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The European Union is being strongly urged to ban several types of common food colors used primarily for candy and soft drinks. The proposed ban is based on the findings of a scientific study that links their use to significant hyperactivity in children. (Is that why my kid always does the Watusi at the end of snack time?)
"Taste the rainbow" takes on whole new meaning in a groundbreaking study, published last fall in The Lancet (the United Kingdom's equivalent of The New England Journal of Medicine). In it, scientists document how "normal" kids turn hyperactive, exhibiting Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms after ingesting relatively small amounts of common food additives, specifically food colorings and preservatives composed of synthetic ingredients, like those found in many candies and "fruit" drinks.
In a terrific Time piece ast year titled "Hyper Kids? Cut Out Preservatives," researchers noted that "a variety of common food dyes and the preservative sodium benzoate-an ingredient in many soft drinks, fruit juices and salad dressings-do cause some kids to become measurably more hyperactive and distractible."
The study looked at three hundred kids, each of whom was given a fruit drink once per day. The drinks were either 1) a typical juice drink with sodium benzoate and synthetic color, 2) one with lesser amounts than the average of each of the above, or 3) a totally natural fruit drink.
For three weeks, the kids were independently evaluated by observers who did not know which drink a child was getting. The results? Many kid-none of whom had ever exhibited hyperactivity prior to taking part in the study-became noticeably hyperactive after drinking the beverage with higher levels of additives.
In the United States, most doctors see ADD and ADHD as medical conditions and prescribe powerful mind altering drugs like Ritalin to control the condition. One out of three U.S. kids is on some kind of daily prescription medicine.
But what if it were the blue juice box after soccer practice, or the treats sprinkled on the birthday cupcakes?
Come on manufacturers here in America! Please look at the ingredients in the stuff you are selling us for our kids. For safer choices, check out the Feingold Association of the United States. They've been noting this food fidget-connection for years.
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