Are Food Additives a cause of Hyperactivity?
In 2007, the well respected journal Lancet published a study funded by United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency which supported varying degrees of hyperactive behaviour in the children after they consumed fruit drinks containing mixture of food colourings and preservatives.
The additives are:
- allura red (E129) an orange / red dye
- carmoisine (E122) a red colouring in jellies
- ponceau 4R (E124) a red colouring
- quinoline yellow (E104) a yellow colouring
- sunset yellow (E110) a colouring often found in squashes, cakes, yoghurt, chips, hot chocolate mix.
- tartrazine (E102) a colouring found in fizzy drinks, lollies and cakes. Appears to cause the most allergic reactions amongst asthmatics, could be a factor of what causes asthma.
In the study, a group of 300 children were given one of three drinks – a potent cocktail of food additives, one containing roughly the average daily intake for a child their age or a placebo containing none.
Parents of children showing signs of hyperactivity are being advised that eliminating certain artificial food colours from their children’s diet may have some beneficial effects on their behaviour. Though simply taking these additives out of food will not prevent hyperactive disorders, there may be many other influences at work here, but at least a child can avoid this one. View article here from Food and Behaviour Research.
