Expert explains correlation between synthetic food dyes and child behaviors

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Finding healthy snacks for kids at your local grocery store is proven to be expensive and can come with some challenges.

Most snacks often come in fun, bright colors, which are made possible by food dyes.

Synthetic, or artificial, food dyes are used to give snacks, like Froot Loops, their bright and fun colors.

Dyes commonly seen in your grocery cart or pantry can be red 40, yellow 5 or blue 1.

These dyes, at times, feel unavoidable, especially for parents whose kids may want something new at lunch.

Ingesting food dyes has been proven to have negative impacts, including behavior-altering symptoms in children.

A study conducted by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment examined children exposed to synthetic dyes.

During the study, 25 out of 27 clinical trials were "challenge studies", exposing children to synthetic food dyes.

Out of the 25 challenge studies, 64% identified evidence of a positive association or an increase in behaviors with the ingestion of food dye.

In 52% of the studies, the association was statistically significant.

Michigan State Professor Jamie Alan, who specializes in pharmacology and toxicology, said multiple symptoms occur when children ingest synthetic dyes.

“They exhibit ADHD-like symptoms, and I'll be very clear, it is not ADHD, but they can have hyperactivity. They can, you know, get a little grumpy, and that can interfere with learning," said Alan.

Although food dyes are associated with ADHD-like symptoms, Alan said it's hard to pinpoint if the big issue is the dyes or the sugar, considering most kid-targeted snacks contain both.

“One of the very easy things you can do is start looking for these foods that have natural food dyes. And many of them are starting to advertise that," said Alan.

Alan said natural food dyes are a better alternative, but are more prominent in places like the United Kingdom. 

Snacks like Doritos and Pop-Tarts in the United States often have these synthetic food dyes like Yellow 6, Yellow 5 and Red 40, as opposed to their overseas counterparts in the United Kingdom.

Luckily, these synthetic dyes are seemingly being phased out.

Tune in to News-Press NOW at 5 p.m. on Thursday for this Special Report.