DAYTON — “We are what we eat,” that’s the saying and right now, health experts are putting a lot of focus on the food we’re feeding our families.
The Food and Drug Administration has banned certain food dyes because it says they contain petroleum.
News Center 7’s Gabrielle Enright is taking a closer look at how this impacts us and some of our favorite foods.
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We all need food to survive, but with every bite, we put protein and other substances into our bodies.
News Center 7 asked Alva Baker, of Xenia, if she ever thinks about food dyes when she buys food. She said, “No, not really. I just bought it.”
Brandi Gilbert used to be the same way until her 11-year-old son, Drake, got sick. Gilbert is a Xenia native who lives in Tennessee. She said, “It started in kindergarten. He started getting really bad headaches.”
Gilbert suspected a food allergy. Doctors put Drake on a food elimination diet to try and pinpoint his problem. But it was his neighbor who solved the mystery.
“They gave him a red popsicle, and within 20 minutes of eating the red popsicle, he had the worst headache,” Gilbert said.
According to the National Library of Medicine, 1% or 3 million adults and 1% to 2% of children are allergic to food dyes.
Gilbert’s son, Drake, is a statistic. “His migraines go like this. He will tell you he has a really bad headache. He’ll go from pale white and start throwing up,” Gilbert said.
There are 36 FDA-approved color additives. However, the FDA recently passed a ban on red 3, which is made from petroleum.
The FDA found that the synthetic dye was found to induce cancer in humans and animals and was banned by the FDA in 1990 for use in cosmetics and topical drugs.
Officials said the levels at which humans are exposed to these dyes are exceedingly low, and the health risks pale in comparison to the health risks of salt, sugar, and fat in processed foods.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Data Central Database, you can find Red Dye 3 in more than 8,000 food products.
Some include cereals, soda, icing, berry and cherry-flavored candy, smoked sausage, bacon, and other processed meats, ice cream, frozen yogurt, chewing gum, and mints.
The FDA gave food manufacturers until January 15, 2027, to reformulate their products. But some have already announced sweeping changes.
Ohio-based Smucker’s said it plans to remove artificial colors from its products by the end of 2027 and will remove synthetic dyes from foods sold to K-12 schools by the 2026-2027 school year.
Welch’s is doing the same. Nestle, Kraft Heinz, and General Mills are also doing away with dyes. And nearly the entire ice cream industry has pledged to eliminate many artificial food dyes from products by the end of 2027.
Andy Jacobs, CEO of Turkey Hill, said, “This is about showing consumers and our communities that we are stepping up.”
So what about the taste? The FDA is working on what it calls “healthy colors.” But Gilbert said there are already products on the market without dyes, and she thinks they taste the same.
Gilbert wants her son and others to live colorful lives. But they do not think they need to include food filled with artificial dyes.
Some other items that contain Red Dye 3 are vitamins and cough syrups. There is no test to determine a food dye allergy.
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