Time for Dye to Die

I am starting to write a book about artificial food dyes. I decided to give you all a little sample of the book. I'm honestly not sure when (or if) it will ever be finished, it is a work in progress.

Chapter One - crayons are not edible

Contrary to popular belief (among very young children), crayons are not edible. As educated non-toddlers, you all probably know that. But let’s take the place of a toddler’s mother right now – why wouldn’t you want your kids to put crayons in their mouths?

If I were a toddler’s mom, I wouldn’t want my child putting crayons in his mouth because I wouldn’t want that dye that colors the crayons in their mouths. After all, it’s a chemical, right?

The dye Yellow 5 or Tartrazine is used to color crayons yellow. Tartrazine is used in nail polishes, hair products, some medicines, and also… food! Think about that – the same yellow dye used in some crayons is the dye used to color some of your favorite snack foods: cotton candy, flavored corn chips, sports drinks, some pickles, and many other foods that are on the average American’s daily diet.

Artificial colors like Tartrazine, Indigotine (Blue), and Allura Red (Red) can be found in more and more foods these days. It might surprise you to find that at Burger King, the pickles that they put on your burger have Yellow and Blue dye in them. Also, a Tropical Mango Gatorade from Pepsi has yellow and red dyes in it.

Before we look at why you would want to eat food with natural coloring, let’s look at why people would be ok with having dyes in their food. On the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website they put it this way “Without color additives, colas wouldn't be brown, margarine wouldn't be yellow and mint ice cream wouldn't be green. Color additives are now recognized as an important part of practically all processed foods we eat.” Think about it – how many kids would get Superman ice cream if it wasn’t blue, red, and yellow? People tend to be drawn to the colorful and bright foods in the grocery aisle.

So why should you eat natural? When you eat something that was made out of natural ingredients, you are eating that food the way God made it. He made it that way so that it would help our bodies in the way He intended. When we change foods, we might be changing the results on our bodies.

Not only that, but dyes can have negative effects on our bodies. In an article called Die, Dye! The effect of food dyes on children’s behavior and thinking on Squidoo, it says "Have you ever heard the phrase 'sugar rush'? This phrase typically applies to the frenetic behavior of an out of control child who is bouncing off the walls after consuming a large quantity of sweets. While sugar certainly can have the effect of 'juicing' a kid's system, the food dyes in that pile of sweets are more likely the primary culprit." Especially in children, dyes can cause hyper-activity and lack of impulse control.

On the website www.red40.com it lists different uses of Red dye. For example, its use in drugs. "In reality, the color has no effect on the effectiveness of the medication, which is why it's listed under inactive ingredients on the label." The color plays no part in the actual drug; it just makes it look more appealing.

So why do people still eat food with artificial dyes? Because they might cost less than natural food, because they look more appealing, or maybe because they just don't know what effects they can have on people. For more information, you can visit the websites below. Everyone deserves to know what they are eating, and as they put it on Squidoo, "It's time for artificial food dyes to die!"

Die, Dye! The effect of food dyes on children's behavior and thinking: http://www.squidoo.com/DieDye

Red Dye 40- it's in your food: http://www.red40.com/

U.S. Food and Drug Administration website:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodlngredientsPackaging/ucm094211.htm?debugMode=false.