[A-List] Destructive consumption: food additives

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Additives 'linked to hyperactivity in children'
By Graham Hiscott
The Independent, 25 October 2002

A possible link between food additives and children's behaviour was
highlighted by the Food Commission pressure group yesterday.

The commission, which campaigns for wholesome food, pinpointed a
government-sponsored report connecting food and drink colourings and
preservatives with hyperactivity in children.

The previously unpublished study, of 277 children aged three, was carried
out in June 2000 by experts at the David Hide Asthma and Allergy Research
Centre on the Isle of Wight.

The researchers found many parents noticing "significant changes" in their
children's behaviour after consuming a drink containing four colourings and
one preservative. The ingredients can be found in a wide range of products,
many designed to appeal to the young.

The Food Standards Agency, for whom the report was carried out, distanced
itself from the results, saying other scientific experts had found it was
"not conclusive".