Food – Additives = Better Behaved Kids

Food additives make snacks brighter.
(Kids? Not so much.)

Do you dread getting that call about your child acting up in class? Do you suffer alongside your ADHD student at homework time? Schools around the globe have discovered that kids’ behavior and concentration often improve when certain artificial food colorings, preservatives and flavorings are removed from their diet.

FEWER ADDITIVES, LESS FIGHTING

When Palmers Island Primary School in Australia provided additive-free breakfasts to students and sent home booklets with suggestions for lunch and dinner, the pupils became less aggressive and more cooperative. “We found difficult children created much less of a disturbance,” said principal Andrew Bennett, who noticed the changes in three to four days. Families also became more harmonious and reported less fighting among siblings.

And when the staff at Barnabas School in England conducted a two-week trial banning 27 food additives, they noticed a marked improvement in students’ behavior and concentration levels. They also surveyed the parents and found that 30% reported that their children behaved better during the trial. 18% noticed their children slept better. As a result, the school decided to ban all additives from school meals.

Major supermarket chains in the UK have already begun to phase out artificial colorings and flavorings from their store-brand foods and beverages. And another recent report from Australia found that children in daycare who eat highly processed foods are more likely to bully and injure others on the playground.

Jane Hersey, director of the nonprofit Feingold Association, says, “These reports are consistent with the positive changes in students' behavior and learning that we have seen at a number of American schools that have reduced additive-laden junk foods.”

After Central Alternative High School in Wisconsin started an additive-free school lunch program, principal LuAnn Coenen found that instead of the high rate of dropouts, expulsions, drug use and suicides that her school had previously experienced, she was able to enter “zero” in each category in her annual reports to the state.

Kim Anderson, principal of Whitefish Central School in Montana, noticed a "tremendous change" in student behavior after additive-filled candy and soda were removed from the cafeteria and vending machines, as part of an overhaul designed to improve the middle school students' conduct. He found a direct correlation between the amount of pop and candy the students consumed and the amount of disruptive behavior on campus, including a 75% decline in behavioral concerns since the new food program began.

An Australian study by Rowe and Rowe found that 75% of the children with suspected hyperactivity improved on a diet free of artificial food colorings. The researchers noted that the children reacting to the colorings were irritable and restless, and that the younger children's reactions also included “constant crying, tantrums ... and severe sleep disturbance,” as well as being “disruptive,” “easily distracted and excited,” and “out of control.”

A landmark trial by Boris and Mandel of Cornell Medical Center had similar findings, reporting that 73% of children diagnosed with ADHD responded well to a diet eliminating artificial food colors and certain foods.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR KIDS

With approximately 10,000 chemicals being added to food these days, how can parents help their kids avoid the worst additives? “As long as food manufacturers are allowed to add these substances to children's foods, parents need to protect their kids by choosing low-additive foods at the supermarket," says Hersey, who also recommends reading ingredient labels on all processed foods and steering clear of any that list color/number combinations, like Blue No. 2 or Yellow No. 5. She explains that these petroleum-based food dyes have been found to trigger behavior and learning problems in sensitive children. “Real foods have names like ‘wheat’ or ‘corn,’" she said. "Synthetic dyes have numbers like ‘Red 3’–which, by the way, can also be used as a pesticide!”

Hersey also advises parents to avoid certain preservatives, such as BHA, BHT, and TBHQ, because they too can affect children's conduct and ability to concentrate. In addition, Hersey warns parents not to feed their children foods containing artificial flavors or aspartame and to use pure vanilla instead of imitation vanilla (“vanillin”).

Because food manufacturers do not always list these additives on their ingredient labels, the nonprofit Feingold Association (www.feingold.org) publishes food lists, which include thousands of brand-name foods that are free of the unwanted additives, as well as a Fast Food & Restaurant Guide to help parents choose low-additive foods during family outings.

Note: Individual dietary needs vary and no one diet will meet everyone's daily requirements, so it’s always a good idea to check with your doctor or nutritionist before starting any diet.