Food Dyes May Exacerbate Hyperactivity in Sensitive Children

March 25, 2011— -- Youngsters with ADHD may have a "unique intolerance" to artificial food colorings, according to a government report released this week suggesting there may be some truth in the common wisdom that synthetic food dyes make children more hyper.

The man-made dyes haven't been proven to cause hyperactivity in most children, nor has research found the dyes to contain "any inherent neurotoxic properties," according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff memo filed after the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the agency to revoke approvals for eight certified colorings. CSPI, a Washington, D.C.,-based consumer gadfly, filed that request on June 3, 2008, and asked the FDA to issue a consumer warning in the interim.

The eight dyes, which give appealingly bright color to beverages, cakes and pies, cereals, candies and snack foods, are FD&C Blue 1 and 2; FD&C Green 3, Orange B, FD&C Red 3, FD&C Red 40, FD&C Yellow 5 and 6.

The FDA distributed the research summary in advance of a two-day hearing in which its Food Advisory Committee, meeting in Silver Spring, Md., will consider any links between food coloring and hyperactivity in children. The committee will advise the FDA if there is a need to take action to protect consumer safety. FDA said that an "expert neurotoxicologist" with the Oak Ridge National Laboratories reviewed two key studies cited in CSPI's petition to get the dyes out of the U.S. food supply, as well as 33 other scientific studies the agency deemed relevant, according to a Sept. 10, 2010, memo made public Thursday. Those included a 2007 study in The Lancet, in which University of Southampton researchers assessed effects of a mixture of artificial colorings and preservatives on the behavior of local British youngsters ages 3 to 4, and ages 8 to 9; and a 2004 meta-analysis in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics analyzing previous studies addressing the relationship between artificial food colors and behavioral changes in children diagnosed with ADHD.