Effects of Red Dye
May 18, 2010 > 4 Comments
I recently shared on my Facebook that I had noticed disturbing behavior in our children after 2 days of drinking red Hawaiian Fruit Punch. I got so many comments, that I thought I would share my comments here. This is not a scientific discussion, but rather a heads up to hopefully encourage you to do your own investigation.
While I was surfing the net I came across a blurb about the effects of red dye to which I gave little thought, because I already knew that any dye wasn’t good, but we don’t usually eat/drink a lot of foods with dyes – or so we thought!
Not more than a week later, we were noticing some disturbing behavior out of our boys especially. My husband and I both knew something wasn’t right and was marveling at their displays of anger and frustration. Lots of whining and fits of anger out of the little boys and outbursts of anger out of the oldest over seemingly insignificant things.
Realizing that something wasn’t right with the picture, I did a little detective work. I know that caffeine can have the same effect on my husband and I, I started there. They all had had minor amounts of caffeine that day, my oldest son having the most, but not enough to make them behave this way I didn’t think…
What I discovered was that they all had had huge amounts of red dye! I had given a little party for our children at church in which I had purchased Hawaiian Punch, gummies, sour candies, cookies with pink frosting etc. And as children are wont to do, they helped themselves to large amounts of everything. To make matters worse, later that afternoon a couple of them purchased the powdered candy with a sucker to dip and it was all red candy.
We brought the leftovers home. Monday morning seemed to go smoothly and I noticed because I was still trying to figure this all out…Things were fine until after lunch and their behavior started to rapidly decline. But what had happened!? They finished off the Hawaiian Punch!
Not exactly a scientific experiment, but it was a very interesting, disturbing discovery. And there are many more such stories to be found online. This article was written by a teacher / school psychologist.
I just thought I’d share in the event there were others out there unaware of the possible side effects of this popular food additive. If you’ve noted the effects or have something to offer to this discussion, I would love to hear what you have to say in the comment section.
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Design By Joy 2009
May 19th, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
Your readers may want to check out this site: http://www.suntava.com. It introduces a company that has developed an alternative to synthetic, petroleum-based dyes from a proprietary ‘purple’ corn. The reader can read what he/she sees and come to their own conclusions.
Norm
May 19th, 2010 @ 4:35 pm
Thanks for sharing Norm! I have never seen this website. I’ll give it a look-see. – Amanda
May 21st, 2010 @ 11:12 pm
Amanda, fortunately for us, we figured this out with our oldest, when he was just a little tyke. It spared us the agony! Occasionaly as we mingle with other kids at field trips or youth events, etc., they get some, without our knowledge, and then….YIKES! So we try to monitor it.
Know wonder so many kids have “ADD” and “ADHD” – with all the junk food parents give their kids, who knows how much of these diseases is directly related to the preservatives, food colorings, and what not. I know there are some preservatives we simply cannot have at all without making us sick or “act out.” TBHQ and sodium benzoate are the worst one for us…
Thanks for the article!
May 22nd, 2010 @ 5:40 am
I’m reading the articles on red dye next. Our 8yo is quite sensitive to red dye, and she knows it herself. She will even say, “Mom, should I really have this? It’s red.” I have often wondered if it was just the sugar content, but the more observant I have become, I’m convinced it is the factor of the dye. Red licorice ropes at her brother’s football games…watch out.