The rainbow of food dyes in our grocery aisles has a dark side

[n2doc]

By David W. Schab and Michael F. Jacobson, Friday, March 25, 8:51 PM
Today’s supermarket is a fun house of hues. Its aisles feature riotously colored processed foods perfectly engineered to appeal to the part of your brain that says “yum”: Technicolor Starburst candy. Polychromatic Froot Loops. A rainbow of flavored juices.

Those hyper-saturated colors have come to seem normal, even natural, like the come-ons of tropical fruits. But they are increasingly produced through the magic of artificial food dyes, applied not just to candies and snack foods but to such seemingly all-natural products as pickles, salad dressing and some oranges.

Artificial dyes aren’t just making your Yoplait Light Red Raspberry yogurt blush and your Kraft Macaroni and Cheese glow in the dark. They are causing behavioral problems and disrupting children’s attention, according to a growing number of scientific studies. On Wednesday, following the lead of European regulators, a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee will begin a review of research on the behavioral effects of artificial dyes. In a significant turn from the agency’s previous denials that dyes have any influence on children’s behavior, an FDA staff report released last week concluded that synthetic food colorings do affect some children.

The agency should take action. Allowing the use of artificial dyes violates the FDA’s mandate to protect consumers from unsafe products. It also runs afoul of the agency’s mandate to crack down on food that has been made “to appear better or of greater value than it is.”

more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-rainbow-of-food-dyes-in-our-grocery-aisles-has-a-dark-side/2011/03/21/AFyIwaYB_story.html

[ellenrr]

1. But on the plus side....

these behavioral and attention problems are a huge market for the drug industry and the psychiatrists.

see - there's always a silver lining. ;)

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the FDA to regulate, since the FDA is in the pocket of the drug industry...

[get the red out]

2. +1

The most that can be done is for this to come to the public's attention enough that market demand will make dye-less foods more available as an "alternative" for all of us "natural food freaks" like me.

[Celebration]

5. Ritalin plus Food Dye

Make an excellent drug cocktail..........

[msongs]

3. fruit "drink*" and water is not meant to be turquoise thanks

* drink means the truck drove its water bottles thru an orchard on the way to the store and thus is qualified to be labelled "fruit drink"

[Celebration]

4. LOL

:rofl: