Some Possible Effects of Artificial Dyes in Food | FD&C Red 40 | FD&C Yellow 5
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One of the important reasons I talk about estrogenics is our kids. There's a disturbing trend downward in the age of puberty around the world. Probably the best indicator of the onset of puberty in girls is breast development rather than the first period, but the mean age for that is younger in the more developed countries like the U.S. where it's about nine and a half years old than it is, say, in Africa where it's about eleven and a half years old. But they found that every decade from 1977 to 2013, the onset of puberty happened three months earlier, and the age is dropping in boys too.
So that means earlier changes to their bodies, curiosity, interest in sex, hormone-driven risky behaviors, a shortened childhood, really, they're not ready for this. You ready to have your grammar school kid turn into a brooding teenager, like overnight? Not to mention adverse health issues like increased incidence of depression, increased likelihood of teenage, well, forget teenage pregnancy, this could be pediatric pregnancy. They already have precious little life experience as a kid before they get the power to make another kid. This isn't a good trend. What is going on here?
I'm sure there are several contributing factors to this new kiddie puberty, but let's focus in on one. And I'm going to suggest it could be you feeding it to them, but that's great because it means if you're the one doing it, you can change it. Don't have to wait for somebody else. Let's talk about food dyes.
Do you know what tartrazine is? It's also called FD&C yellow five, yellow lake five, food yellow four, or acid yellow 23. It's all the same product. It's been classified as a xenoestrogen, strongly estrogenic. And, imagine that, in a well-done study it causes early puberty in rats. Nobody's going to do studies with this on kids. There's a little ethical problem there, so rats might be as close as we get. So let's just avoid it. What's it in? If it's a yellow or green food or candy, it's probably there. But it's also in bar soaps, liquid hand soaps, lotions and hand sanitizers, hair care products, mouthwashes, ice cream, Mountain Dew, sports drinks, cosmetics, even OTC and prescription drugs! Ask your pharmacist if there are food dyes in your prescription. If there are, tell them you want another brand. Don't buy this stuff.
Who eats gummy bears? My hand slowly goes up. I've been watching a slow (like a sloth) migration in the gummy world away from artificial colors to natural things like beet juice and turmeric. One brand after another. It warms my little hormone heart. Quit buying this stuff and they'll make what you buy!
Now, let me warn you. You gotta be smart when your scampering through PubMed looking at abstracts and studies. There was a nice, big review and assessment published in 2021 in the Food and Chemical Toxicology Journal evaluating the potential for neurobehavioral effects following exposure to FDA approved food colors. The results indicate a lack of adequate or consistent evidence of neurological effects. And if you look real carefully at the very end of the full-text article, the study was supported by the American Beverage Association,!! who was "given the opportunity to review the draft manuscript to provide input regarding the clarity of the science presented." They might have a little trouble being objective here. They kinda have a dog in this fight. I'm not saying we just discard research with outcomes we don't like. That is NOT the way science works. If evidence is produced that is contrary to my take on something, I'll change my position. I'll have to! You can't take a position, then spend the rest of your career only looking for ways to confirm it. You've got to take truth as it comes. good, bad, or ugly. Expected or unexpected. I'm also skeptical of environmental groups who fund research because they definitely have an outcome they're hoping to find. It tends to align with my current understanding on estrogenics, so I'm extra careful to avoid going easy on them. You always have to follow the money trail and see if the authors can really be objective before deciding what you're going to do with their conclusions. It's a war zone in the medical literature field. Let me tell you.
All artificial food dyes have safety issues. But we need to talk about FD&C Red #40, because you'll see it in everything. It's a known hormone disruptor and makes kids hyperactive. But there really aren't a lot of studies out there about the safety of ANY artificial colors. And I have concerns about that, considering the fact that in a recent study, they counted all the food items in a typical grocery store that were marketed to children, anything edible--even toothpaste. 810 items! And 43% contained artificial colors, 30% had Red #40. 96% of candies had dye in them, 78% had Red #40.
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