Red Dye 40 causes hyperactivity and moodiness in children.

Question

Food dyes your children eat may cause hyperactivity and moodiness. An Ohio State child and adolescent psychiatrist offers some advice.

Answer 1

This claim is true but it also depends on the children's overall well-being. The article mentions that Red 40 dye contains chemicals that come from petroleum that can be harmful for the body. The article also mentions that there are also certain qualities in children that can make dyes more harmful, for example: ADHD, anxiety, and Oppositional defiant disorder. Having experienced the harm of Red 40 or food dye in general, I can say that I do notice a difference in the way it affects my behavioral and mental well-being.

Although, nothing has been proven, the article mentions that there is research showing that food dyes can contribute to the hyper-activity of children. The National Library of Medicine has also done research on this topic, specifically with children that have ADHD and have found a relationship between behavioral effects and artificial food dye. The article linked has valuable information that can help support this claim.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3441937/

Answer 2

The author of the article is L. Eugene Arnold. He is a board-certified child & adolescent psychiatrist. With over 50 years of experience in child psychiatric treatment research. He seems credible since he's worked with children and adolescents. And he has experience with research on child psychiatric treament. The original article claims that consuming food dyes can make children more hyperactive and moody. Another article also supports this claim. The article showcases a research study done by the United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency. The study used 300 children and analyzed if food dye could increase hyperactive behavior. The study resulted in, "hyperactive behavior increased with both the mixtures containing artificial coloring additives". This suggests that the claim made about food dyes causing hyperactivity and moodiness is true. But other factors like sugar may also contribute to these behaviors.

https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/childhood-adhd/food-dye-adhd

Answer 3

The article's author, L. Eugene Arnold, is a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist with over 50 years of experience in child psychiatric treatment research. His extensive background in working with children and conducting research lends credibility to his perspective. The original article asserts that consuming food dyes can increase hyperactivity and moodiness in children. This claim is supported by a study conducted by the United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency, which involved 300 children. The study found that "hyperactive behavior increased with both the mixtures containing artificial coloring additives." While this supports the connection between food dyes and behavioral changes, it’s important to note that other factors, such as sugar, may also contribute to these behaviors.

https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/childhood-adhd/food-dye-adhd

Answer 4

As I read over the links posted in this forum and did my research I can confidently say that the food dye does affect young children more than adults. But this is due to the developing brain and body. These artificial colors don't react well with a child's body in the development stage. It can cause, kids with certain diagnoses such as ADHD, anxiety, and oppositional defiant disorder, to act even more out of control. Or even worsen the diagnosis over time says Ohio State University. Keep these ingredients out of your body and off the shelves of stores!

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/red-dye-40-adhd#summary

https://health.osu.edu/health/mental-health/food-dye

Answer 5

I don't think this claim is entirely accurate. If you scroll further into this article, it says that "not everything has been completely proven yet". Other studies say similar things like some children are affected more than others (OEHHA). MedicalNewsToday also says that dyes may worsen ADHD for some children, but we still need more research on it. Another theory is that sugar is actually the cause of the hyperactivity in foods with these synthetic dyes in them, but that also hasn't been completely proven yet. 

I think to an extent there could be a relationship between dyes like Red 40 and hyperactivity in children, but there isn't much evidence or research on it yet to say for certain. 

 https://oehha.ca.gov/risk-assessment/press-release/report-links-synthetic-food-dyes-hyperactivity-and-other-neurobehavioral-effects-children

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/red-dye-40-adhd

Answer 6

These articles claim that there is a possible connection between artificial food dyes and childhood behavioral issues. When looking at other similar articles this seems to be the overall consensus. However, none of these articles outright state that Red dye 40 CAUSES moodiness and hyperactivity, only that there is a correlation between the two. According to another article by the National Library of Human Medicine, a study conducted by the OEHHA (Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assesment) found that there is an evidential association between synthetic food dyes and behavioral impacts in children. However, there is a significant interindividual variability in the sensitivity to synthetic food dyes, likely due to the presence of pre-existing psychological conditions. Although there is no concrete evidence proving that Red dye 40 causes hyperactivity and moodiness in children, there is substantial evidence proving a correlation between the two. This claim is true but slightly exaggerated as nothing has been outright proven yet.

Sources: 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9052604/ 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22864801/ 

Answer 7

I agreed with this statement. Not only do I eat it here and there, On a personal account, these red dyes really messed up my stomach. On a scientific side, the reason why this happens is "a depletion of minerals that play a role in growth and development, including zinc and iron."   This can cause children to feel those moods and hyper activity.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/red-dye-40-adhd#:~:text=Experts%20believe%20that%20red%20dye,allergic%20reactions%20such%20as%20inflammation