It was brought to my attention last night that I have been remiss in my reporting about food that children eat. More like, food that parents feed children.
I’m not a parent
Keep in mind that I am not a parent. I am however a uncle and I love my nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews, very much. What is more important to a growing body and mind than what fuels their growth? Nothing! Far from me to judge what a parent feeds their children. Look what a young parent is up against.
First of all a young parent is new at everything. There is no owners manual for a kid, only older family members, friends, self help books and human nature to provide a basis for keeping their child alive and hopefully making them thrive. Young parents are many times, just getting married and are still learning who takes out the trash and who does the check book and whose mess is on the floor. Then enters a child. All bets are out the window. Nothing matters except what is at hand; the life and well being of that new born. What are you going to feed your baby? You are going to go to the store, most likely hauling the child with you, and not being able to bend over, you are going to do exactly what the marketing people what you to do. Are you going to read the label? Hell no, not with a kid tugging at you. You are going to buy the food on the shelf at eye level. The highest margin products. The colorful ones that the kids go oh, oh, oh and point at. Maybe you’ll remember that you saw it on TV. It must be OK then, right? Not so much.
National Advertising
National advertising from manufactures creates national peer pressure on parents. While, I’m not a parent, I am an advertising major in school and worked with a graphic design group for several years and so is my wife. Advertisers know exactly what children and therefore their parents are looking for. Kids like bright colors, sweet stuff, things they see in bright loud ads but most of all, they want the stuff their friends have.
The manufactures have a responsibility to their board of directors, who have a responsibility to their share holders to make as much profit for the company as possible. All companies have an ethical obligation to provide a product that won’t do immediate harm to its consumer and that is about as far as it goes. But what if no studies have ever been done on an the long term effects of a food additive on growing children, but that additive has been used in the food industry for years with out many complaints? It gets used until proven to be harmful.
Have you ever taken your child shopping with you (not really the best idea, but mostly unavoidable) and while you are picking out the product you intended to purchase, your child says, “no mommy, I want this one”? That one is the bright colorful one right at their eye level. Welcome to the world of consumer advertising.
You Are Responsible
You and only you are responsible for what YOU AND YOUR FAMILY eats. Not the government. They WILL NOT hold your hand. I repeat. This is on YOU! You make the decision of what to put in your families bodies. Contrary to many people’s belief’s, not everything for sale is good for you or even SAFE. In this day and age of easy information, there is no excuse. None! I’m here to help. Ask me a question. please. – jughandle
Too Much to Touch on
This topic is way too broad to even touch on all the important aspects. What we’ll have to do is to delve into one of the most important HOT topics and move on later. Food coloring additives are a pet peeve of the Fat Farm and many of it’s Farmers. That too is way to broad a topic to hit on so I’ll narrow it to one color at a time.
Red dye #40
Red Dye #40
Just to get your attention, I’m going to list just a few of the known side effects of this nasty color additive.
- Impaired brain function
- hyperactive behavior
- difficulty focusing
- lack of impulse control
Those are just the starters. Don’t believe me? Go to Healthy Living and read for yourself
These problems have been blamed on newly named syndromes and diseases like ADHD, ADD and others. What came first the chicken or the egg?
If your child gets hyperactive after eating a sweet food. Don’t blame it on the sugar any more, check out what color the food was.
Where are these dyes used?
EVERYWHERE! Read the labels. If you don’t have time to do the research, let me. Send me a quick email or note on this blog telling me the name and brand of food you want me to research and I’ll do the math for all of us. Better even than that – if you find a “good” food let me know and I’ll tell the world. Shoot, I’ll write the president of the company and tell them we endorse their product.
What to look for
Look for labels that say things like – ALL NATURAL; NO BINDERS, NO ARTIFICIAL COLORS, DYES OR PRESERVATIVES
What are your kids eating for breakfast?
Breakfast, as we’ve always heard, is the most important meal of the day. More so for children. Research shows that children’s brain function improves up to 80% when they consume protein first thing in the morning. What are your kids eating for breakfast? A fruity bowl of sugar and Red 40?
List of Dyes and their health effects
Sources:
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Conclusions and Recommendations
Oh God, I could go on and on about this and I will another time, but I don’t want to lose you. Please start by simply eliminating Red dye from your family’s diet. What the hell, remove yellow dye too! See if you can tell a difference. More to come – jughandle
Allura Red AC (also known as Red 40) is a red azo dye that goes by several names including: Allura Red, Food Red 17, C.I. 16035, FD&C Red 40, 2-naphthalenesulfonic acid, 6-hydroxy-5-((2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo)-, disodium salt, and disodium 6-hydroxy-5-((2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo)-2-naphthalene-sulfonate. It is used as a food dye and has the E number E129. Allura Red AC was originally introduced in the United States as a replacement for the use of amaranth as a food coloring.