Food dye and kids

**Nana2two** · 09-12-2009, 12:03 AM

Do any of you have a child that acts up after given anything with food coloring in it?Like red . My grandsons seems to get strung out after drinking anything red. I wonder if its the coloring. Hubby gave him some punch this evening and he was so hyper. He is a active 2 year old, but this was to the point he was bad. Just the look in his eyes tonight. I have seen it before but now im putting things together. He usally goes to bed around 830 ,we had to let him scream his self to sleep tonight,he just fell asleep a few minutes ago.He didnt want to be held he was just from one thing to the next.

My son thats autistic he is now 20 was also that way, But i didnt see it in him till the age of 6 or so. For him to be hyped wasnt a bad thing, he had so many medical problems to see him active was a good sign in good sort away.

**lilk** · 09-12-2009, 02:45 AM

I had a similar situation, when my son was younger. It wasn't food dye that hyped him up, it was perseratives for him. We had to change his diet. We was mean at school, and he was always into things. I thought he had ADD or something.
One day, my friend noticed after he was eating chips, he turned into a wild man. I couldn't believe it.
We changed his diet, and it made a huge difference!!!! People actually thought I had put him on medicine. We just cut out the processed food, sugar, and perseratives. Alot of cooking from scratch, but so worth it.
He is a teen now, and we don't have to be so critical of what he eats now.
Good luck to you with your grandson. I know it's rough. They do make clear drinks. Capri Sun, and I think HI-C.

**2ndGenGranola** · 09-12-2009, 07:19 AM

Most definitely. You may want to look up the Feingold organization online. They have all the research info posted on that site. Red dye is a biggie for many kids, yellow is a biggie for kids with respiratory issues, blue is just plain bad.

Sugar gets a bad rap too. For most kids it is actually corn syrup that sets them off. My 9 y/o asks now if the drink is made with sugar or corn syrup because he can tell the difference in how he feels. Artificial sweeteners are just as bad if not worse.

It is amazing what all they put in our food that is not really food. No wonder kids have issues.

**lovestolaugh** · 09-12-2009, 10:16 AM

My ds had a very bad reaction to red food dyes when he was younger. If he had Hawaiian Punch or red M & M's or anything with red in it he would literally become like a rat in a maze. He would run around like a crazy person. He became distructive and you couldn't get him to calm down until after the red worked itself through his system. Then he would crash and sleep for 3 - 4 hours. He would be kind of hungover for the next day too.

He eventually grew out of this around the age of 10 thank goodness. Until then, he was taught to stay away from anything red. We worried about him being given things at school or social functions when we weren't there to oversee things. We never had a problem though because he didn't like losing control like that so he was really good at policing himself.

Good luck and remember that most kids eventually grow out of this by the time they are in their teens!

**YankeeMom** · 09-12-2009, 12:01 PM

We avoid red dyes completely. Very little of other dyes (yellow is in freaking everything!). We also limit the preservative laden foods. My 8yo is the one who's sensitive to them. He's like a crazy person when he gets some in his system. Runs around, can't stop moving, flushed ears, glazed eyes, etc. He's a much nicer person to be around when he's free of food dyes. Some foods we've found that he likes that are free from dyes are:

Slow-Melt Popsicles (colored w/ fruit/vegetable juice)
Dora the Explorer popsicles (same as above)
Clear Kool-Aid
Fruit Water (Fruit2O or similar)

**walker24** · 09-12-2009, 01:19 PM

Red dye does a number on my husband and youngest daughter. It makes them both have trouble sleeping and my daughter always has an accident if she drinks anything like hawiian punch. She is almost 6 and has been potty trained for years. We really try to avoid it.

**AmyBoz** · 09-12-2009, 01:45 PM

Could there be any correlation to the fact that many red foods are sugary? We know that sugar hypes kids up, so it's no surprise that punch and other red fruit drinks make kids a bit kooky. I realize there is a chemical factor, but it's always good to look at all of the possibilities.

**Nana2two** · 09-12-2009, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by AmyBoz

Could there be any correlation to the fact that many red foods are sugary? We know that sugar hypes kids up, so it's no surprise that punch and other red fruit drinks make kids a bit kooky. I realize there is a chemical factor, but it's always good to look at all of the possibilities.

You could give him a choclate bar,it would not bother him, you give him a red popsicle and oh my gosh, wild child.

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 09-12-2009, 06:31 PM

Both my boys have ADHD. All artificial colorings make them hyper and wild. The seriously can't control their behavior.

**zakity** · 09-12-2009, 10:13 PM

Yep, one of mine is a wild child on dyes and corn syrup. We are technically on a modified Feingold. We just had to take out the dye and corn syrup out of our diets and we try to avoid preservatives as much as possible. The other two behave better on diet also.

It isn't that hard. We make most everything from scratch. It saves us tons of money and it is a healthier diet.

**Nana2two** · 09-12-2009, 10:45 PM

Several of his aunts and grandfather on his dads side has ADHD, his daddy doesnt have it but we do think Baby picked up some. The 5 1/2 yo .Is not to bad. He has his moments but most of the time he is fine,.

**Gibs** · 09-13-2009, 02:38 PM

I am finding this post very very interesting. I have a son who just turned 2 in August, and I have had my hands full with him for a long time. He was showing signs of autism, behavior problems, and my husband suspected maybe adhd instead of autism symptoms.....I need to read more on this....I had just blogged about 20 minutes ago on here about some of my sons behaviors.....this could be some of our problems i need to keep and eye on things and see...thank you.

**2ndGenGranola** · 09-13-2009, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by gibblerkelly

He was showing signs of autism, behavior problems, and my husband suspected maybe adhd instead of autism symptoms.....I need to read more on this.....

Our specialist says that they are both on the same spectrum. Since doing diet/nutrition/etc therapy with mine, they pass more for ADHD/ADD now when before the therapy they were obviously autistic. She suggested the book "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" by Dr Natasha Campbell McBride. It is a heavy read and is full of info. It describes how the gut is responsible for making the hormones and stuff that regulate mood and other brain issues. When the gut cannot throw off stuff (like petroleum based colors that we shouldn't be eating anyway) it messes with the brain. This book was well worth the money. I actually need to sit down and read it again to soak up more of what it says.

**Gibs** · 09-13-2009, 06:34 PM

Thank you I will have a look for that book at the library.

**Nishu** · 09-13-2009, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by AmyBoz

Could there be any correlation to the fact that many red foods are sugary? We know that sugar hypes kids up, so it's no surprise that punch and other red fruit drinks make kids a bit kooky.

According to many studies and even more specialists, sugar does no such thing. I hear parents say that all the time, and to be hones I have never ever seen it in my on children or any other kids that I know.
http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/educatio....html?quid=241

The answer is no, despite the fact that so many people believe this to be true. Many carefully controlled studies have been conducted to test this idea and failed to find any effect of sugar consumption on children's behavior. Why, then do so many people believe that sugar causes hyperactivity in children? One possibility is that parent's beliefs affect what they see. In one recent study, a group of children thought to be "behaviorally sensitive" to sugar were studied. The children were divided into two groups. The mothers of one group were told that their children were given a drink with a lot of sugar. The mothers of the other group were told that their children had been given a drink that did not contain sugar. All children had actually been given a drink sweetened with Nutrasweet. The mothers who thought that their children had had sugar rated them as more hyperactive than the other mothers. These results suggest that parents' and teachers' beliefs about sugar affect their perceptions of children's behavior.

I think the above applies to a lot of things, personally.

As far as food coloring, it is in everything. In order to really know, you have to be vigilant about eliminating it and then see what happens when you give it to a kid, because that stuff is in everything.