Feed Your Child's Focus: ADHD Foods, Dyes & Attention

1 Comment: Feed Your Child's Focus: ADHD Foods, Dyes & Attention

1. Hello, I wrote an analysis paper for one of my classes based on this author’s previous article entitled “Are Fruit Loops Evil? ADHD Hyperactivity and Food Dyes,” that has recently been replaced with this article, “Feed Your Child’s Focus.” I felt that the original article made very bold claims about a direct relationship between food dye and hyperactivity, but was lacking evidentiary support. After researching the primary literature cited in the original article, I found that most of the studies were either not specific to artificial coloring alone (The Lancet – Egger (1985) and Pediatrics – Kaplan (1989)), or did not use participants who met DSM criteria for ADHD (Journal of Pediatrics – Rowe & Rowe (1994)). Therefore, I did not think the conclusion that food dye causes ADHD hyperactivity was fully supported by the evidence. I think a better claim would have been that food additives, in general, can cause hyperactive symptoms in a subset of the general public. I commend the author for updating the original article to the more thorough and well-research article above. I think this new article does a good job of explaining the more recent studies and providing links so that readers can analyze the primary literature for themselves. I also like that the new article is no longer restricted to food dyes, but discusses food additives in a more general sense. This new article also acknowledges the limitations of the Feingold hypothesis and difficulties that come with elimination diets. Overall, the claims from this new article are broader and better supported by recent evidence. Diet and food additives are certainly an important public health concern, and it is important to understand how they may impact our behavior. Thank you to the author for taking the time to update and improve her own article – I think this step is very important, especially in scientific writing.