RFK Jr wants bright artificial dyes out of food. Are Americans ready to let go?
In the past, US consumers have resisted their favorite foods changing to natural dyes. Attitudes might shift if Maha converts the entire industry
His "point" is that food dyes cause cancer, hyperactivity, and autism. It's a great horror story I'm sure. Not really a point.
Stopped clock. Hell, even a backwards running clock is right ever so often.
For those interested in the actual science part of the article:
Why the fuss over food coloring? Are natural dyes really that much better for our health?
“They’re better for some people’s health,” says Jamie Alan, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University. “There is a very small percentage of children who are very sensitive to these dyes. And when they eat these dyes, they display behaviors that we sometimes associate with ADHD.”
Alan stresses that there is no evidence that those kids actually develop ADHD. But research has found that after eating foods containing certain dyes, children, including those diagnosed with ADHD or autism, can show signs of hyperactivity, moodiness and inattentiveness. However many of these foods, particularly candy and soda, also contain sugar, which has also been connected to hyperactive behavior.
Alan recommends that parents talk to a pediatrician and try an elimination diet to make sure the dye and not another ingredient is to blame. But she largely supports phasing out artificial dyes; most public health advocates think this is a good idea. “In my opinion,” Alan says, “because we’re talking about children and because they are a vulnerable population, I do think this is a great thing to do. But I will recognize that it is not going to impact the vast majority of the population.”
None of this changes the fact that Robert F. Kennedy is a fucking moron.
Agreed. I wonder if he came up with this himself or someone from his team. There are plenty papers that cautiously correlate said dyes with abnormal brain functioning.
And my personal opinion, there isn't any reason for such dyes to exist in food. Candy or soda shouldn't have to look like "Demon Core Green"
So... sugar correlation being taken for dye causation. Ok
Sugar doesn't actually cause ADHD behaviors. There's no casual link between sugar consumption and hyperactivity
https://www.verywellhealth.com/sugar-and-adhd-what-you-should-know-5207992
However many of these foods, particularly candy and soda, also contain sugar, which has also been connected to hyperactive behavior.
Hopefully it is just the article being poorly-written and not MSU making terrible studies and/or Jamie Alan being a dunce.
"Dyes cause kids to be temporarily hyper, also, the food with the dyes has sugar in it which could actually be the cause."
...
Interesting duh moment right.
I hate dyes because they are a form of advertisement.
The answer is yes. Everyone around me thinks the crap they allow in our food is bad for us. Europeans done have the same issues we do with food because they’re much more regulated.
There are probably lots of ways we need to improve our food supply and our health, but focusing on food dyes is at best a trivial part of that.
It starts with the research, the science, to identify actual harmful things and truthful labeling so consumers can be aware and have a choice. It almost certainly reins in marketing and lobbying . This is where he needs to spend time, yet is doing the opposite. Cutting out research, regulations, truthful labeling will have far more harm than tilting at windmills could possibly benefut
Everyone around me thinks the crap they allow in our food is bad for us.
Without evidence of course. Just the same lack of critical thinking that RFK has. It "seems bad" and "it's chemicals".
Europeans done have the same issues we do with food because they’re much more regulated.
BS.
it's this administration. so i'm gonna guess it's because 'pride colored' candies and other foods use them.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23026007/
Just one of many studies that raise concerns. Yes, they pump rats full of a fuckton of these chemicals that no normal human being will ingest. You could say the same thing about tons of other chemicals that have turned out to be carcinogenic. We don't have the funds to give rats/animals normal doses over the course of a normal human lifespan, so pumping high amounts to shorten the duration is the next best thing.
Sir, this is Lemmy. If the corporations do it, it's bad no matter what it is.
All a distraction. Yes some of these ideas aren't bad. We don't need this fuckhead to implement them.
That’s why we need this fuckhead to implement them. This fuckhead is doing so many things that will harm and even kill uncountable number of people and there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about it. Let him waste time on food dyes. Maybe it will help a small number of people who are sensitive but at least he’s not spending his time on something harmful to everyone. Let him distract himself from the evil schemes
RFK JR actually says something intelligent... That's something I never thought I would experience.
I'm ready to make him fight for this, even as I agree with him that those chemicals are an issue. Just not the issue he thinks they are.
The more time he sinks into this, the less he has to throw disabled people off of bridges.
The dyes must be harmful to the worms
I'm sure it wasn't intentional
This reminds me of the study that said that people drive more colorful cars in times when the economic outlooks are better.
So, the colorfulness expresses their character and their outlook towards a positive future.
A colleague told me of a similar study that related shorter skirt lengths on women to better economic outlooks.
Let's fix this society, if only for shorter skirts.
hell yeah!
huh, when i learned about the hemline index i learned about it in the inverse, but basically what i learned about macro is that it's bullshit.
Non-peer-reviewed research in 2010 supported the correlation, suggesting that "the economic cycle leads the hemline with about three years".
from the article you linked
very interesting, now i know the name for it :)
I want a roadkill-eating, worm-brained psychopathic junkie out of my food, can I have that?
Only decades after other countries kicked them out. Some of those common American food dyes are illegal even in China, of all places.
Curious who's gonna regulate it after they knee capped the FDA
We can't get labels that say what's actually in our food, and chuckle fuck thinks he's gonna ban food coloring.
Why not disallow all food dye, not just the bright ones?
Beet juice is a bright dye, but it’s also a food. Some dyes are entirely harmless. I believe the rule they’re talking about affects artificial dyes, not bright dyes, and the headline is mistaken.
For example, some red dyes are sourced from petroleum instead of edible substances.
Harmless by themselves, perhaps, but if they make some ultraprocessed foods more appealing are they entirely harmless? I think it's fine to make beet juice in the kitchen for our own uses.
I mean, the fact that there is stuff for sale in the US with the label saying "scientists in California have proven this causes cancer" is proof enough that even a crazy nutter like RFK can be sometimes right.
Is this comment about the Prop 65 warnings? Prop 65 is useless, because the dose is the poison and it says nothing about that. Putting warnings up almost everywhere means people will (and often should) ignore them.
The Prop 65 warning is on so many things because it's way cheaper to put the label on everything, regardless of whether it's technically true or not, than it is to run the tests to prove that the specific substances called out are not present.
I'm ready for that psycho to die. I don't care how he goes. But he does need to go. Go on down to the lower room. Where his drug addled cracked out demented ass belongs.
LOL this is great!
I mean I don't care. At least then I wouldn't have vaguely orange spoons after making Mac-n-cheese.
Fun fact, though, Kraft Mac and Cheese removed artificial dyes in 2013, didn't tell anyone at first, and waited to see if consumers would complain. Nobody did, so they announced that they were able to replace the artificial yellow colors with really colorful spices like annatto and turmeric.
So you're still gonna get staining. Turmeric gets in everything.
Yeah but Kraft ain't the only brand out there, and tasted the worst. They just made it sweeter so kids will want it more, kinda like Wonder Bread.
I'm ready to let go of RFK Jr.
I can taste some of them, especially red and blue artificial food dyes. I'd love to see them replaced because I look like a weirdo eating around the m&ms I don't like.
Idk, there's something beautiful about seeing all one or two colors of M&Ms left in a bowl.
