A couple of months ago, my sweet parents gave my son a Sunkist Orange soda and he was completely hyped up that night, which made for a miserable evening for the rest of us. My parents were then told to never under any circumstances give him that soda again. (It has caffeine in it apparently and we don't give our kiddos caffeine. Mommy can't live without it, but not for the kids.) Anyway, this past weekend, our son had a Cherry 7Up and had the same reaction. We were on our way home from East Texas and he didn't stop chattering or moving for the first two hours we were in the car. I knew that there had to be something in common with these two drinks, so my sister-in-law looked it up for me while I was talking to her on the phone today. She found that the most probable culprit is red dye #40. So, I swagged it (http://swagbucks.com/refer/GraceisSufficient) and I found a great site that detailed reactions people have with this dye and foods that it is found in etc. The link is: http://www.red40.com/
And, apparently TONS of food that we personally consume have this dye in it. From obvious things like fruit snacks, colored cereals like Trix, and these sodas to not so obvious things like pudding, Nacho Cheese Doritos and Hamburger Helper. Luckily, I have never seen a reaction in my son with any food items other than the two sodas mentioned above. However, there are so many symptoms that people have found like hyperactivity, inability to sit still or concentrate, crying, screaming, aggressive behavior etc. Perhaps he does have these symptoms but they aren't off the charts like when he has the sodas. I'm not sure--we are going to try some observatory testing on him at home to see what we notice etc.
So, my question to you is have you ever encountered this or experienced it? Do you have tips or advice? It's a little overwhelming looking at all the food that has red 40 in it! We will continue to pray for guidance on this matter, but I look forward to hearing from anyone who has information on this! Thanks!
Ciao,
J
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This is a serious problem and I think it needs to be regulated more, these additives and artificial junk can't be good for us or our kids to eat. Squid is very sensitive to stuff also
ReplyDeleteJuicy Juice is about the only juice that doesn't have red dye that we've found. My sister did a lot of research a few years ago about red dye and found that the higher on the list of ingredients the more red dye there was and the bigger the affect on her kids. Even jello has red dye - orange or lime jello !!!!
ReplyDeleteOMG Jenn!!! THAT IS CRAZY!! The information that comes from you and your sister in law is amazing.....you 2 girls are such a wealth of knowledge!! I am going to check the stuff in my pantry and keep an eye on my son...he tends to be a lil hyeractive sometimes and i wonder if that could be it?? Hmm..you have definitely given me something to think about!!
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