The Invasion of the Red Dye 40 Brain Snatchers
My brain has been off for the last couple weeks. I’ve been depressed. Anxious. Paranoid. I’ve been having panic attacks. I blamed it on overeating when my in-laws were in town. (They took us out to dinner several times and it was delicious!) I blamed it on eating sugar—I don’t usually eat much of it, but we had ice cream in the house… and the rest is history. I blamed it on chocolate, which I usually only eat once a week, but had splurged and eaten it for three days.
Then I figured it out.
I read the label on the back of some potato chips that I had been doling out to myself in small portions for the past two weeks. My pale yellow potato chips had Red 40 in them.
Our family had fallen victim to the invasion of the Red Dye 40 brain snatchers.
I do not react well to Red 40. If I eat it, I get really angry. It usually happens the day after I eat the exquisite, mouthwatering, scrumptious Nacho Cheese Doritos. When I eat that fine ambrosia, symptoms ensue. Usually I’m careful, but not this time. After all, who would think there was Red 40 in sour cream and onion chips? I had eaten them every day for two weeks.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, side effects from Red 40 can include hyperactivity and other ADHD symptoms, irritability, depression, hives, asthma, sneezing and other allergy symptoms, skin irritation, and migraines. The New York Post says that Red 40 can be a factor in gut diseases as well. My daughter who has ADHD gets worsening symptoms, including restless leg syndrome, if she eats it.
In fact, Red 40 is banned in most of Europe.
Other food dyes can potentially be harmful as well, including Red 3, Yellow 5 & 6, Blue 1, and others. A study from 2012 reveals that many food dyes are potential carcinogens or contain them. The authors of the study recommend that “all of the currently used dyes should be removed from the food supply and replaced, if at all, by safer colorings.”
It is difficult to say no to processed foods, especially in a culture where food is used as for celebration, reward, and comfort. How do you say no when your child’s team wins, and the reward is a sugary treat full of food dyes? How do you say no when your child is at a birthday party and there is a pink cake? How do you say no when…. Nacho Cheese Doritos? I mean, come on!
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