For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Food Safety page, Appetite for a Change page, and our Health Issues page.

The bright colors of grocery store foods are often the result of artificial food dyes, which are now being applied not just to candies and snack foods, but also to products such as pickles, salad dressing and even oranges.

But according to scientific studies, these dyes are causing behavioral problems and disrupting children’s attention. Some have even been found to pose cancer risks. The FDA has made an about-face on their previous denials that dyes can influence children’s behavior, and has stated that synthetic food colorings do affect some children.

According to the Washington Post:

“Beyond the behavioral problems and cancer risks, the greatest hazard that dyes pose for children may also be the most obvious: They draw kids away from nutritious foods and toward brightly colored processed products that are high in calories but low in nutrients, such as fruit-flavored drinks and snack foods. Those types of foods are a major force in America’s obesity epidemic.”

Sources:

The Washington Post March 25, 2011

Time Magazine March 28, 2011

WalletPop March 31, 2011

Huffington Post April 1, 2011

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

While Americans continue to snack on cereal bars, fruit juices, candy and a host of other processed foods turned a rainbow of colors thanks to artificial food dyes, those in the UK are enjoying those same colorful foods   but without the artificial color.

This is because a carefully designed, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in the journal The Lancet concluded that a variety of common food dyes and the preservative sodium benzoate cause some children to become measurably more hyperactive and distractible.