On April 16, 2021 the California Office of Environmental Health and Assessment (OEHHA) released a report showing a link between synthetic food dyes and hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral issues in children. According to the report children were placed on dye free diets for several weeks and measured their behavior. The children were then switched to foods containing synthetic dyes and again their behavior was measured. According to the reports the studies demonstrated that some children are more sensitive to the effects of synthetic food dyes. The study also found that the FDA’s current Acceptable Daily Intake levels (ADI’s) for these types of additives were set between 35 and 70 years ago using studies which were not designed to detect these types of behavioral effects. The OEHHA press release, as well as the final report, can be found at: Report Links Synthetic Food Dyes to Hyperactivity and other Neurobehavioral Effects in Children | OEHHA (ca.gov).

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Posted on 11 May 2021