Food additives and hyperactivity.

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Vol. 116, No. 6 PerspectivesOpen AccessFood Additives and Hyperactivity Bernard Weiss Bernard Weiss Search for more papers by this author Published:1 June 2008https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.11182Cited by:2AboutSectionsPDF ToolsDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InReddit In the December 2007 Forum article on the links between food additives and hyperactivity, Barrett (2007) offered a somewhat distorted perspective on the public health implications of these additives. Barrett described a clinical trial testing the proposition that consumption of a blend of artificial food flavors and sodium benzoate induces changes in children’s behavior (McCann et al. 2007). The results of that study support such a claim.Barrett (2007) fumbled the significance of the trial (McCann et al. 2007) for environmental health. The Forum article emphasized how food additives might contribute to the clinical diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder rather than on the more significant finding that food additives, particularly synthetic colors at levels prevailing in the diet, induce adverse behavioral responses. This is hardly a novel finding. In 1980, such effects were documented in two different groups of subjects with two different experimental designs (Swanson and Kinsbourne 1980; Weiss et al. 1980). Many later publications have confirmed their results. I briefly reviewed the data in Environmental Health Perspectives (Weiss 2000).According to Barrett (2007), a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official, Mike Herndon, maintains that the agency sees “… no reason at this time to change our conclusions that the ingredients that were tested in this study that currently are permitted for food use in the United States are safe for the general population.” This is a rather baffling statement. In fact, our study (Weiss et al. 1980) was funded by the FDA, and its results, along with a number of others from that period, definitively demonstrated adverse behavioral effects of synthetic food colors (Weiss 1982). During the intervening years, with a plethora of confirmations, the FDA has remained blindly obstinate. It continues to shield food additives from testing for neurotoxicity and apparently believes that adverse behavioral responses are not an expression of toxicity.Herndon and the FDA should seriously consider what the late Philip Handler said about balancing risks and benefits:A sensible guide would surely be to reduce exposure to hazard whenever possible, to accept substantial hazard only for great benefit, minor hazard for modest benefit, and no hazard at all when the benefit seems relatively trivial. (Handler 1979)The FDA has never clarified the health benefits of artificial food colors.ReferencesBarrett JR. 2007. Hyperactive ingredients?Environ Health Perspect 115:A57818087571. Link, Google ScholarHandler P. 1979. Some comments on risk. The National Research Council in 1979; Current Issues and StudiesWashington, DCNational Academy of Sciences3-24. Google ScholarMcCann D, Barrett A, Cooper A, Crumpler D, Dalen L, Grimshaw Ket al.. 2007. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 370:1560-156717825405. Crossref, Medline, Google ScholarSwanson JM, Kinsbourne M. 1980. Food dyes impair performance of hyperactive children on a laboratory learning test. Science 207:1485-14877361102. Crossref, Medline, Google ScholarWeiss B. 1982. Food additives and environmental chemicals as sources of childhood behavior disorders. J Am Acad Child Psychiatry 21:144-1527069080. Crossref, Medline, Google ScholarWeiss B. 2000. Vulnerability of children and the developing brain to neurotoxic hazards. Environ Health Perspect 108(suppl 3):375-38110852831. Link, Google ScholarWeiss B, Williams JH, Margen S, Abrams B, Caan B, Citron LJet al.. 1980. Behavioral responses to artificial food colors. Science 207:1487-14897361103. Crossref, Medline, Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited by Beezhold B, Johnston C and Nochta K (2012) Sodium Benzoate–Rich Beverage Consumption is Associated With Increased Reporting of ADHD Symptoms in College Students, Journal of Attention Disorders, 10.1177/1087054712443156, 18:3, (236-241), Online publication date: 1-Apr-2014. Weiss B (2011) Synthetic Food Colors and Neurobehavioral Hazards: The View from Environmental Health Research, Environmental Health Perspectives, 120:1, (1-5), Online publication date: 1-Jan-2012. Vol. 116, No. 6 June 2008Metrics About Article Metrics Publication History Originally published1 June 2008Published in print1 June 2008 Financial disclosuresPDF download License information EHP is an open-access journal published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. All content is public domain unless otherwise noted. Note to readers with disabilities EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. If you need assistance accessing journal content, please contact [email protected]. Our staff will work with you to assess and meet your accessibility needs within 3 working days.