Artificial Food Colors Study Summary

Seaine Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:04 pm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3441937/

This is an interesting read, even though it doesn't mention migraines. It's a summary of the studies on AFCs (artificial food colors), which I personally have found to increase the pain of my migraines by 10 fold, as well as cause other unpleasant symptoms.

Basically, the article states that AFCs appear to have a small but statistically significant effect on children's behavior, and that is NOT only including children who have ADHD. It mentions one study that involved children who were reported to be affected by AFCs by their parents - the study showed that when those children ate foods with AFCs, they started peeing out excessive amounts of zinc, which is required by the brain to operate normally!

I'll quote the end conclusions for those who don't want to read the whole thing.

Article wrote:
1. AFCs are not a main cause of ADHD, but they may contribute significantly to some cases, and in some cases may additively push a youngster over the diagnostic threshold.

2. There are several threads of evidence for a biological mechanism.

3. Although there is probably not an immune-mediated reaction, a direct release of histamine may be involved.

4. By affecting nutrients and other metabolism in the periphery, AFCs could affect the brain without crossing the blood-brain barrier.

5. The deleterious effect does not appear to be confined to ADHD (a general effect has been replicated). Therefore AFCs may be more a general public health problem than an ADHD problem

6. A small deleterious effect regardless of diagnosis was replicated and a possible mechanism (related to histamine genes) identified

7. The magnitude of reported effect is reminiscent of subclinical lead poisoning (<10 mcg/dL): r ~ 0.11 after correction for social factors [41], which led to the eventual removal of lead from gasoline.

8. Per capita daily consumption of AFCs quadrupled in the last 50 yrs.

“The dose alone makes the poison” --Paracelsus

9. There may conceivably be a possible deleterious effect on classroom climate from most children deteriorating slightly, thus additively or even synergistically impairing the learning atmosphere.

10. The current status of evidence is inconclusive “but too substantial to dismiss.”(2) Until safety can be better determined, we suggest minimizing children’s exposure to AFCs. With the current concerns about childhood obesity, there appears to be no need to make food look more attractive than its natural color.

Anyone who is newer and hasn't seen my tireless rants about AFCs yet.. please give it a try. Stop eating all artificial food coloring and see if it helps your migraines. And any parents here, you could consider not giving them to your children even if migraines are not an issue!