormones. These hormones are a powerful biochemical force. Most anybody could look at the structure of Red #40 and say why wouldn't that be capable of some biochemistry action somewhere? And if it could, it should be tested to make sure that activity is not something completely unexpected. And that is my big beef with food dyes. We dose ourselves with them like a drug every day so they ought to be tested like one. Stay connected and we'll get smart and swap out some bad stuff for good stuff.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)61306-3/fulltext Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Conclusion: Artificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22232312/ The diet factor in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Conclusion: A greater attention to the education of parents and children in a healthy dietary pattern, omitting items shown to predispose to ADHD, is perhaps the most promising and practical complementary or alternative treatment of ADHD.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13311-012-0133-x Artificial Food Colors and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Symptoms: Conclusions to Dye for. Conclusion: AFCs are not a major cause of ADHD per se, but seem to affect children regardless of whether or not they have ADHD, and they may have an aggregated effect on classroom climate if most children in the class suffer a small behavioral decrement with additive or synergistic effects
https://adc.bmj.com/content/89/6/506 The effects of a double blind, placebo controlled, artificial food colourings and benzoate preservative challenge on hyperactivity in a general population sample of preschool children. Conclusion: We believe that this suggests that benefit would accrue for all children if artificial food colours and benzoate preservatives were removed from their diet.
https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-022-00849-9 Potential impacts of synthetic food dyes on activity and attention in children: a review of the human and animal evidence. Conclusion: In the short-term, the neurobehavioral effects of synthetic food dyes in children should be acknowledged and steps taken to reduce exposure to these dyes in potentially susceptible children.
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