In the spirit of the upcoming spooky season, Burger King debuted a Halloween Whopper that features a black bun with A.1. sauce cooked into it in addition to the standard Whopper elements.
Pretty patty jokes aside, the burger has some… colorful… consequences. Consumers of the Halloween Whopper reported green-colored waste. Other oddly-dyed foods can have a similar effect and it’s not a big deal. Right?
Wrong. Previous studies utilized single-blind and double-blind trials similar to “drug continuation studies” that placed people on restricted diets and added foods to the diet one by one until the food responsible for effects was isolated (study). Whether or not these studies revealed effects in child activity due to food additives is not clear based on the study text, prompting studies conducted by Southampton University in 2007. Funded by the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency, this study specifically looked for changes in hyperactivity following the consumption of colored foods in three different samples. Two of the three samples involved kids in preschool, and the third sample involved kids between 8-9 years old.
The first sample’s subjects were assessed for hyperactivity using a rating scale and a skin prick test, while the two other samples’ subjects were only assessed for hyperactivity using the rating scale. Hyperactivity is a more controversial term and only using a rating scale to assess the condition compromises the accuracy of these samples. The rating scale, however, was based on the 18 symptoms of ADHD as listed in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Subjects of all samples were given mixed fruit juices that contained different amounts of Artificial Food Coloring (sunset yellow, tartrazine, carmoisine, ponceau 4R, quinoline yellow, and/or allura red AC).
Results were gathered based on feedback from parents and psychologists. More often than not, parents said that hyperactivity increased, even in cases where ADHD was not a factor. All three studies collectively suggested that AFCs result in hyperactivity in children.
Should you steer clear of anything with artificial colors? Based on the study above, no. Hyperactivity, especially in children, is a very relative term. What might seem like a child with a behavioral disorder might just be an energetic child. Other studies, like one conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, suggest that food dyes like Citrus Red 2 and Red 3 cause cancerous tumors. However, the studies conducted by CSPI used mice and rats as their subjects, so there’s little evidence provided here for how that translates to effects on humans. On top of that, test results are worded oddly: “No tumors in the only good study,” “Dosage was likely too low; possible brain and bladder tumors,” “Only mouse study was too brief, used too few mice, and began with 6-week-old mice” (study results). These results are not nearly concrete enough for a nationwide ban on use of these food dyes. Comments on the article that shared this study include anecdotes from people who say that consumption of these food dyes has painful consequences (article). I myself have not had these problems, but more specific trials definitely need to be conducted before the scientific community can reach a verdict on this.
I like that you keep a critical eye thorughout your research and blog. I too would agree that hyperactivity is a very relative term. As a child, I had a lot of energy and was always running around all over the place, but I don’t think this made me hyperactive. According to kid’s health, hyperactivity is a consequence of ADHD, which causes among other things, impulsivity and lack of attention. So just because a child has a lot of energy, that does not make they hyperactive.
It’s really nice that you conduct a lot of researches and express your own thoughts while analyzing the studies. However, I doubt your opinions on the studies conducted by CSPI that used mice and rats as their subjects. Since rats are one of the most common method scientists use to do experiments, like the case we did in class “Are wormy kids stupid?” Researchers used mice to prove that worms impair their ability of solving the spatial task. Other animals are also common, like dogs were trained to smoke and finally the myth of smoking was unveiled. Sometimes it’s unethical to conduct certain experiments on people or scientists cannot find volunteers who like to participate, so they use rats or other kinds of animals.
As to whether food dye should be banned or not, I’m agree with you that we need further studies to substantiate the point. Yet I think we should be aware of the problem and take it into consideration when consuming food, since at least we have found some evidence that food dye may affect our nerves. For instance, the studies you mention in the blog that prove AFCs result in hyperactivity in children. Also, I found a study concludes that “At concentrations of 10 muM or greater this anionic dye produced an irreversible, dose-dependent increase in neurotransmitter release, and its use as a food additive should be reexamined.” So concerning of our own health, be careful of the attractive food dye, and I don’t think I’ll try the “black burger” that Burger King launched…
Food coloring is banned in most European countries, yet there are no laws that ban food coloring. Like you mentioned in your blog, the studies that are done are simply not done well enough to prove anything. However, their is strong evidence that food coloring and food dye can have a negative impact on a human’s health. I found a great piece on this topic and thought you might be interested. Hope you enjoy and great job examining this topic.