I've written about my four natural children's aversion to food coloring before.
(Dec 2007) - News report: I have not been crazy
Recently a number of people have personally asked me to share my story. I decided to put it all here, in the hopes that it can help others too. Certainly seventeen years later (now that my kids are growing up as successful and capable young people) I have a little more credibility than when I was just "that crazy mom."
Phew... where to begin? Let's start in 1994...
When Kevin was two to three years old, I started to notice that no matter how smart he was, he was easily angered, easily frustrated, and having meltdowns that were more intense than what was developmentally appropriate.
This precocious and precious toddler had a loving stay-at-home mom, was emerged in a language rich environment, educational toys, fresh air, exercise, laughter, socialization, music, art, ... all the things that I learned about when I studied Early Childhood Development in college. Sure, intensity is (still) part of his natural temperament, but my momma-gut knew there was more.
I was completely resistant to the idea for a long while, but finally (to shut people up) I started to manipulate his diet. Thank God that I did.
It’s very important to tell you this … when I first took food dyes away... it seemed like nothing changed. He would still have meltdowns because that was learned behavior. It didn’t dawn on him to have a different reaction because he rarely felt moderately upset over anything. In his entire life experience at that point, MOST things were a BIG freaking deal. It took lots of patience, love, and gentle redirection to re-learn that. (See Positive Discipline for more on loving guidance.)
The important point is that at first, I thought his new “dye-free” diet wasn’t having any effect – and then Kevin went to a birthday party and had colored cupcakes and candy. Holy shit – it made me realize that I had forgotten how bad it could be.
In the years that followed, this pattern would repeat over and over and over with all four kids. We still face it on occasion! The fact is, parents cannot keep kids in a bubble, but you can teach them awareness (more on that in a bit) and get them (mostly) on board.
In 1995, for some dumb-ass reason it hadn’t dawned on me that Dylan would have the same problem as Kevin. Dylan was 2 when I realized that he had the sensitivity too. Our house was dye free but sometimes after he went for playdates, school functions, or parties, Dylan would cry and cry and cry. He was pathetically sad, fearful, and he did lots of self-soothing (hair twirling and thumb sucking) behavior. Again –that was learned behavior. Dylan did that kind of stuff so often that I thought tht it was just part of his personality. Dyan's reaction was so opposite of Kevin’s; it didn’t click at first.
With Colton and Callie – I was hyper aware. They too, had personality changes whenever they ate food dye, but I was looking for it. Colton would get impatient, short-tempered, easily angered and then becomes sad and tearful. Callie (still) is the perfect stereotypical hyperactive banana brain on food coloring. She cannot settle down, she moves constantly (gets clumsy, aka, makes messes) and talks non-stop.
My (non-biological) son, Nick, has no reaction to food coloring. We joke that Nick can eat Skittles until rainbows sprout from his head. It is clearly biological.
Although my four children had/have reactions whenever they ate/eat food dye, I have seen similar traits when they are getting sick, are super stressed out, or very hungry.
SO, YOU THINK YOUR CHILD IS SENSITIVE TO FOOD DYE TOO?
My advice:
Red#___, Yellow#___, and Blue#___ are the ones to avoid. They are usually listed at toward the end of the ingredients list. My kids can eat things colored with annatto, caramel, and carmine and have no reaction. The only exception to the food dye rule (which I don’t understand) is that they can all eat a handful or two of M&M’s with no problem. Ooh.. think of the old slogan, "Melts in your mouth- not in your hands." That brings new questions ... Does it really melt in your mouth, or even in your stomach? Hmmm...
Nah. I'm just going with the conclusion that M&M's are magical. (Oddly mini-M&M's, in the little tube, are bad.)
My best layman’s understanding of the scientific explanation is this:
* Healthy people have a 1:1 ratio of copper and zinc in their body cells.
* When woman are suffering from PMS –their copper levels are higher than normal.
* Since food dyes are petroleum based (yum … pass the jar of Vaseline) our bodies have trouble breaking it down and digesting it. Our body uses zinc to process and eliminate the petroleum.
*Most people can compensate and recover zinc quickly enough that they never knew that their 1:1 ratio was off.
* Some people (like my darling children) have super compensating bodies. Their bodies either dump massive quantities of zinc OR hold onto every drop of copper that it can absorb OR both. That part isn't clear. The fact is that 1:1 ratio goes completely off and until the body can rebalance itself, they feel a lot like a woman with extremely severe PMS. Imagine that feeling inside developing little kids with little developed coping skills.
* Colton wants me to share that it gets better as they get older. They don’t have to be as careful. At the almost-done-growing stage, they still ABSOLUTELY cannot eat a bag of Skittles or Starbursts, but they don’t have as bad a reaction when they eat some yellow cheese with their sandwich, or a few sprinkles get on their ice cream cake. We’re not sure whether their bodies are better at keeping the 1:1 ratio OR that they have accumulated coping skills to overcome mild reactions.
A few more important things that have worked for us over the last 17 years:
“I’m allergic” is so common today that even little kids get that concept pretty easily, so that’s what we normally say to avoid lots of explaination.
When your child has a reaction, don’t be afraid to state sympathetically out loud, “Oh darn. Food dye sure makes you feel terrible.” The next day, when they are better, talk about how yucky food dye made them feel and let them know that you love them no matter what and want to help him/her. It’s not their fault… just like PMS – they can’t help it. Temptation is everywhere and occasionally they will convince themselves that they can have it, and they will eat it, thinking no one will be able to tell. This is not something I suggest that you try to micro-manage. You can't police them their whole life. What worked for us was to help them notice and understand HOW it makes them feel so they will WANT to avoid it.
We came up with a “trade-up” policy. If they went to a birthday party, or got treats in school, or (ugh) Halloween … they traded in their food dye treats for treats that are equal or better – RIGHT AWAY. For instance, if you pick them up from a party and there goody bag is full of candy, pick out the colored crap (they can have the caramel, and the chocolate) and stop on the way home to get something of their choosing instead.
Annoying -- yes.
Expensive – sometimes.
… but it’s WAY better than the alternative. Eventually, they eagerly came to me with their colored crap, usually already knowing what they wanted as a trade up treat.
Read labels, but before long- it just becomes normal to buy certain brands.
Cheese Its – good Cheese Nips – bad
Breyer ice cream – mostly good Sherbets –mostly bad
Peanut Butter Captain Crunch - good Regular Captain Crunch – bad
Cocoa Pebbles – good Fruity Pebbles – bad
Boars Head pickles – good Most others pickles – bad
American Cheese – mostly good Individually wrapped cheese – mostly bad
You get the idea.
WHAT ELSE HAVE WE TRIED?
I took Kevin and Dylan to a place called the Pfeiffer Institute near Chicago in 1997. They did blood, hair, and urine evaluations on them a few times over the next 4 years. They prescribed a holistic approach using supplements. We did that for about 4 years in addition to eating dye-free. The supplements just got too expensive when I became a single mom and moved to NC. I think they have closed now. I wonder since insurance companies don't usually pay for holistic treatments, my guess is the economy just made most people not be able to afford it, like us.
From about 2003-2005, we experimented with the two oldest boys taking enzymes, which helps to break down food in the gut and makes it easier to absorb the proper nutrients. They was no harm in trying it, but I didn't see an enormous change.
It's important to know that just slamming zinc tablets doesn't work. You need other vitamins to support the absorbtion and others to help the body eliminate the copper build-up.
You can probably google "zinc copper imbalance ADHD" or something similar and see what is curently out there. Perhaps there is more current research on it now.
I'm sure there are other treatment out there that could have helped us even more, but digging through the bullshit is hard, time consuming, and expensive. Cuttting out food dyes was the cheapest, easiest and effective choice for my family.
Finally, be prepared. Lots of people will think you are nuts. I will say though, that most people in our lives now only know my kids this (healthy-dye free) way. When people experienced my kids after they "accidentally" ate food dye - the change was so remarkable, that they became total believers in the "allergy."
The Phieffer Institute is alive and well.
Your kids are fortunate to have such a caring mom. Our family has lived such a lifestyle and I see the children following it as adults.
We eliminate more than dyes (Feingold) so many of those brands aren't ok for us and others chemically sensitive.
Thanks for the blog.
Thank you so much for typing it all out for me! Owen has a lot of energy, yes, and his impulse control sucks. But what I've noticed lately that concerns me even more is his anger; it's like he's bipolar! When you were describing Kevin at 3, it was like you were talking about Owen. It's just more than normal, and my "mommy gut" knows it. Owen is on his way to an ADHD diagnosis, which they won't even officially make until he is 6 (1 year from January). I have a feeling that food can improve his behaviors, if not eradicate them. I don't feed my kids crap, like I said, b/c I have always believed that food has a huge influence on kids' behavior. I am now looking specifically for food dyes in the foods that we do buy, where I would not expect it to be. Anyway, I am certainly continuing my research and I will be sharing your blog with others!
From February 27, 2012
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/02/27/food-dyes-suspected-of-causing-behavioral-problems-in-kids/