- Artificial colorings and preservatives boost levels of
hyperactivity in pre-school children, and urgent consideration should be
given to removing them, doctors from the University of Southampton announced
May 25.
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- The researchers had just completed the first major study
of the impact of food additives on the behavior of ordinary children. Previous
studies had focused on the worsening of symptoms in hyperactive children,
on the assumption that they were somehow more sensitive.
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- According to the study, published in Archives of Child
Health, the incidence of high levels of hyperactivity was halved when the
additives were removed.
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- The Southampton University team, led by Professor John
Warner, selected 277 children aged three and four on the Isle of Wight
and fed them a carefully controlled diet over four weeks. During the first
week, they ate a strictly additive-free diet, devoid of colorings such
as tartrazine and sunset yellow and the preservative sodium benzoate.
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- In the second week, half the children were given a daily
drink of fruit juice containing colorings and preservatives, while the
other half were given the same drink minus the additives. The experiment
was repeated in the third and fourth weeks and changes in the behavior
of the children were noted by their parents, who did not know which drink
their child had been given.
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- Parents rated their children as significantly less hyperactive
when the additives were removed and markedly more so when they were put
back in. As a result the proportion with the highest level of hyperactivity
fell from 15 per cent to 6 per cent, the authors say.
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- "These findings suggest that significant changes
in children's hyperactive behaviour could be produced by the removal of
artificial colourings and sodium benzoate from their diet," Professor
Warner said, adding that the doses of additives used in the study were
"on the low side of normal," and the effects were observed throughout
the group regardless of allergies or chemical sensitivities.
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- COLORINGS USED IN THE TEST
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- Tartrazine (E102): A synthetic yellow azo dye found in
sodas, ice cream, sweets, chewing gum, jam and yogurt, commonly used in
UK but banned in Norway and Austria.
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- Sunset yellow (E110): Also a synthetic yellow azo dye
which must be heat-treated. Found in orange jelly, apricot jam, hot chocolate
mix, packet soups, canned fish. Banned in Norway and Finland.
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- Carmoisine (E122): A synthetic red azo dye which must
be heat-treated. Used in jams, sweets, sauce, yogurts, jellies and cheesecake
mixes. Banned in Japan, Norway, Sweden and the U.S.
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- Ponceau 4R (E124): Also known as Cochineal Red, a synthetic
red azo dye used in dessert toppings, jelly, salami, seafood dressings,
canned strawberries and fruit pie fillings. Banned in Norway and the U.S.
- PRESERVATIVE USED IN THE TEST
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- Sodium Benzoate (E211): The sodium salt of benzoic acid
used as a food preservative and antiseptic. Found in a wide variety of
processed foods including margarine, pineapple juice, prawns, milk products,
baked goods, lollipops and soft drinks.
- "We were surprised by the results because the effect
was not just in one group," Professor Warner said. "We showed
there was an effect on perfectly normal children. If that is confirmed
by further research then there is a public health issue."
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- A larger, three-year follow-up study is scheduled for
September, funded by the UK's Food Standards Agency.
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