Food Additives and Children’s Behavior
Dr. Stephen Barrett has for years operated a web site called Quackwatch which he advertises as “Your Guide to Quackery, Health Fraud, and Intelligent Decisions”. One of his earliest targets was Benjamin Feingold, M.D., who way back in 1973 popularized a specific diet, free of food additives, that he claimed would be beneficial for behavioral problems in children suffering from issues like attention deficit – hyperactivity disorder. In his derrogation of the Feingold diet, Dr. Barrett points out that it involves:
- Teaching children that their behavior and school performance are related to what they eat rather than what they feel
- Undermining their self esteem by implanting notions that they are unhealthy and fragile
- Creating situations in which their eating behavior or fear of chemicals are regarded as peculiar by other children
- Depriving them of the opportunity to receive appropriate professional help (medication, psychotherapy, or both).
Let’s look at these points. First, it is a very good idea to teach children that food is important not only in terms of health, but their mental performance as well. Second, he states that teaching children that food choices are important for their health “undermines their self esteem” and causes them to be “regarded as peculiar by other children.”
Quite clearly Dr. Barrett, nothing robs a child more of self esteem and causes them to be regarded as peculiar than having to leave the classroom to take their Ritalin®, or other medication.
Now let’s take a look at this whole notion that food additives can affect a child’s behavior as Dr. Feingold described 34 years ago. In the September 6, 2007 issue of the highly respected journal Lancet, British researchers put this notion that food additives can affect a child’s behavior to the test.
They evaluated two groups of children, one group of 3 year olds, and one group of 8 and 9 year olds, comparing their behavior in relation to consumption of drinks containing artificial additives over a six week period. The researchers found that children in both age groups who drank the drinks containing additives displayed significantly more hyperactive behavior.
One of the additives, sodium benzoate, has been linked to cell damage in a previous study, and to an increased risk for cancer. Sodium benzoate is found in Coca-Cola, Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi, and in many fruit drinks.
Additives assessed in the study include sodium benzoate, commonly found in many beverages, as well as a number of colorings including — sunset yellow (E110), found in fruity drinks ; carmoisine (E122), a red coloring found in jams; ponceau 4R (E124), a red food coloring; tartrazine (E102), found in hard candies and carbonated drinks; quinoline yellow (E104), a food coloring; and allura red AC (E129), an orange-red food dye.
Following publication of the report, the British government’s Food Standards Agency warned parents to be on the lookout for hyperactive behavior linked to food additives.
Their web site reported, “Parents of children showing signs of hyperactivity are being advised that cutting out certain artificial food colors from their diets might have some beneficial effects on their behavior.”
We owe a lot to courageous pioneers like Dr. Feingold who showed us so many years ago that our children’s nutrition plays a fundamental role in their brain function. How very unfortunate that such individuals are ridiculed by the uninformed. Again, let’s judge based on the best science available.