Preschooler with Reaction to Red Dye

Hi L.,
I too have noticed a siginificant change in my son's behavior after having red dye. One example was when my Mother in law brough over a small Elmo cake for him. We let him have a small piece after dinner which was covered in red frosting. It was almost immediate that he "turned" on us! We could not believe it. I have done my best to not let him have anything with red dye esp red frosting. He has no issues when eating other types of goodies so I know that is more than just sugar. Feel free to send me a private message if you want to talk more.
Good luck,

K.

I would just advise you to say open to the cause - it could be the red dye but it could also be something else that these food items have in common. Or it could be 2 different things. Obviously it is an allergy of some sort. I know a lot of people who have had great luck in getting rid of the allergies by using a particular nutritional supplement made for kids. If you want more info, I'd be happy to share. It's going to be very difficult to avoid red dye which is everywhere, and it's also difficult to avoid the other things that could be causing it - it's possible that, even if you do this, there will be other things that cause reactions. A lot of kids who are allergic to one thing will be allergic to others, even if they don't contain the same triggers like red dye that you were looking out for. If so, you may want to look into strengthening the immune system. Good luck and let me know if you want more info.

I have talked with other people who have switched to the feingold diet and have had amazing results. I follow a similar diet for myself.

In my case, it was a lifetime of allergy suffering. When I started thinking about having children, I realized that there were no studies done with pregnancy and the medication I had been on for the last 15 years. With drastic diet changes, my health is better and I'm finally medication free. I'm much more conscious of dietary triggers now. I had something last fall with red dye in it for the first time in a very long time. About 24 hours later, I can't even describe the anger I felt coming out of nowhere. I seriously wanted to break things and cry. Imagine your worst pms ever and magnify it! I was in a really strange funk for an entire day, so I totally understand what your son was going through.

Now that you know, you'll be as disgusted as I am with the amount of foods, medications, vitamins, beverages, etc. that have dye in them unnecessarily! About 80-90% of the food in the grocery store is junk. You and your entire family will benefit from making a conscious effort to read labels.
Good luck to you!

I think the diet is a great idea - I truly believe many of the learning difficulties and behavior issues we are seeing is a result of crappy American diet and poor food quality. I know a child who was literally diagnosed bipolar - when his family removed red dye from his diet, he was totally normal and lost the diagnosis.

I've had some trouble with posting here, but wonder if this forum might help you-I do know that this problem is very real. If you respond from me, and don't hear back, it's just whatever glitch it is that I have on my end-good luck!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/icallergies/messages
I am editing to say the forum seems a bit slow, but I hope someone will answer your questions. I'm going to see if I can find anything about red dye in there now.

Hi L.,

One of my nieces (now 18 yrs old) STILL has that problem. ANYTHING with red dye in it makes her so over the top emotional it's insane. Basically you really have to try your hardest to avoid red dye all together. (i know - it's tough) but there's really nothing else you can do. My mother in law & sister in law have been ON TOP OF THIS with my niece for her whole life. Alot of dr.'s disagree w/it, while there are a good amount of those who DO agree w/it. But cotton candy DOES have red dye in it - alot of things do - fruit juices, candy, food you wouldn't even think of - it's alot of label reading though.
Good luck - i Know i'm not much of a help but just wanted to let you know that my niece has the same problem.

hi L.,
i have the same problem as your son - i am ALLERGIC to red dye in foods and medications. you dont have to worry TOO much about it. just make sure red dye is NOT in the first 10 ingredients on the ingredient list in his foods and meds, and it should be fine. thats what i have to do, and i am not on any special diet. just read the labels before you give him anything.

C.