Apr 11 2008

UK’s Food Agency takes on color additives

Remember the Southampton study of food colors and hyperactivity that I commented on some months ago? On the basis of that study, the British Food Standards Agency is asking food companies to voluntarily get rid of color additives in food products aimed at young children. Since those products are junk foods anyway, and everyone – especially anti-additive advocacy groups - wishes kids would eat less of them, the study gives the agency some ammunition. The point of color additives, after all, is to make junk foods look like they taste good. Kids don’t need junk foods or color additives, but I wish I felt more confident about the science.

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[...] heather wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptRemember the Southampton study of food colors and hyperactivity that I commented on some months ago? On the basis of that study, the British Food Standards Agency is asking food companies to voluntarily get rid of color additives in … [...]

  • Kati
  • April 11, 2008
  • 12:04 pm

The scale of use of food dyes is huge. It’s possible for a family to buy food so that each and every meal and snack contains an artificial color. Cereal, goldfish crackers and other crackers, beverages, mac and cheese, cereal bars, yogurt, kids’ packaged meal and other frozen meals are all available with artificial colors.

I avoid foods with artificial food colors because that isn’t what food looks like. I believe the biggest lesson about healthy eating for children is to learn about and eat REAL food. I’m less concerned about the link with behavior.

Our family avoids foods with artificial colourings and flavourings. When I was in University I worked for 1 month at a major cereal manufacturer. I remember cleaning the equipment once, and accidentally blowing the powdered food colouring every where- it made a huge mess. It’s an image that sticks with me… it’s what I think of when I see food that contains lots of food colouring.

Just imagine how much healthier we would be without it!

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