Synopsis
Red dye 40 is Petroleum based. That doesn’t sound healthy. Red dye 40 is favored over natural alternatives because it is cheap and its only use is to make food look more appetizing. Its negative effects are so strong that many countries have banned it. In the example the red dye 40 increased brain activity in areas of the brain that made the child Trey more aggressive. When red dye 40 was removed from his diet his behavior improved.

Exercise – Read the labels to see if anything you or your child ingests has red dye 40 or any other artificial coloring or flavor in it and start eliminating those from your diet.
Response
That is easy enough. I had previously heard that yellow 5 was really bad for health. This is the first time I’m hearing about red dye 40. I had no idea that a food coloring could affect mood. This is very interesting especially considering that food dyes add nothing to the flavor of food. Just another case of where marketing is ruining our lives. I have a bachelor’s degree in marketing so I’m not anti-marketing. I just think that sometimes greed and rampant consumerism has us acting against our best interest as a society.
I will be reading all my labels for artificial food colorings and trying to remove them. Based on the suggestions of this book I have been eating beets. The way that beets can stain everything the touch red, there should be no reason for red dye 40.
Author – Brian Ahlering