1 Mother 2 Another

I blogged last year about the rising
concerns over the links between artificial dyes in our food and
hyperactivity – or worse – in our kids. I saw for
myself the effects of artificial dyes when Cora began eating
store-bought birthday cakes laden with blue “ocean”
frosting or purple “flower” frosting; after one such
party I found her an hour later literally climbing the curtains.
Between Cora’s incredible bouts of turning into Hyperactive,
Uncontrollable Girl and her four-day-long blue poop (yep, it stains
your intestines for several days afterwards) I was convinced enough
to actively work to rid our diet of artificial dyes.

Since we eat relatively healthily to begin
with, the task hasn’t been that overwhelming. We switched to
the organic, naturally-colored kids’ multivitamins (bye-bye,
Flinstones) and use chocolate or naturally-colored href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FYummy-Earth-Lollipops-Organic-Assorted%2Fdp%2FB000X3TPHS%3Fs%3Dgrocery%26ie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1301366337%26sr%3D1-1&tag=1mother2anoth-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325"
target="_blank">Good Earth lollipops as rewards rather
than Skittles or Starburst. I’m not a fanatic, of course
– I’m not going to tell my kids no when they find the
sprinkles at a sundae bar – but I do control it much more
strictly. And since Cora wants an over-the-top fancy cake for her
birthday party again, this year we’ll be buying it from
artificial-dye-free Whole Foods’ bakery department.


A recent article on Healthy Child, Healthy World’s
website reports that the concern over artificial dyes has become
much more mainstream. The European Union recently ruled that any
foods with artificial dyes must now carry a warning label that says
“consumption may have an adverse effect on activity and
attention in children”. And the US FDA will hold hearings
next month on whether or not dyes negatively impact our
children’s health. And FDA studies have already shown that
Yellow Dye #5 – that bright yellow in Kraft Mac N Cheese
– is tainted with low levels of cancer-causing compounds.


The href="http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/when_food_dyes_color_our_childs_behavior/"
target="_blank">article at Healthy Child, Healthy World
is short and easy to read – and contains tips on easy ways to
start removing artificial dyes from your family’s table. Just
some food for thought.