Research is still to uncover links between sugar, food colourings and behaviour.
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Question: A friend says her young son’s behaviour is affected by food colourings. Is there any truth to this or is it just an excuse for bad behaviour?
Answer: Children’s birthday parties aren’t for the faint-hearted – a room packed with children running, screaming and having a riotously good time. Throw in a buffet of brightly coloured, sugary treats and some children seem to go into overdrive. But is blaming bad behaviour on the party buffet a cop out? Sugar is often blamed for hyperactivity or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, more studies have disproved than proved this theory.
One clinical trial found that when parents believed their children had eaten sugar, but actually hadn’t, they were more critical of their child’s behaviour and rated them as more hyperactive than normal, suggesting that any link between sugar and children’s behaviour is more about parental perception than actual behaviour change.
Food colourings have also been implicated in hyperactivity – defined as increased movement, impulsiveness and inattention. In 2007 the UK Food Standards Agency released findings from a University of Southampton study that found a small effect on children’s behaviour after consuming one of two different mixtures of synthetic food colourings and a preservative. The European Union has since mandated that all foods and drinks containing these six colours carry the warning “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children”. In September 2011 the UK Food Standards Agency released guides to help companies voluntarily remove these food colours.
However, New Zealand’s MAF Food Safety says more research is needed to confirm this link. If you think your children are sensitive to the effects of synthetic food colourings MAF Food Safety recommends using the ingredients list provided on food packages to guide your purchases; manufacturers are required to identify food colours by their code number in New Zealand and Australia.
Question: With regards to Nutrition, May 22, 2010, are you aware of any developments regarding the ongoing research by Julia Rucklidge on nutritional treatments for ADHD?
Answer: In 2010 Associate Professor Julia Rucklidge, from the University of Canterbury, reported in the Journal of Attention Disorders that adults with ADHD and severe mood dysregulation experienced significant improvements in inattention, hyperactivity/impulsiveness, mood, quality of life, anxiety and stress, while taking a micronutrient supplement. As this was an open-label trial (participants knew what treatment they received) a placebo effect couldn’t be discounted. However, the results gave Rucklidge confidence a double-blind randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the micronutrient supplement was warranted.
Recruitment for the RCT began in 2010 and would now have been completed, says Rucklidge. However the September 2010 Canterbury earthquake occurred in the middle of this process and has delayed the Canterbury-based trial’s completion. Still, the earthquake also provided Rucklidge with a unique research opportunity. Adults with ADHD report higher levels of stress, anxiety and mood problems when faced with artificially created stressors. The Canterbury earthquake provided a unique opportunity to use a real-life stressor to compare self-reported depression, anxiety and stress responses of ADHD adults who were taking a micronutrient supplement with those who weren’t.
No significant differences in mental state were found between the two groups one week after the quake, but by two weeks the micronutrient group reported significantly less anxiety and stress. Because the micronutrient group weren’t blinded to the contents of their supplement when the assessments were made, it’s possible these differences were a placebo effect. Nonetheless, Rucklidge’s findings, published in Psychiatry Research, support other research that has found micronutrient supplements may have an appreciable effect on mental health.
Rucklidge’s team is still recruiting Canterbury-based adults with ADHD for the RCT. Contact Brigette Gorman for recruitment information: phone (03) 364 2987 or email brigette.gorman@canterbury.ac.nz
Email: nutrition@listener.co.nz, or write to “Nutrition”, c/o Listener, PO BOx 90783, Victoria St West, Auckland 1142.