Food additives increase hyperactivity – new evidence

Artificial food additives have a significant impact on
children’s behaviour, according to a new study.

In a four week trial, 300 children were kept on a diet free from
artificial colours and preservatives. For the second and fourth
week they were given daily fruit juice, some of which had
colourings and preservatives added and some didn’t. The parents did
not know which type of juice their child had been given.

The children’s behaviour was assessed before the study  began
and regularly throughout the study by formal clinical assessment
and by parents’ diaries. Parents reported that their children
became significantly less hyperactive when the artificial colours
and preservatives were withdrawn, and much more hyperactive when
they were put back in.

The  journal Archives of Disease in Childhood reports that for
children with high hyperactivity scores the prevalence was reduced
from 15 to 6 per cent according to parents’ assessment, though all
the effects were seen irrespective of whether the child was
hyperactive or allergic before the study started.

The formal clinical assessments did not reflect the changes, but
the researchers believe parents’ ratings are likely to be more
sensitive than clinical assessment and suggest that removing
tartrazine, sunset yellow and carmoisine colourings, and the
preservative sodium benzoate from food could be in the long term
interests of public health.