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A U.S.
watchdog group is pushing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban the use
of eight artificial food dyes, as they may cause hyperactivity and behavior
problems, like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in some children.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) sustains
that controlled studies conducted over three decades have shown that children
can become hyperactive after eating foods containing artificial food dye. In
fact, Michael F Jacobson, executive director of the CSPI said Americans are now
consuming twice as much food dye per person as they did 50 years ago.
Therefore, the group is asking the FDA to ban the following eight food dyes:
Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, and Yellow 6. These
ingredients, primarily derived from petroleum and coal tars, are used in everything
from candies to cereals, soft drinks, and snack foods. Jacobson told the
Associated Press that these chemicals are used to mask the absence of real food
and to increase the appeal of a low-nutrition product to children.
However, the FDA dismissed the request saying on its web site “although the
hypothesis was popularized in the 1970s, well-controlled studies conducted
since then have produced no evidence that food additives cause hyperactivity or
learning disabilities in children.”
The FDA’s position was also embraced by a prominent industry group, the
Grocery Manufacturers Association, whose chief science officer Robert Brackett said
parents and children “can safely enjoy food products containing these food
colors.”
ADHD affects 3 to 7 percent of children, according to the American Psychiatric
Association, with more boys being diagnosed with the disorder than girls. Children
and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Landover,
Md., an advocacy group, says factors like heredity, difficult pregnancies,
prenatal exposure to alcohol and tobacco and excessively high body lead levels
are to be blamed for developing ADHD. However, it sustains that no conclusive
research has determined so far how dietary issues play a role in developing the
disorder.
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