I am not sure what made me want to write about this right now... maybe it was just having to throw away my kids Christmas goody bags from school that I am just now finding in their backpacks -- or maybe it was watching kids devour cotton candy at the circus this afternoon.
When it comes to food that goes into my kids, especially Sarah who has Rett Syndrome, I am a complete Grinch.
I find it crazy that people were rushing to trade in trains with red paint tainted from China, but would still FEED their kids food with Red dye #40... most of the artificial food dyes are made from petroleum from CHINA.
The FDA says that 59 mg/day is safe, as opposed to the 12mg/day they said was safe a few decades ago. My question: how do they know how much I am eating in a day? How am I supposed to keep track? There are no amounts listed on the labels.
Countless studies link dyes to hyperactivity, nerve damage and other awful things. The UK is phasing out all dyes in food. The McDonald's in the UK is now using real strawberries to color their strawberry sundaes. Here in the US? We get Red #40.
My New Year's wish to all of you is to treat the colors IN our food as seriously as you worry about the colors painted ON our toys. Especially for our Rett girls who are already battling enough issues.
OK, done! I am climbing off my soapbox now.... hee hee! and truly hope you all consider nixing foods with any type of artificial dyes/flavors for 2009 and beyond.
Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!!!
Ingrid
1 comment:
I totally agree, Ingrid. There are way too many 'things' in some of the foods for kids these days. Laura eats so much better than we do, but well, that's it for right now. Maybe in '09 the whole family will be eating what Laura eats. She's even back to eating carrots, squash and broccoli!
Tina
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