The Effects of Artificial Food Dyes: Dr. Rebecca Bevans (Transcript)

Here is the full transcript of Professor Dr. Rebecca Bevans’s talk titled “The Effects of Artificial Food Dyes” at TEDxCarsonCity 2016 conference.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

The Journey of a Mother

Imagine holding your brand new baby. The awe and joy of that moment, all you can think of are the wonderful possibilities of their future. And then, seven years later, you’re looking into the screaming, crying face of a seven-year-old who tells you that he just wants to die. What would you do?

I have three degrees in psychology, am a professor and a researcher, and I felt helpless. I knew I had to look for answers. His life depended on it. In 2005, I gave birth to our son. He was a happy, healthy, easy-going baby. He became a curious infant who developed into a fun and inquisitive toddler. He was full of life, and he loved everyone.

By the time he was three, he was energetic, enthusiastic, and into everything. Our nickname for him was our “crazed lunatic monkey.” We thought that’s just who he was, constantly on the go, into everything and all over the place. His self-esteem was fantastic, and he had a ton of confidence. He was so excited to go to school.

The First Signs

During the second week of kindergarten, his teacher pulled me aside and suggested that he had ADHD. I was shocked. His preschool never said anything like that. I mean, yes, he was interested in a lot of things, and yes, he was enthusiastic.

But ADHD? And why did it seem like he only had ADHD on some days? His doctor disagreed. He said, “He’s just a very bright boy,” and I’m grateful that his doctor did not try to medicate him.

In second grade, he started having problems.

He had a hard time concentrating. One day I looked at him and said, “Do your best to focus.” And he said, “I can’t concentrate, Mom. My brain buzzes.” Brain buzzes?

I have a PhD in cognitive neuroscience. If I learned anything in college, it’s that brains are not supposed to buzz.

The Search for Answers

So I started looking for answers. I searched the textbooks, scientific research articles, and I scoured the internet. And I found articles on the artificial food dye Red 40 and how it caused hyperactivity in some children. I found story after story about how Red 40 caused ADHD-like symptoms in some kids. It made them hyper, impulsive, disruptive in class, and caused brain buzzing.

So I thought, aha, it’s the Red 40. And we pulled everything with Red 40 in it from our diet. And the brain buzzing stopped. But we let him consume other foods with other artificial dyes like Yellow 5 and 6, Green 3, Blue 1. In hindsight, I don’t know why we thought those were safe when Red 40 wasn’t. Maybe we couldn’t imagine pulling everything with artificial food dyes from our home and our diet.

That meant no more colored cupcakes, no more cheesy yellow chips, no pickles, no candies, no colored breakfast cereals. You see, artificial food dyes are in many of the processed foods that we eat.

Understanding Artificial Food Dyes

Maybe we just couldn’t imagine taking away foods that kids enjoy in their childhood. Now, I bet many of you are wondering, what are artificial food dyes? Well, they are a set of chemicals that are added to our food to enhance the color and appearance. They are man-made, petroleum-based, and banned in many countries. They provide no nutritional value, and many have been linked to cancer.

And now I know. Many of you are thinking, “Oh, then why are they in our food?” Well, because we Americans, we like our brightly colored, shiny stuff. And this includes our food. So, now that he wasn’t eating red things, he turned to yellow things. Cheesy yellow chips, yellow candies, pineapple syrup on shaved ice in Hawaii. You name it, if it was yellow, it was okay.

Then, seven months after the removal of Red 40, we have a new problem. He’s having emotional meltdowns and temper tantrums, the likes of which I had never seen.

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The Escalation

He would get upset over the littlest things. These temper tantrums turned into, they got more intense and more frequent. I’d ask him to turn off the TV, and he would break down and cry. And the crying would turn into anger, and this anger would turn into a full-blown emotional fit.

He would scratch at himself. He would shred at his clothes. He would swing on me. He would scream. And eventually, it would lead to him begging, “Mom, just get me a knife so I can kill myself. I just want to die.” We couldn’t believe it. We had a suicidal seven-year-old. And all I could think of was if this continued, by the time he hit puberty, we would lose him.

The Breakthrough

We were wondering what was happening to our sweet boy. So I searched the textbooks, the articles, the internet. I searched and searched. And I found one article on Yellow 5 and how it caused irritation in kids.

I found more articles and anecdotal evidence of other dyes, like Yellow 5 and 6, causing emotional disruptions in children. So we thought, all right, that’s it. No more artificially colored food. No cheesy yellow chips. No artificial colored drinks, breakfast cereals. If it was naturally colored, it was okay. And we started living our life dye-free. And I was not ready for what happened next.

That poor kid crashed like an addict coming off of drugs. He slept a lot. He would get up in the morning and he’d go lay back down on the couch.

The Recovery Process

He was so tired. And he craved milk and cheese. He would have eaten an eight-ounce brick of cheese in one sitting if we let him. And he was sore. For the first week, it hurt his body to be touched. He ached. He ate and slept. His body was starved and it was finally beginning to recover.

After a few weeks, he became more active and he tried playing with the neighborhood kids. But his stamina was so low that he could only play for five or ten minutes before he ran out of steam. It took three months for him to recover physically enough to play with the neighborhood kids.

It took six months for him to recover enough to where he was back to himself, the self we had only glimpsed over the years. For most of his life, he was a pretty thin kid. You could see his ribs through his shirt.

Physical Changes

Before removing artificial dyes that previous year, he only gained six pounds that whole year. After we removed artificial food dyes, he gained six pounds in six weeks. The rest of the year, he gained another ten for a total of sixteen pounds.

He was fit and healthy and it was obvious that the dyes were causing some physical metabolic disruptions as well as psychological reactions. As we looked, we found, oh, you know, I forgot the best part. The best part was that just days after we removed the dyes from his diet, the emotional fits completely stopped. To this day, he’s never again said he wanted to kill himself.

Now, there have been times where we have had accidental and not so accidental times where he’s ingested dyes. About seven months after living dye-free, we were eating at our favorite local Thai restaurant and he wanted green tea ice cream, but it contained Green 3.

Testing the Effects

Well, we had never tested green and he tried to convince me that it would have no effect on him. Being the researcher that I am, I said, “Sure, it’s Friday, let’s give it a shot.” Well, by the time we got home, he was bouncing off the walls. He was manic, hyper, euphoric, and up until midnight. Needless to say, he won’t be eating green again.

Once we were on our way to a play in Los Angeles and he was offered a mint and it contained Blue 1. Again, he tried to convince me that blue had no effect on him. An hour later, he was moody, grumpy, tired, and irritable. He will not be eating blue again. Last year, he had had a really rough week. He got in trouble at home, at school, and even at theater rehearsal. We were at our wit’s end.

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The Hidden Culprit

I was so frustrated. I just wanted to blame him for acting up. But his behavior wasn’t normal, so I took a step back and I looked at what he was eating.

Now, I know he’s not eating anything behind our backs. He’s more cautious than we are. He reads everything. He knows what dyes feel like and he avoids them vehemently.

So I started looking at the not so obvious stuff and that’s when the bagel on the counter caught my eye. It was from the bakery at a local grocery store. It was an egg bagel and it had a yellow tint. I thought, don’t all bagels have egg in them? Why is this one yellow? So I called. Sure enough, they contain Yellow 5 and 6.

Understanding the Effects

He had been eating them twice a week for three weeks. That’s all it took. See, each dye affects him differently. Red makes him hyper, gives him migraines, and causes brain buzzing. The behaviors resemble ADHD and the effects last about two days.

Green makes him manic, hyper, and euphoric. The behaviors resemble bipolar disorder and a manic phase. And the effects last less than a day. Blue makes him tired, moody, and grumpy. There’s no disorder for that yet. But the effects last about a day.

Yellow is sneakier. Yellow intensifies emotions, increases anxiety, increases agitation, aggravation, and defiance, leading to violent outbursts and thoughts of suicide. The behaviors resemble oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. And the effects last five days.

The Prevalence of Dyes

As we looked, we found that dyes are in many things. Go to any kid’s party and they’re everywhere. You see? Our country likes our bright and shiny stuff. But at what cost? The health of our children’s bodies and minds?

Now, I know, some of you might be thinking, maybe dyes only affect your kid. And I wish that was the case. Then I wouldn’t need to be standing here telling all of you our story. Now, I know all children are not affected. But many are.

The Statistics

Currently, 7.5% of children are on some sort of prescription medication for emotional and behavioral difficulties. 11% of children have been diagnosed with ADHD. 4% of children between the ages of 9 and 17 will develop conduct disorder. And 10% of all kids will be diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder.

Doctors and researchers still have no cause as to this disorder. They think it might be environmental and genetic. So, even if 1% of all the children under the age of 18 are affected by food dyes, that’s still almost 1 million kids. One million. Now, I know our son is not alone.

I have had students and friends remove their children and grandchildren from artificial food dyes. From their diet. They too have reported amazing success and behavioral changes in these kids.

The Impact on Children

Even the kids notice a difference. I had a doctor tell me once that he wonders just how many kids are on medications when in fact they’re having a reaction to artificial food dyes. Ironically most medications for behavioral problems contain artificial food dyes. And all it takes is living two weeks dye-free. That’s it. Just two weeks and you’ll know if your child is food dye intolerant.

Any child with emotional disruption should be checked for a food dye intolerance. Be aware. Food dyes are in processed foods both obvious and hidden. From restaurant food, theater popcorn, medications both prescription and over-the-counter, mouthwash, toothpaste, fluoride treatments at the dentist’s office, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, the list goes on. However, there are plenty of brands that don’t contain dyes.

Living Dye-Free

Our house is full of every food and over-the-counter medication we could possibly need. And they’re all dye-free. It just takes reading the label and looking at the ingredients list.

One day we were at the supermarket, son’s at the other end of the aisle and he’s reading the ingredients on a bag of snacks. And he yells down to me, “Mom, these don’t contain artificial food dyes, can we get them?” I watched as the rest of the shoppers immediately looked down at what they had in their hands, started reading the ingredients.

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It’s that easy, just read. Now I know some of you are thinking that this sounds so hard. It’s not. It takes some getting used to, but it’s not the end of the world. And it’s worth it. The kids are worth it.

The Worth of the Effort

Their sanity and yours is worth it. Any child with emotional disruption should be checked for an artificial food dye intolerance. Our son lives a very happy and fulfilling life without eating artificial dyes. He eats out, has cake, has chips and snacks in his school lunch. He doesn’t go without. More importantly, he’s not suffering anymore.

He’s just a kid that has to avoid some foods, like others with different food allergies. I bet many of you are wondering, how do you remove artificial dyes from your children or grandchildren’s diet? Well, you start by reading what you have at home. Look at the labels and look at the ingredients list. As you run out of products that contain dyes, replace them with brands that don’t. Natural dyes are okay.

Steps to Remove Artificial Dyes

Replace their lipstick, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioner with dye-free items. Explain to your kids, once the house, oh, be sure to remove any dye-filled tempting candies and snacks from their home and their environment. The obvious first.

Once your house is dye-free, explain to the kids that you’re all going to try a little experiment. That everyone, including you, are not going to eat anything with artificial food dyes for two weeks. Tell them you want to see if everyone feels different.

Next, send a note to his or her teacher informing them that they are to eat no foods that contain artificial food dyes. Every teacher I’ve met has been fantastic about following this wish. Next, inform the extended family that the kids are to receive no foods with artificial food dyes in them.

Tell them that this is a test and that you need their cooperation. Honestly, this could be the most difficult part of the process. For some reason, family can be the most difficult to get on board.

Observing the Results

Just explain that it’s a test. It may only be for two weeks and that it’s really important. Last, sit back and watch your child’s behavior. See if their behavior changes. See if the disruptions slow and cease. They are still kids.

They will still act up. But the intensity of the disruptions should be minimal. If you see no change in their behavior, then you can assume that they’re not affected by dyes and you can go back to your normal diet if you choose. If they are affected by dyes, you will see a difference in their behavior within five to seven days. More importantly, they will feel a difference. I know.

A Call to Action

I’m a professor. I teach psychology. I have three degrees in psychology. I’m a researcher. But I’m also a mom. We removed artificial food dyes from our child’s life. And so can you. Now it’s your turn. It’s time for you to make a decision.

Can you start paying attention to what’s in the food that you’re feeding to your family? Can you remove artificial food dyes from their diet? Can you help your family live dye-free?

It just might save a child’s life. Like his. Thank you.