It seems that artificial food dyes are now added to everything from cereal to personal care products. The scariest part? The worst offenders are marketed to children! Learn about the risks of food dyes and how they affect behavior in kids, and what you can do to avoid them.

1. Do Food Dyes Affect
Behavior?
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2. • When I was younger, I never thought about questioning the safety of
food dyes. I assumed that if food dyes were allowed in foods, they
must be safe.
• Certainly, the food dyes were not the only problems with many of the
foods I used to consume, but food dyes deserve their own scrutiny,
especially since they are added to so many foods that are marketed to
children!

3. Think artificial dyes are a harmless or a minor ingredient? Consider this…
• Food companies add more than 15 million pounds of artificial food
dyes to foods each year (Over five times the amount added to the
food supply when our parents were children)
• Artificial food dyes have been linked to behavioral problems, various
types of cancers and other problems
• The European Union requires foods with food dyes to come with a
warning label and has banned many of the dyes still used in the US

4. What’s in a Dye?

5. • There are seven artificial food dyes approved for use in foods in the
US. The most commonly used dyes are Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6,
which make up 90%+ of the market.
• These dyes are created synthetically in several ways. Some dyes are
created by burning coal tar and others are derived from petroleum
byproducts like tartrazine and erythrosine.

6. • These artificial dyes are added to foods to enhance their color and make them
more“kid friendly”but they are nutritionally void and potentially harmful.
• Many food dyes have already been banned by the FDA after research found
that they caused substantial health problems and surprisingly little research
has been done to prove that the remaining seven dyes are safe.

7. Artificial Food Dyes and Behavior?

8. • The Center for Science
in the Public Interest
released a report
detailing the potential
of artificial food dyes to
contribute to
hyperactivity in
children, increase
cancer risk and lead to
other health problems.

9. • Research suggests that some children may be susceptible to even
tiny amounts of artificial dyes but that a significant number of
children were affected by amounts over 35 mg per day.
• It was estimated that many children are consuming 3-4 times the
35mg amount per day.

10. Feingold Diet and Elimination Diets

11. • Dr. Benjamin Feingold first
published a book called“Why
Your Child is Hyperactive”in the
1970s. A pediatrician and
allergist, Feingold suggested that
certain food additives, including
artificial dyes, contributed to
hyperactivity and symptoms of
ADD or ADHD in children.
• You can read more about this
diet here.

12. What to Do?

13. Bottom line? Artificial food dyes are
just one item on an ever-growing list
of reasons to avoid processed foods.
Unfortunately, food dyes can be sneaky
so avoiding them can take some effort.
Here are some tips …

14. •Buy organic
•Stick to real foods in whole form
•Check personal care products
•Use natural alternatives

15. TO Learn more about the
connection between food dyes
and behavior, Click Here.

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