Additives DO harm children - and a ban could cut child hyperactivity by a third,

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Additives DO harm children - and a ban could cut child hyperactivity by a

third, say scientists

_By SEAN POULTER - Last updated at 00:04am on 10th April 200_

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=558\

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_http://www.ahf-au.org/100408/ban.food.additives.htm_

(http://www.ahf-au.org/100408/ban.food.additives.htm)

Additives DO harm children - and a ban could cut child hyperactivity by a

third, say scientists By SEAN POULTER - Last updated at 00:04am on 10th April

2008

The number of hyperactive children could be cut by a third by banning

suspect food additives, it is claimed today.

The finding by British scientists will put pressure on the Food Standards

Agency to force manufacturers to stop using the " E-number " chemicals.

The researchers believe that removing artificial colours from children's

foods, including cakes, drinks and sweets, would bring significant health and

social benefits.

Thousands of children would avoid the blight on their education caused by

hyperactive behaviour, which can mean they are labelled slow and disruptive.

Removing the chemicals could also help reduce anti-social behaviour in

teenagers, according to the researchers from the University of Southampton, led

by

Professor Jim Stevenson.

The scientists believe the harm caused to the IQ of youngsters is equivalent

to the damaging impact of lead on developing brains.

They say just as efforts were made to protect children against lead

poisoning years ago, there is " justification for action now " on food colours.

They are frustrated at the lack of action to tackle the harm to children

posed by food additives and are calling on the board of the Food Standards

Agency (FSA), which is meeting today, to take bold measures to ban them.

 

The Southampton team calculates that some 6.6 per cent of children aged

three to 12, a total of 462,000, suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder (ADHD). The academics believe this figure could be reduced by 30 per

cent - around 140,000 - if the additives were banned.

 

Professor Stevenson and his team discovered that food chemicals caused

" psychological harm " to normal healthy children.

 

Two groups of children showed changes in behaviour when given the additives

during controlled trials. They found it hard to sit still and concentrate,

they had problems reading and became loud and impulsive.

 

Professor Stevenson said: " We now have clear evidence that mixtures of

certain food colours can adversely influence the behaviour of children.

 

" We know that hyperactivity in young child is a risk factor for, for

example, later difficulties in school. Certainly it is associated with

difficulties

in learning to read.

 

" It is also associated with wider behavioural difficulties in middle

childhood, such as conduct disorder.

 

" I feel that the effects we are seeing here are sufficiently great to

represent a threat to health. "

 

The Southampton team has sent a report to the FSA board, which argues that a

significant number of children could be prevented from developing ADHD if

the additives are removed.

 

Children who are diagnosed with ADHD can find their entire school careers

and lives suffer as a result. The report warns: " Elevated levels of

hyperactivity in young children represent a risk for continuing behaviour

problems into

later childhood.

 

" It should also be recognised that children with elevated levels of

hyperactivity can be disruptive to a family and are sometimes socially isolated

because peers find their behaviour unsettling. "

 

Last month the Government announced a task force to concentrate on improving

the behaviour of 1,000 particularly disruptive young people.

 

The Southampton team say: " It is a Government policy priority to reduce the

level of disruptive behaviour by young people. We suggest... the removal of

food colours might be a small, indirect contribution to such a goal. "

 

The suspect colours are tartrazine (E102); quinoline yellow (E104); sunset

yellow (E110); carmoisine (E122); ponceau 4R (E124); and allura red (E129).

 

The FSA, an independent department of the Government, suggests there should

be a voluntary ban by UK manufacturers by the end of 2009.

..

 

 

The board is also expected to advise parents concerned by the Southampton

study that they " might choose " not to give their children products containing

the chemicals.

The Food Commission has set up a website - _www.actiononadditives.com_

(http://www.actiononadditives.com) - which lists more than 900 products

containing the chemicals.

The Daily Mail launched the " Ban the Additives " campaign to encourage

manufacturers and supermarkets to remove the chemicals from their recipes.

This has achieved support from all the major supermarkets and pledges from

firms such as Cadburys and Mars UK to remove them.

A ban on the suspect additives will change the look of familiar foods.

The green colour of mushy peas is created by tartrazine, and quinoline

yellow produces the green colour in lime cordial and green Tic-Tacs.

 

The vivid colour of Turkish Delight is largely the result of the suspect dye

allura red.

 

Natural alternatives to these food colours are being produced and some

companies, including Sainsbury's and Asda, already have new lines on their

shelves.

 

Sainsbury's has created a natural lime cordial, while Asda has taken

tartrazine out of its tinned peas.

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