Food Coloring May Make ADHD Children Hyperactive

UK Warnings on Food Additives - Study Links Hyperactivity and Diet

Sep 3, 2009

Many ADD and ADHD children have a food coloring allergy or react with hyperactivity to food additives, according to two recent studies on ADHD kids.

Parents of sensitive children and children with allergies have long been aware of the connection between hyperactivity or ADHD, food and nutrition. ADD and ADHD are affected by diet, and two major studies have shown that it's the little things that matter most by linking food colorings to severe hyperactivity in kids.

ADHD, Hyperactivity and Food Coloring

Hyperactivity and food – linked? It's not as illogical as it sounds. After all, everyone knows that a lot of sugar will leave children running around like wild animals until they crash. So how much of a stretch is it to consider that other foods might have similar effects?

Food colorings are often pinpointed by holistic health experts as a factor in hyperactive behavior – along with many other foods and ingredients. The complete list means that parents willing to pursue an ADD or ADHD diet practically take a crash course in nutrition in order to help their hyperactive kids.

Two recent studies, released in 2004 and 2007 respectively, singled out food coloring as a potential problem in the ADHD diet. Children with ADHD and allergies were tested on a variety of food additives, including:

Although the studies were not completely conclusive, they do present evidence of changes in children's behavior when they were exposed to food colorings and other addtives.

ADHD and Food Coloring Allergy

Some experts suggest that food coloring reactions in children with ADD or ADHD are an allergy, while others argue that everyone shows slight changes in behavior after consumer food additives, but these changes are only a problem in children with attention deficit and hyperactivity.

"All children had small shifts in their behavior in the same direction when exposed to the additives," says University of Southampton professor of child health John Warner in an interview with WebMD. "If the children are already normal, then that's not a major issue. But if they've already got rather difficult behavior, that might be the final straw that makes it totally unacceptable."

UK Restaurants Ban Food Colorings

Although the food colorings and additives are still in common use in the United States and Canada, the U.K. has been more thorough in cautioning consumers about these ingredients. In 2007, after the second study, the U.K. Food Standards Agency released a statement warning parents that "consumption of mixes of certain artificial food colours together with the preservative sodium benzoate could be linked to an adverse effect on children’s behaviour."

Five food businesses in the U.K. have since banned food colorings from their products, including Sainsbury's, Mr. Lucky Bags, and Tricky Treats.

Sources

The copyright of the article Food Coloring May Make ADHD Children Hyperactive in Natural Medicine is owned by Victoria Anisman-Reiner. Permission to republish Food Coloring May Make ADHD Children Hyperactive in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.