Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Food Dye Frustrations

Those that know our family personally know that we have "issues" with food coloring..specifically the yellows, Red no. 40 and the Lake blue. We discovered the problem...actually the Lord, I am sure led us to it after much prayer, due to some obvious behavior changes/problems in Brianna when she was just about 2. She would probably have been put on medication by now if we had not discovered it. That is another whole story -how we put her on a modified elimination diet etc (it was not difficult to find the problem)...but anyway, that is another story for another time.
This morning, I gave the girls something that we thought was dye free (we check EVERYTHING). Well, at this point I know if they have had dye...especially on an empty stomach. I saw the signs immediately in Anjolie- flushed cheeks, extreme agitation, scattered thinking, hyper, frequent urination..those are just the ones I recognize..and they continue for about 3 days unless she drinks lots of water. My frustration is that the dyes are so widely used without proper education to the public. You can google lots of info on your own if you are interested...but these are toxins that are regulated very closely, yes, but still affect our small children! I don't claim to know that all children don't need some sort of medication due to behavior problems, but I would guarantee from personal experience that at least MANY of them are from all the food coloring we feed them. It breaks my heart that parents don't know...and even scoff at the idea that it could be the red 40, red 3, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1 etc...that could be causing their child's behavior problems. Did you know that Red 40 is specifically 2-NAPHTHALENESULFONIC ACID, 6-HYDROXY-5-((2-
METHOXY-5-METHYL-4-SULFOPHENYL)AZO)-, DISODIUM SALT. It is a coal tar
extract
some are a product of petroleum. And believe me, this is just scratching the surface of the problems I am sure- I wish I knew more! I noticed such an improvement in my children's behavior that I just stopped there. I do plan to do some more prayerful research as well ( I am not an extra-crunchy type or anything either...not that there is anything wrong with that). I just know that nothing will be done about this widespread problem unless concerned parents speak out. I would challenge anyone concerned about this to try it for just one week. Allow 3-4 days for any remaining dye to exit your child's system while drinking plenty of water and then for 1 week do not allow your child to have anything at all containing any of the red, yellow, or blue dyes (those I notice the most). After 1 week, give your child something with red 40 in it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach give it about 15-20 min -(yes, that quickly for a small child). You will be shocked as it is my theory that MOST parents will see a dramatic and sudden behavior change. Now, my children are ages 5 and under, so an older child may start metabolizing these colors better...I don't know-we will see when Brianna gets older. Are my children sin filled and disobediant? Of course, that is not what I am addressing...I am talking about dyes that act like drugs on our children...I will end here, but I just want to Praise the Lord for helping us find this out early without drug intervention. It is worth the effort to try it at least.

7 comments:

Heather said...

Amen Maurice! Thank you for visiting! May I direct you to an excellent blog by my friend's "little mama" husband..."Colorado Cowboy" at www.godswrangler.blogspot.com it is excellent! God Bless you and your family!

Danielle said...

heather- i have a question for you. what are the most common foods with red dye in them? i am not sure how much kim has told you about my children but we adopted three and the were all exposed to meth. our oldest girl has had a lot of medical problems and has, since most of the time we've had her, had some behavioral problems.

when i read this post it made me curious. i wonder if this might be a problem with her.

i will do some research on it also.

thank you

Heather said...

Dani, I believe it affects all children. Omitting the dye would at least help things I am sure. Drs as of yet are not helpful in this area. But you can see more and more companies are making their products dye free..to include medicine. I think it will be a gradual process, and we will find out AFTER the change was made that dyes are harmful...it all boils down to money. Prayerful research will help.

Grafted Branch said...

Melissa M. sent me over. She's right! I really enjoyed the 3 posts I've read.

Thanks for this information. I have a friend that encouraged me to even be careful of dyes in the soaps we put in our largest organ: our skin. It's often hard to find hand soap that hasn't been dyed.

Free In Christ said...

Heather, thanks for the reminder. I really need to take the time and research the dye issue. You know my Austin is a mess. Tonight he was unbelievabley "wild". It is awful for me to see him like this. I'll need to check this out.

Heather said...

Thank you Grafted!! I'm gonna go visit you!! :) Melissa is such a blessing...I hope to meet her in real life along with many of my other blog friends...sisters in Christ. At least I know we will meet one day for sure in Glory!

Anonymous said...

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i told her to get in touch with you.