Taking Action on Food Additives and Hyperactivity
Regular readers will remember my recent article concerning food additives and hyperactivity in children.
I have just read that he British Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been accused by campaigners of “chickening out” of banning additives linked to hyperactivity in children even though they funded the research that was published in the Lancet.
After the research was published, the FSA issued updated advice that eliminating the artificial colorings from the diet might have some beneficial effects in hyperactive children.
But critics said it did not go far enough and several environmental and children’s campaign groups, including the National Union of Teachers, called on the watchdog to extend that advice to all children since the additives posed a threat to psychological health.
The FSA responded by saying that the evidence was not strong enough to justify a ban and it would wait for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to make a decision on use of additives in food.
EFSA says that it is considering the research as a matter of urgency and will be making an initial response within the next month.
We shall see what they have to say.
These were the main additives incriminated in the Lancet study:
Sunset yellow (E110) – Coloring found in some drinks
Carmoisine (E122) – Red coloring in jelly
Tartrazine (E102) – New coloring in some frozen and carbonated drinks
Ponceau 4R (E124) – Red coloring
Sodium benzoate (E211) – Preservative
Quinoline yellow (E104) – Food coloring
Allura red AC (E129) – Orange / red food dye
Dr. Richard G. Petty, MD is a world-renowned authority on the brain, and his revolutionary work on human energy systems has been acclaimed around the globe.
He is also an accredited specialist in internal and metabolic medicine, endocrinology, psychiatry, acupuncture and homeopathy. He has been an innovator and leader of the human potential movement for over thirty years and is also an active researcher, teacher, writer, professional speaker and broadcaster. He is the author of five books, including the groundbreaking and best selling CD series Healing, Meaning and Purpose. He has taught in over 45 countries and 48 states in the last ten years, but spends as much time as possible on his horse farm in Georgia.
