Can what your child eats effect their behavior?
When I was a daycare director I would not allow food with sugar served to the children before noon, yes, believe it or not many day cares and schools feed children cookies, sugar snacks, and sugary cereals in the morning and wonder why the kids are acting “crazy”. Think of all that sugar in OJ and fruit punch!
But have you heard that some researchers are linking food additives to hyper activity or Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? Food coloring and benzoate preservatives are the additives researchers believe can trigger this disorder.
A 2007 study by the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency, the British equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration, found that 8- and 9-year-olds who drank beverages with food dyes were more likely to become hyperactive. Food manufacturers in Britain have been asked to remove six artificial dyes from their products by the end of 2009.
“It’s not that the food dyes are the underlying cause of ADHD or hyperactivity, but if a kid is predisposed to it then the dyes can trigger outbursts and behavioral outbursts,” said Michael Jacobson, Executive Director of the Center For Science In The Public Interest.
Jacobson says research dating back to 1980 has linked food dyes with behavioral problems in children.
Links to additional information:
http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm#dyes
