4 ms·

I don't believe that titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide are used in food colouring are they? And they didn't imply a behavioural link in the article - it's p

I don't believe that titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide are used in food colouring are they? And they didn't imply a behavioural link in the article - it's possible, but I think we're making quite a few (off topic) jumps. Edit: I stand corrected, titanium dioxide was, maybe still is, but not considered safe.

mrguyorama 4y ago
There's something about one of the red dyes in america that is partially linked to adhd symptoms or restless kids?
- PaulHoule 4y ago
  I think almost everyone who works with children (teachers, day care, people who chaperone ski trips) believes that ingredients of junk food (sugar, food colorings, etc.) despite their being little evidence.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    I'm allergic to tartrazine. It doesn't seem to affect me much as an adult but as a child I'd go into drastic coughing/wheezing fits from consuming orange-flavored drinks in which it's used as a food coloring. I have a solid ADHD diagnosis but not looked into any kind of larger overlap with other allergies, due to the cost of screening/testing. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Tartrazine https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Tartrazine
    - LazyMans 4y ago
      Reading this made me think about how Twizzler Pull and Peel make me cough. Went and looked it up. Yellow 5 is in them. Have been diagnosed ADD for the last 22 years. Huh.
  - ipython 4y ago
    I’m tired of the constant “no evidence” bs. I have children and their behavior changes dramatically when they eat food with artificial coloring. I’m honestly tired of being told I’m crazy. You can take my kids and try it yourself.
    - Dylan16807 4y ago
      There's a big difference between "nothing changes" and "it's not the color causing the changes". And double blind tests aren't hard to do.
      - PaulHoule 4y ago
        No, they are hard. If you're going to feed kids candy that is colored with agent A you need to make identical candy colored with agent B so the kids can't tell them apart. You can test A vs B but not A vs no color. (Though maybe you can have the kids eat the candy while blindfolded) If you're going to test the influence of sugar you could use sugar for candy A and some combination of Sucralose, Ace-K, aspartame and some strange carbohydrate like mannitol or xylitol in candy B and get pretty close in terms of taste and mouthfeel but in A/B tests people will notice the difference. Then people will wonder if those other substances cause problems and none of these address the possibility that the sensory pleasure of junk food makes kids squee and lose self control.
        Dylan16807 4y ago
        If you're blaming a specific coloring agent it's pretty easy to hide a drop. And I'm not talking about sugar or sweeteners or anything.
  - bawolff 4y ago
    I was under the impression there was lots of evidence - not that the junk food causes bad behaviour, but that adults treat children who have just eaten junk food differently causing them to misbehave.
- LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
  Probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azorubine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azorubine , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranth_(dye) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranth_(dye), or another cousin from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azo_dye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azo_dye s. I knew it from 'Strawberry Milk' which made me sneeze and feel strange long ago. Since then I'm avoiding E122&E123. But haven't seen it that much in the last years. Still wouldn't want to have it. It's cheap stuff to upsell cheap products. Mix/blend some real strawberries into your milk/yoghurt, or use organic syrup, marmalade.
binrec 4y ago
Titanium dioxide is used as a colorant to make things look whiter. It's common in cottage cheese, for example.
- MrVandemar 4y ago
  And soy-milk too ...
- TylerE 4y ago
  Even used to produce very bright stars in fireworks
- LazyMans 4y ago
  Not my cottage cheese :(
saxonww 4y ago
As mentioned, TiO2 is perhaps the most common white pigment and is used in all kinds of things from candy to toothpaste to cosmetics. We eat a lot of it, and it's generally recognized as safe in the US (but not the EU!). Si02 is just silica/quartz, and is the most common type of sand. It's usually an anti-caking agent but... it's sand. You are almost certainly getting some SiO2 any time you eat a vegetable. It is also generally recognized as safe.
- dunham 4y ago
  The title says nano-particles. Is this nano-sand any different from the sand you find on a carrot?
  - hammock 4y ago
    Absolutely it is different. They mill the silica very finely and then filter out only the nanoparticles for use
    - kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
      Silt is basically naturally milled sand. There isn't anything exotic about it.
      - hammock 4y ago
        Do you eat or breathe a lot of silt? If you did, you'd probably get sick. Silicosis is a terrible and terribly common occupational ailment. It's the size of the particle that matters more than what it's made of
        zdragnar 4y ago
        The sickness is due to how the particles interact with the lining of your lungs, and breathing in enough to get ill effects will be much more than you consume through food over a short period. There may be longer term effects, but I'd imagine we would have identified more of them by now, considering how severely dangerous silicosis is.

mrguyorama 4y ago

There's something about one of the red dyes in america that is partially linked to adhd symptoms or restless kids?

PaulHoule 4y ago
I think almost everyone who works with children (teachers, day care, people who chaperone ski trips) believes that ingredients of junk food (sugar, food colorings, etc.) despite their being little evidence.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  I'm allergic to tartrazine. It doesn't seem to affect me much as an adult but as a child I'd go into drastic coughing/wheezing fits from consuming orange-flavored drinks in which it's used as a food coloring. I have a solid ADHD diagnosis but not looked into any kind of larger overlap with other allergies, due to the cost of screening/testing. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Tartrazine https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Tartrazine
  - LazyMans 4y ago
    Reading this made me think about how Twizzler Pull and Peel make me cough. Went and looked it up. Yellow 5 is in them. Have been diagnosed ADD for the last 22 years. Huh.
- ipython 4y ago
  I’m tired of the constant “no evidence” bs. I have children and their behavior changes dramatically when they eat food with artificial coloring. I’m honestly tired of being told I’m crazy. You can take my kids and try it yourself.
  - Dylan16807 4y ago
    There's a big difference between "nothing changes" and "it's not the color causing the changes". And double blind tests aren't hard to do.
    - PaulHoule 4y ago
      No, they are hard. If you're going to feed kids candy that is colored with agent A you need to make identical candy colored with agent B so the kids can't tell them apart. You can test A vs B but not A vs no color. (Though maybe you can have the kids eat the candy while blindfolded) If you're going to test the influence of sugar you could use sugar for candy A and some combination of Sucralose, Ace-K, aspartame and some strange carbohydrate like mannitol or xylitol in candy B and get pretty close in terms of taste and mouthfeel but in A/B tests people will notice the difference. Then people will wonder if those other substances cause problems and none of these address the possibility that the sensory pleasure of junk food makes kids squee and lose self control.
      - Dylan16807 4y ago
        If you're blaming a specific coloring agent it's pretty easy to hide a drop. And I'm not talking about sugar or sweeteners or anything.
- bawolff 4y ago
  I was under the impression there was lots of evidence - not that the junk food causes bad behaviour, but that adults treat children who have just eaten junk food differently causing them to misbehave.
LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
Probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azorubine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azorubine , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranth_(dye) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranth_(dye), or another cousin from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azo_dye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azo_dye s. I knew it from 'Strawberry Milk' which made me sneeze and feel strange long ago. Since then I'm avoiding E122&E123. But haven't seen it that much in the last years. Still wouldn't want to have it. It's cheap stuff to upsell cheap products. Mix/blend some real strawberries into your milk/yoghurt, or use organic syrup, marmalade.

binrec 4y ago

Titanium dioxide is used as a colorant to make things look whiter. It's common in cottage cheese, for example.

MrVandemar 4y ago
And soy-milk too ...
TylerE 4y ago
Even used to produce very bright stars in fireworks
LazyMans 4y ago
Not my cottage cheese :(

saxonww 4y ago

As mentioned, TiO2 is perhaps the most common white pigment and is used in all kinds of things from candy to toothpaste to cosmetics. We eat a lot of it, and it's generally recognized as safe in the US (but not the EU!). Si02 is just silica/quartz, and is the most common type of sand. It's usually an anti-caking agent but... it's sand. You are almost certainly getting some SiO2 any time you eat a vegetable. It is also generally recognized as safe.

dunham 4y ago
The title says nano-particles. Is this nano-sand any different from the sand you find on a carrot?
- hammock 4y ago
  Absolutely it is different. They mill the silica very finely and then filter out only the nanoparticles for use
  - kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
    Silt is basically naturally milled sand. There isn't anything exotic about it.
    - hammock 4y ago
      Do you eat or breathe a lot of silt? If you did, you'd probably get sick. Silicosis is a terrible and terribly common occupational ailment. It's the size of the particle that matters more than what it's made of
      - zdragnar 4y ago
        The sickness is due to how the particles interact with the lining of your lungs, and breathing in enough to get ill effects will be much more than you consume through food over a short period. There may be longer term effects, but I'd imagine we would have identified more of them by now, considering how severely dangerous silicosis is.