Group wants FDA to ban 8 food dyes
We dye our hair, dye our clothing, dye our paint to color our walls ... but do we really need to dye our food? No, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group. They want the FDA to ban eight food colorings that they believe pose a health risk to humans, particularly children. The dyes include Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, Yellow 6.The FDA doesn't appear to be budging on their stance that food dyes have been proven safe. The group is asking the FDA to require a warning label on foods that contain these dyes in the interim.
Food dyes aren't required in whole foods, so they're usually used to make a food with little nutrition look more appealing or to make it bright and colorful so it will appeal to kids. To reduce your family's exposure to food dyes, stick to a diet of fruits, veggies, lean proteins, and whole grains, and avoid processed foods.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-09-2008 @ 9:55PM
marcie0305 said...
I just want to quote part of the cited article here:
"A comprehensive 2004 meta-analysis of the medical literature concluded that artificial dyes affect children's behavior, and two recent studies funded by the British government found that dyes (as well as the preservative sodium benzoate) adversely affect kids' behavior. Unlike most previous studies, those British studies tested children in the general population, not children whose parents suspected they were sensitive to dyes. As a result, the British government is successfully pressuring food manufacturers to switch to safer colorings."
I am happy about this news. If you are an adult you likely get much less of these dyes in your diet and it's probably not a biggie, but kids foods are laden with these dyes and they are smaller and more vulnerable. Great advice to stick with "a diet of fruits, veggies, lean proteins, and whole grains, and avoid processed foods."
~Marcie
http://feedingblackmail.blogspot.com
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