Food Coloring Affects Behavior in People And Pets

Yellow

There are many yellow dyes used in foods. We will here look at the most common one,Tartrazine, also known as FD & C Yellow 5, CI 19140, or E102. This food coloring is a synthetic dye, made from coal tar.

Tartrazine has been linked to hyper activity in children, rashes, breathing problems (it also upsets asthmatics), anxiety, depression, migraines, sleep problems, and has been linked to problems in unborn babies.

Several countries have banned Tartrazine, Norway still has its ban in place, while manufactures of Tartazine forced bans in Germany and Austria to be overturned. Nonetheless the United Kingdom has called for a voluntary phase out of many food colorings such as Tartrazine FD & C 5.

Tartrazine is used in yellow foods, orange foods, and green foods. Think of puddings, vitamins, cereals, powders, cake mixes, candies, fake cheeses (macaroni dinners), and so forth. It is also used in some drinks, and is fed to battery hens to make their yolks more yellow since their captive diet is so poor (battery hen egg yolks still tend to be more pale than free range hens, even when the battery hens are fed such dye).

According to one site, Tartrazine is the most common food additive used even now.

Red

The most commonly used red dye is Allura Red AC, also known as FD & C Red 40, Food red 17, CI 16035, or E 129. It has been linked to attention problems, hyperactivity, impulsive behavior, and lower IQ. It has been linked to causing cancer in mice. Allura Red AC a synthetic dye, originally made from coal tar, but now made mostly from petroleum.

The use of Allura Red AC, FD & C 40, is banned in many countries, such as Denmark and France, and is not recommended for children in most other European countries, but is fairly common in the United States despite its link to many behavioral problems in children, and despite calls to have it banned.

Allura Red is used in candies, drinks, condiments, jello, meat, may be combined with Tartrazine (above) to make orange in many food products and drinks.

Studies

Many studies have been done to show how these food colors change human behavior. One study was done in 2007 at Southampton University in which researchers speculated that ADHD cases could be reduced by 30% if we were to stop feeding color dyes to our children. They also stated that color dyes were as bad as lead in petrol and could even lower a child's IQ by 5 points.

Note: Synthetic food colorings and dyes have no health benefit. They are simply added to make foods look better. They are a gimmick and could, in fact, be harmful.

If your child is experiencing any attention problems, or hyperactivity, try to eliminate any food dyes from their diet. Do not make excuses for the child's behavior. Switch to a more natural diet, and stay with it. This may mean no more candy, no more flavored drinks, but a good parent is not going to be concerned with the temper tantrum a child throws at not being allowed candy, rather they will focus on the mental health of their child and how these dyes are impacting their quality of life.

In Pets

Some pet foods use food coloring and dyes to make the pet food look better to the consumer.  They have no benefit to the pet, and some dogs and cats actually will have behavior problems related to eating food dye.  Hyper activity and nervousness have been related to pets eating food with food coloring - of course this is also confused in that some breeds are naturally more active (Border Collies).

If your pet has a hard time behaving, and you have put an effort into training it correctly and keeping it mentally stimulated, you should look at the ingredinet list to determine if the food has food dye, and if so, switch to a better pet food.