Cutting Out Artificial Coloring

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Oh, Wyatt. My son Wyatt is everything — everything BUT quiet. He’s sweet and spunky, smart and adventurous, busy and active, loud and energetic. He’s our daredevil.

We knew after a year that he would be the complete opposite from our very cautious first son, Owen.

Imagine this. At top volume. All day.
Imagine this. At top volume. All day.

By 2 years old, I knew Wyatt would be a true blue Terrible Two, and I was OK with that. Then he started running in nonstop circles around the living room; he stopped learning and communicating, and started loudly disobeying. He stopped participating at preschool and started acting out. He fought going to sleep every night and always crawled in our bed in the wee hours of the night.

I couldn’t go to the gym because he would cry and scream as soon as we turned into the parking lot (and it had nothing to do with the childcare, because he would do the same thing at Walmart). He constantly ran away from me in parking lots, stores and parks.

He was becoming extremely difficult, but I just assumed that was Wyatt’s personality and I blamed inconsistent parenting.

And then the boys’ aunt came to visit. She is the best aunt I could ask for, and she loves them to bunches. At the beginning of her visit, she made a comment about wanting to take the baby home with her. I replied “No, but you can take Wyatt home.” She looked at me like I was the worst mother on earth. But after a day or two of him running and hopping in constant circles, his yelling and incessant crying, and his downright bad behavior, she was singing a different tune.

More comments from family about “getting him under control” and “putting him on meds” made me start thinking: Maybe it was more than just a difficult personality and bad parenting skills. I didn’t want to just feed my kids ADHD meds without trying other options first. I had been told of the effects artificial coloring can have on children, but I never put two and two together that it might be affecting MY children. So, I decided to try taking artificial coloring out of his diet. If it didn’t work, there is no harm taking something artificial out of the kids’ bodies.

The basics

Honestly, I’m still learning about the topic. Most of what I know is from friends who’ve talked about issues they’ve had with their children and how taking out artificial coloring (I’ll call it AC) has made a world of difference.

They look pretty, but should you eat them?
They look pretty, but should you eat them?

The basics are simple. Red #40 is the most widely used and consumed dye. It can cause allergy-like reactions and hyperactivity in some consumers. Along with being in numerous foods and drinks, it can also be found in cosmetics, drugs, soaps and shampoos.

Yellow #5 is also widely used and can cause hyperactive behavior in children. It can also be found in cosmetics and pet food.

Blue #1  has been linked to kidney tumors in mice. These are the three most popular FDA-approved food dyes; they can be found not only in food and drinks but also in vitamins, cough medicine, tooth paste, laundry detergent, soaps and moisturizers.

What is concerning to me is a U.K study has shown that artificial colors can contribute to hyperactivity. Red #40 and Yellow #5 were among those examined in the study at the University of Southampton; others include Yellow #6, Ponceau 4R (E124), Quinoline Yellow (E104), and Carmoisine (E102). Foods containing these colors must include a warning label, and many manufacturers have phased them out voluntarily.

According to a post at allergykids.com, “U.K. branches of Wal-Mart, Kraft, Coca Cola and the Mars candy company (who make M&Ms), have voluntarily removed artificial colors, the preservative sodium benzoate, and even aspartame from their products. Particularly those marketed to kids.”

In the U.S., however, the FDA feels restrictions are not necessary.

Making the change

When I made the decision to cut out AC from Wyatt’s diet, I simply stopped giving it to him. Cold turkey. I continued to give our oldest son AC foods that we already had in our pantry until we ran out, and then I cut it out of his diet as well. For our family, it wasn’t too difficult, but if I were to do it again (and didn’t mind being wasteful) I would have just thrown it all out in the beginning.

Now I just make sure to read the labels on all the food we buy. Red #40, Yellow #5, Blue #1 and the others can usually be found at the bottom of the ingredients list. It only took a few shopping trips to know which brands were safe and which to stay away from.

When we are out and about, we steer clear of things unnaturally colored, and I try to remember our own snacks when we go places I expect will not have naturally colored foods.

Go homemade

I have started making more of our snack and baked goods from scratch. This way, I know exactly what is entering my kids’ systems. My husband has surprisingly been right on board. I thought I was going to have to pull him kicking and screaming onto the band wagon.

No surprise here: Froot Loops contain plenty of artificial colors.
No surprise here: Froot Loops contain plenty of artificial colors. Sadly, there’s no homemade version — yet.

One of the shocker foods that has AC is Pillsbury’s Grands! Butter Tastin Biscuits: They contain Yellow #5 and Red #40. (Red food coloring. Really?????) We were heartbroken — we eat them every weekend.

But we were committed to a change, and the very weekend we kicked out AC, my husband made biscuits from scratch. They were flat and slightly edible, but I loved the fact that he was involving himself in the process.  He’s made biscuits three more times, and each time was better than the last.

One of the biggest things I have taken out of Wyatt’s diet is juice boxes. None of my kids had juice before they were 1, and it was always limited and watered down after the age of one (even for my 5-year-old). For several months before cutting out AC, I had gotten lazy and was giving them more than one juice box a day — Kool Aid Jammers specifically, because they are always cheap and on sale. And yes, they have AC. I have gone back to limiting the boys’ juice intake, and I now buy juice pouches that have no AC. I have even started making homemade lemonade, and I will never go back to that powdered stuff.

Pitfalls and slipups

A roadblock I’m not sure how I will handle is birthday parties. There are sure to be many birthday parties in our future, and I don’t want the boys to miss out. Am I supposed to bring their own little treat? Or teach them that some foods have yucky stuff in them and just deprive them of cake? “A little cake won’t hurt them,” people will say…

But according to other moms who’ve fought this battle, a little cake will hurt them. “My son gets wired,” says West Columbia mom Malorie White. “His behavior and moods becomes out of control. My daughter, she will break out with a rash, have severe constipation followed by diarrhea, severe stomach pains that prevent her from sleeping that night, from just a little cake.”

I can say that my boys have had a lot of diarrhea lately, and I am pretty confident in thinking it is from having AC out of their system and then having a slipup. Owen had one really rough night with bad stomach pains along with diarrhea. No fun. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what he had to eat or drink and I am only assuming it was caused by the coloring. But it really gets you thinking though about what AC does to our bodies. I am ashamed to say I haven’t cut it out of my diet (yet). If I don’t want my kids eating it, I shouldn’t eat it either, right?

A change for the better

So, the journey on taking out AC from the boys’ diet has been a pretty successful one. We have had some slipups and some upset tummies, but one big win: Wyatt’s behavior went from crazy-uncontrollable difficulty to a manageable 3-year-old difficulty within days. His teachers even made comments on his new participation in class and a lessening of circle running.

We hadn’t realized how little Wyatt was communicating and learning until after we cut the coloring out. His speech has improved and his sleep has become more manageable. I have been able to go back to the gym and other stores without him screaming, and he has been listening much better in parking lots and playgrounds. He is still 3: learning boundaries, being defiant, fighting with his bigger brother. But it is so much more manageable then before.

The FDA may not think it’s necessary to take AC out of our stores, but I feel it should be taken out of our home.

Do you have any other advice for me and other parents trying to cut out AC? Any foods you would like to mention that do or do NOT have artificial colors?

 

QUIZ TIME: Look at the pictures and see if you can guess which foods have artificial colors and which ones are AC-free (hint: each collage has both kinds of food).

AC-breakfast1
1. No artificial colors 2.With artificial colors 3. With artificial colors 4. No artificial colors
AC-cans1
1. With artificial colors 2. No artificial colors
AC-dessert1
1. No artificial colors 2. With artificial colors 3. With artificial colors 4. With artificial colors
AC-drinks1
1. With artificial colors 2. With artificial colors       3. No artificial colors
AC-mac1
Only #3 has no artificial colors. It is strange that the character Kraft Mac & Cheese doesn’t have artificial coloring when the regular pasta does.
AC-snacks1
Everything except the Mott’s fruit snacks has artificial coloring.

5 COMMENTS

  1. The journey you are taking for your boys sounds similar to the eating life style I have chosen, “Clean Eating”. It truly is amazing what our bodies will tolerate but we dont notice the difference until we take something out of our diet! I too notice uncomfortable consequences from back tracking to non clean food. Good for you!

  2. Sarah, I couldn’t be prouder of you. What a wonderful daughter, mother, wife, and woman you are. Love you, Mom

  3. This is a really great post. It is a topic I have just recently become aware of. Well, I had heard that CA was bad, but I didn’t know why. Then a friend told me red dye had made her very hyper as a child. My son has similar behavior issues, so I have recently decided to cut out CA from our diets too. You are right. It is tough! I think you should write a follow up post with some of your best snack ideas for CA free snacks!

  4. This is such a helpful post!! My 4 year old son has many of the behaviors that you described in your son, and I have thought about cutting AC out of his diet for awhile now. Thanks so much for the information!!

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