Artificial Preservative in Foods Linked to Hyperactivity

Are your kids hyperactive? Do they fidget all the time? Then cut out the artificial preservatives, flavorings, colors, and other ingredients in their junk food… and, let’s face it, most of their food IS junk!

Hyper Kids? Cut Out Preservatives

“Parents who suspect that artificial ingredients in food are affecting their children’s behavior can now point to some cold, hard proof. A carefully designed study released Thursday in The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, shows that a variety of common food dyes and the preservative sodium benzoate — an ingredient in many soft drinks, fruit juices, salad dressings and other foods — causes some children to become more hyperactive and distractible than usual. ‘In terms of a question that’s been raging for years, it’s the best study to date — an extremely good study,’ says Dr. Philip Shaw, a research psychiatrist in the Child Psychiatry branch of the National Institute of Mental Health. The study prompted Britain’s Food Standards Agency to issue an immediate advisory to parents to limit their children’s intake of additives if they notice an effect on behavior. In the U.S., there’s been no such official response, but doctors say it makes sense for parents to be on the alert.”