RED-40

Red-40– the most well known and infamous food dye of them all. While many have heard of Red-40, they are unaware of its siblings (such as Yellow 4 and Yellow 5, to name a couple). 

What exactly is Red-40 (or any artificial dyes, for that matter)? Red-40 is the main colorant used to color foods. It can be used to fully color, or just enhance color. It could be used to make color consistent for large batches of items, or to prevent color loss as time goes on. We can find Red-40 in predictable items such as cherry candies, strawberry poptarts, maraschino cherries, etc., but also in everyday items, such as ketchup, juice, or yogurt. 

As with many chemicals America puts in our food, Europe is already one step ahead. While not completely banned, Europe does require all products with these dyes to carry a warning saying the coloring agents “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” In America, we basically have the tier down. The FDA does acknowledge some sort of connection between artificial dyes and attention/activity effects on children, but takes little to no action. The approach it takes to artificial dyes is this: the FDA will allow dyes to be used, but only in very small amounts as to not be dangerous for consumption, and they label the dyes on packaging. 

So, should we live in fear of these dyes ruining our children's' brains? The answer is complicated. As noted by WebMD.com, the dyes have been connected to symptoms of ADHD, but not with consistent or severe enough results to draw any conclusions. These connections are nothing to be afraid of, only aware. ADHD will only present itself through a combination of “changes in brain structure, environmental factors, and heredity.” (WebMD) So, the answer you are searching for is this: there is no need to fear the oh-so-frightening Red-40. You can choose to eliminate strawberry Poptarts or maraschino cherries, but there is no use in scouring every label in search of dyes. Natural dyes or no dyes will always be better, but a little Red-40 won’t kill you.