Artificial Food Dyes

Much like high fructose corn syrup, many of the packaged foods found on U.S. shelves today contain artificial coloring.  Candy, Dor.itos, cheese curls, cheese, juice, cookies, yogurt and much more.  The artificial coloring serves no purpose other than to enhance the the appearance of the food we buy...to make it look the way we think it should look.  For most of the last decade, there has been much public and scientific banter regarding artificial food dyes, primarily red #40, yellow #5 and #6 and blue #1.  There has been much speculation about the connection between artificial dyes and numerous health issues, including cancer, autism spectrum disorders and ADHD.

In 2010 the European Union mandated that foods containing artificial dyes have warning messages on the labels.  Over the last week, the FDA announce that perhaps the concerns regarding these artificial dyes just might be founded after all.  They have released statements indicating that artificial dyes "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children."  Funny...that's the same quote found in the article (above) regarding the European Union's 2010 decision.  Perhaps the folks at the FDA are getting caught up on their reading...  Perhaps, within the next few years, we may see a step toward making the food on our shelves a little safer.  While it would be nice to see a ban on the artificial colors, mandated label warnings would be a nice start.