Food Colourings

[kazzy1]

My child seems to get very hyper after eating foods with certain colourings in. Do you know if you can be tested to find out which colourings you may be allergic to?

[Clboulos]

When my son was younger I used to think exactly the same. Certain sweets would make him very hyper or upset. I did mention this to some doctors and they didn't agree and were quite rude about the matter. There is no test that I know of at the minute. The problem does seem to get better as the child grows. My son has a long list of allergies. Good luck and avoid highly coloured foods.

[princess1]

I too find that I have to keep my son away from highly coloured foods especially late in the day since it seems to have a similar reaction to caffeine.............he won't get to sleep!!!! I've also made a point of telling friends when he goes to tea to try and avoid giving him foods with colourings.

[Sally]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a child who reacts to food colourings. For my daughter it tends to be anything that is coloured artificially with yellow or red so we've got to be really careful. The reaction is not as bad as some I've read about, but nevertheless, the itchyness around her mouth if she does eat anything that is artificially coloured red or yellow is awful for her. We manage quite well at home, and other family members know the problems so can be alert. But the tricky times are when she goes to a kids party when so much is on offer and you can't be watching her every minute. I just hope she grows out of this soon!!!!

[Dr Helen Brough]

Dear All,

There is data to support that artificial colourings increase hyperactivity in children which was published in the Lancet Journal in 2007 by Prof. Stevenson's Group. They concluded that artificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population. However there is no test for whether an artificial colouring will cause hyperactivity. The only way to find out is to take the suspected food colouring out of the diet for 1 month and then put it back in for 1 month and see how this affects your child.

Published clinic reports on food colourings causing IgE mediated allergy (immediate hives or urticaria) are also present in the literature, for example for cochineal/carmine red colouring (E120) allergy which can be tested for using specific IgE and skin prick testing; however this type of allergy is extremely rare.

Kind regards,

Dr Helen Brough

[williamsmummy]

my son is going to have a test for the yellow food colouring as possible allergy cause, as annato (sp?) is dirvied from a seed.
have already had test for the pink insect allergen. all ok there.

have ? poss seed problems in past, but ok with sesame.