Why California is Considering Banning Food Dye in Schools

For decades, scientists have been trying to answer a hotly contested question: Do synthetic dyes used to add lively colors to foods such as some breakfast cereals, candies, snacks and baked goods cause behavioral problems in children?

Bill, which was passed by the California Senate on August 28reignited the debate. If signed into law, the bill would prohibit K-12 public schools in California from offering foods containing six dyes — Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2, Green No. 3, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6 and Red No. 40.

Between 1963 and 1987, the Food and Drug Administration approved nine synthetic dyes for exploit in foods in the United States. The agency maintains that they are secure.

However, some studies raise concerns that they may have an impact on some children’s behaviour.

What the research suggests

In the 1970s, the attention of doctors and parents was drawn to a pediatric allergist from California who he suggested that a diet without artificial colors, flavors and preservatives can facilitate in the treatment most children with ADHD

That was an enthusiastic but exaggerated claim, said Dr. L. Eugene Arnold, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral health at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. research with The 80’s “basically debunked” the theory that strict elimination diets are helpful in treating ADHD, he said, which is why many doctors concluded they were ineffective.

However, scientists continued to study one element of the elimination diet for decades: synthetic food dyes.

In most of these studies, parents, teachers, or researchers observed children’s behavior as they consumed the dyes in food, drinks, or capsules and then compared it with the behavior of children who consumed a placebo. In some studies, researchers also measured their ability to concentrate using computer tests.

Early studies were tiny and the results were mixed, Dr. Arnold said, with some suggesting the dyes increased hyperactivity, while others found no effect.

But in two subsequent trials held in the UK and published in 2004 and 2007Each study involved about 300 children with or without ADHD symptoms. The researchers observed a tiny but significant raise in hyperactivity in the children who consumed the juices containing the dyes.

Following these studies, European lawmakers began requiring food products containing certain colours to carry labels warning of their potential impact on children’s attention and activity.

In 2011, an FDA committee considered introducing similar labels in the United States but concluded there was not enough evidence to prove that food dyes cause hyperactivity. It voted against the warnings and recommended further research, but little research has been done since then, said Dr. Arnold, who summarized the existing research at a 2011 meeting.

In 2021, scientists from California the report was published that have shed modern lightweight on food dyes. The team, along with researchers from the University of California, analyzed 27 mostly tiny trials involving children. The conclusion: Food dyes can disrupt normal behavior in at least some children.

Emily Barrett, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at Rutgers School of Public Health who reviewed the report, said it was “fair, unbiased and very thorough.”

Joel Nigg, a professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University, conducted the study similar review in 2012He expected to find evidence that would reassure those concerned about food dyes, he said. However, he also found a tiny but significant raise in hyperactivity when children consumed the dyes. Other Scientists have come to similar conclusions.

Dr. Nigg and other experts acknowledged that the studies have several limitations. In addition to being tiny, many of the available studies are decades venerable, and some rely on parents’ reports of their children’s behavior, which can be biased. Some also tested dyes that have not been used in the United States, making it challenging to say whether the results apply to children in this country.

Dr. Nigg said there have been no huge, representative studies of children in the United States. And scientists aren’t sure exactly how the dyes might raise hyperactivity; examination in children it has been suggested that the regulation of histamine, a neurotransmitter that can influence behaviormay be involved. In some studies in rodents, scientists have also reported that high levels of the pigments can cause cellular damage and affect signaling and structures in the brain.

FDA with international committee of experts on food safetyemphasized the limitations of the research while maintaining that food dyes currently allowed in the United States are secure.

An FDA spokesman said in a statement that while some evidence suggests that some children may be sensitive to the dyes, most are not. The agency will continue to investigate the issue, he said. It is also currently Red Dye No. 3 Safety Reviewwhich will be banned in all foods sold in California by 2027 under a law signed last year.

The FDA’s approach is to consider the dyes “secure until proven harmful,” Dr. Nigg said. But based on current evidence, he added, a better strategy would be to prove they are secure before they are given to children.

Frank Yiannas, former deputy commissioner for food policy at the FDA, wrote in an email that the California bill is a direct result of the FDA “being too snail-paced to respond” to consumer concerns.

Eyes on California

Many school districts, health care providers, health advocates, and Democratic and Republican legislators supported the bill.

She also has the support of many California parents, such as Maritza Arguello, 35, of Riverside. Ms. Arguello no longer gives her teenage daughter, who has ADHD, foods with synthetic dyes

The bill was opposed by industry groups including the Consumer Brands Association, which represents packaged food and beverage companies, the International Association of Color Manufacturers and the American Beverage Association.

Jim Coughlin, a nutritional toxicologist who analyzed the research and testified against the bill on behalf of the Consumer Brands Association, said the studies were too inconsistent to convince him that the dyes were harmful.

However, Dr Nigg said that given the scientific uncertainty – and the fact that the colours add no nutritional value to meals – it is prudent to avoid them in schools.

“There is a reasonable suspicion that food dyes may be harmful, at least to some children,” Dr. Nigg said. “So why expose them?”