Artificial food coloring has been on my radar for a long time after one of my children had a scary reaction to it. We had another similar incident last night, with a different son. After eating two different items with artificial food coloring at school, he suddenly became weepy, upset, emotional and irrational. It went on for several hours and we’ve eventually just encouraged him to go to sleep and we would talk about it in the morning.
This morning I remembered he had had artificial food colors just before he became so upset. We had a similar issue with another one of my children years ago as he was consuming food dyes. That situation was more serious, and we now discourage our children from having it. However, when they’re at school, birthday parties, or out and about without mom and dad, they make their own choices.
Artificial food dyes are created from petroleum. Although they are rarely discussed in the United States, in Europe, all foods containing artificial dyes, must carry a warning label. The warning label advises that they can cause “an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” In a recent article, the DailyMail reports, “Red 40 as well as Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 contain benzidene, a human and animal carcinogen permitted in low, presumably safe levels in dyes.”
Not everybody’s body processes these “presumably safe” chemicals differently. If your child is having behavioral issues, mood disturbances or having trouble focusing, artificial food dyes are an easy additive to cut out of your child’s food to see if it helps. With my own children, when they do have it, it affects their learning ability, attention span, and overall mood.
I personally have not touched anything knowingly with artificial food coloring for many years now. After doing my research, I do not feel it is fit for human consumption. My husband and I do not touch them. We do not purchase any products that contain these for our children either. We go to great lengths to prevent our children from putting these chemicals in their mouths.
