Managing children's behaviour – Free of food additives! - Ngala

FOOD ADDITIVES
BY STEPHANIE FAIRBAIRN
AND KIM JOHNSTONE,
NGALA EDUCATION TEAM
Beware the additives
Managing children’s behaviour – Free of food additives!
Been to a kid’s birthday
party recently? No
doubt it was a lively
affair, especially if the
food served was of
the highly coloured,
sweet variety. Maybe
on the way home
little Johnny had
a post party
crash and bed
time was a
drama?
Most of us have suspected for
a long time that ‘party’ food –
the colours, fizzy drinks and
sweet concoctions of ice cream cake,
jelly, lollies and cheese-flavoured puffs
were not conducive to calmness. Most
children will react with a mixture of
loss of control, mood swings, difficulty
getting to sleep and the dreaded
tantrum. There is a growing body of
research linking ‘deterioration’ in
behaviour and certain additives found
in a variety of foods – mostly marketed
to target children.
A study published in the The Lancet
medical journal in 2007 by the University
of Southampton demonstrated a clear
association between three common
food additives (a preservative and
colours) and the subsequent triggering
of negative behaviours
in a large group
of children in
the general
population
(not just children who were suspected
of having ADHD or ADD). What
makes this study compelling is that it
evaluated several hundred children in
a double-blind crossover study which
is considered by the medical world
to be a high standard of trial design.
The evaluations of behaviour were
undertaken not only by the parents, but
other health professionals and teachers
known to the children. As it was
‘blinded’, no one knew who was ‘under
the influence’ of the particular additives.
There are many other sources of
evidence linking poor food choices and
negative behaviour in studies done in
schools and juvenile detention centres.
“Why,” I hear you cry “is something
not being done?” The origin of the way
our food processing industry is given
the go ahead to use certain chemicals
and additives in the creation of ‘food
products’ is often through a designation
of GRAS (Generally Recognised As
Safe). Unfortunately the additives that
74 Offspring | winter 2013

Unfortunately
the additives that
are tested for toxicity
are not tested in
combination, so there will
be an unknown effect of
chemicals in the
food supply acting
in synergy.
are tested for toxicity are not tested
in combination, so there will be an
unknown effect of chemicals in the
food supply acting in synergy.
However, not all additives are
suspect, many are simply thickeners
like gelatine (441) and fillers like
calcium carbonate which is essentially
chalk (170). Some health effects
from common additives like the
azo dyes (colours yellow, blue,
brilliant black and red), some
preservatives (eg 282) and
flavour enhancers can include
inattention, loss of impulse
control, hyperactivity,
restlessness, inability
to get off to sleep and
mood swings…sounds
like a typical range of
behaviours seen in preschoolers!
However, studies like Southampton
(2007) demonstrate that certain
expected behaviours like a lively,
inquisitive, independently-minded
toddler can be disturbed so as to
disrupt the course of learning ‘normal’
self-regulation. If these colours
and preservatives are consumed
in everyday foods like cordials, rice
crackers, certain breads, the alteration
of the child’s behaviour will be a
permanent feature!
As adults we may be thinking, ‘Well I
eat it too and I don’t feel any different’,
we need to bear in mind children are
more vulnerable by virtue not only of
size, but maturation of the detoxifying
organs like the liver and kidneys, and
the fact that the brain is still very much
‘under construction’.
The good news for parents is that
we don’t need to give kids the food
additives we are talking about here
– they add no nutritional benefit and
can be avoided without compromising
the overall quality of their diet. We
can choose fresh bread without the
anti-fungal preservative 282; we can
buy lollies with naturally-sourced
colours, such as chlorophyll (from
green plants) and beetroot instead of
coal tar dyes like 102, 110, 122. Some
children’s medicines also contain
colours, artificial sweeteners and even
sodium benzoate - a preservative
in many cough mixtures known to
provoke asthma!
It can be confusing and time
consuming to check labels and be
FOOD ADDITIVES
Offspring | winter 2013 75

FOOD ADDITIVES
vigilant about what goes into your
child’s diet, but if there is something
in their regular diet which could be
causing anything from sleeplessness,
tantrums or mood swings, removing
the offending ingredient is a lot easier
than coping with it or hoping they will
‘grow out of it’. We are all different
in the way our bodies tolerate or
operate in the environmental cocktail
surrounding us, but we know children
are most vulnerable given their size
and stage of brain development.
It makes sense to go back to basics
with what we feed our children; plain
unprocessed food with the minimum
of chemical additives. This will give
them the best chance of fulfilling
their temperamental and personality
potential without interference.
Here are some additives to avoid
(Not an exhaustive list):
Colours – (102, 104, 110, 122, 124, 129)
Preservatives – (220, 250, 280, 281, 282)
Flavour Enhancers – commonly known
as MSG (621, 627, 631, 635)
Artificial sweeteners – in all ‘diet’
products (951, 952, 954, 1201)
There are some good mobile phone
applications to identify additives by
their number or name and give you
an indication of potential side effects
which is handy in the supermarkets,
but, if you have the time
and inclination,
there are many
websites and
books to check
out the issue of
additives and
child behaviour
more fully.
So what to do for
your family’s food?
• Start with a good
breakfast. Begin the day with
porridge and banana, french toast,
yogurt or nuts, for example.
• Include a fish meal at least once
a week – salmon, tuna, sardines,
shellfish, pilchards. If it’s all too hard for
some kids to buy into,
a regular teaspoon of
liquid fish oil (omega 3)
is the next best thing.
• Keep hydrated – carry a bottle
of water everywhere.
If these colours
and preservatives are
consumed in everyday
foods like cordials,
rice crackers, certain
breads, the alteration
of the child’s behaviour
will be a permanent
feature!
• Base meals around protein - fish, eggs,
red meat, chicken or pulses.
• Choose a wide variety
of colourful fruits and
vegetables.
• Get a good
night’s sleep!
Ngala offers
workshops where
we discuss foodrelated
issues. For further
details visit www.ngala.com.
au and look for “Food Glorious
Food” (introduction to solids),
“Tasty Toddler” (Toddler mealtime
issues) and “Building Brains” (brain
development from the earliest days
in pregnancy to pre-school).
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