Food dyes! Oh my!

[gypsy1969]

The health concience folks and folks with children should beware and read this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1103920/Never-mind-sugar-Are-children-poisoned-sweets.html

monica502 has told me that Red dye is bad,

Comments

[cakmpls]

I agree that this is a concern, but I stopped reading this article at "Six commonly used colourings in sweets, soft drinks and even children's medicines have now been proven to cause attention disorder and hyperactivity in children - not just those already prone to such problems, but all children." Note "have been proven" and "all children."

You are right of course

[gypsy1969]

Yes, I actually didn't think there was any link, but according to my friend Monica502 her kid is really really sensitive to red dyes. She will not allow her daughter to have any red, orange or purple candy. She insists that one red jelly bean will turn her daughter E2 into a banshee. I'm not going to test it, but how do you do a double blind test with a parent and kid anyway?

And I know all about bad science. It's amazing how much of it is out there. Of course worse than that is the presses' understanding of the scientific method.

[elisem]

Could just go back to using cochineal as a red coloring for food, I guess. Actually, I think some places still do.

(Hey, I've got a little sack of dried cochineal bugs down with the rest of my dyestuffs.)

[gypsy1969]

Bugs, ick! Seriously, are they a beetle or soemthing? Of course the little girl I know who has the red dye problem might think it was cool to eat bugs.

[lupine52]

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M&M's

"Red candies were eliminated in 1976[7] due to health concerns over the dye amaranth (FD&C Red #2), which was a suspected carcinogen, and were replaced with orange-colored candies (this despite the fact that M&M's did not contain the dye; the action was purely to satisfy worried consumers). By 1987, the public had forgotten the scare, and the red candies were reintroduced, but they also kept the orange colored M&M's. They currently contain Allura Red AC (FD&C Red #40, E129). In Europe, Allura Red AC (E129) is not recommended for consumption by children. It is banned in Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, and Norway.[8] Instead, Cochineal (E120) is used in the red shells."

of course its wikipedia so your welcome to take it with a grain of salt if you want.

[gypsy1969]

You know I think I trust Wikipedia more than most of the mainstream press.