April 1, 2025 • 21 mins
What happens inside your child's brain when they consume those brightly colored candies, cereals, and drinks? The answer might disturb you.
Dr. Enrico Bolchacori dives deep into the scientific evidence linking artificial food dyes to neurological disruption, particularly in developing brains. Those vibrant colors - Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, and others - aren't just harmless enhancers; they're synthetic chemicals also used in industrial applications like dyeing textiles and plastics.
Multiple peer-reviewed studies from prestigious journals like The Lancet, Neurotherapeutics, and the Journal of Pediatrics confirm these chemicals interfere with neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, causing measurable effects on behavior, cognition, and mood regulation. Particularly alarming is evidence showing these dyes can cross the blood-brain barrier, potentially causing neuroinflammation and weakening the brain's natural protective mechanisms.
The gut-brain connection represents another critical pathway disrupted by artificial additives. Recent scientific discoveries reveal the gut's mesenteric system contains more neural activity than the brain itself, functioning as a sensory system that constantly communicates with our brain. This explains why food additives can trigger not just physical symptoms but profound behavioral and mood changes.
While we can't control all environmental toxins, we certainly can make informed choices about what we eat. Reading labels, choosing whole foods, seeking natural color alternatives, and supporting stronger regulations are practical steps to protect neurological health. European countries have already implemented stricter controls on these substances - isn't it time we demanded the same protection for American families? Your food choices today could literally shape your child's brain development tomorrow.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi everyone, I'm Dr Enrico Bolchacori and welcome to
another episode of Living aFull Life.
We're continuing on with ourdiscussion about additives and
food dyes because of thefeedback these last couple
episodes if you listened in wetalked about toxins in our food
and then into specifically dyes,and now we're going to dive
right into food dyesspecifically that are added to
(00:23):
foods that are processed and thedirect effects on the brain.
So more of a neuro neurologicalepisode today on the science
behind how it actually happens.
A lot of the questions that arecoming in are not hateful, but
they're like well, where's theproof that this stuff really
does cause issues?
We've got parents that areconcerned and parents that are
(00:44):
skeptical and parents that areskeptical and parents that truly
support this and are like yes,I see it in my kids whenever
they have this.
So let's not persuade orconvince anyone.
Let's just get into the sciencebehind this and how these
chemicals direct chemicalsaffect neuromodular activity in
the brain.
We need to go through this andwhat's happening.
(01:06):
So this episode is all aboutfood additives and the
neurodevelopmental effects onthe brain so in children mainly,
but these effects can takeeffect on an adult brain as well
.
We brought up in the lastpodcast, things like monosodium
glutamate, like MSG that's added, and how they can lead to lucid
dreams and brain decreasedbrain activity not decreased
(01:28):
brain activity, altered brainactivity and altered REM sleep
within high doses.
So that can affect anyone anadult that weighs 300 pounds all
the way down to kids that mayweigh 60 pounds.
So let's go into some morespecifics about this and the
specific colors that are outthere and talk about how they
directly affect these things.
(01:49):
What we need to understand, thekey word here is artificial.
These are artificial substancesthat are added to food to
enhance color flavorzanine,yellow 6, sunset Yellow, b1,
(02:12):
brilliant Blue, blue 2, indigoCarmine and green 3, fast Green.
These are dyes.
They have also been used to dyematerial as well.
That's why they have thosenames.
So it's fast green, brilliantblue, allure red.
They're also used to dye sheetmetal plastics.
(02:33):
They are used for othercoloring agents as well clothes,
but in our food they have beenpassed by the FDA to be okay in
certain quantities in our foodto give them color and vibrance.
Some additives that are usedmore so to preserve food that
(02:54):
may impact brain functioninclude sodium, besamate, msg,
ascortane, high fructose, cornsyrup and emulsifiers like
polysorbate 80 and carrageenan.
So these are things I would saythat are probably at the top of
your list to look at.
(03:15):
Once you read the side of thepackage, you'll see things like
red 40, yellow 5, msg, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup.
Those are the common ones onthe side of packaging.
These should be avoided on all,on all fronts.
We should not be eating thisstuff.
They are used quite commonlyeverywhere and it's maybe a
(03:35):
little bit easier when we gothrough the grocery store to
flip a package over and read itand be like, okay, we're not
going to get this one, we've gotan alternative.
It's a little bit different whenyou're out and about and you're
taking the kids out for icecream and they decide to choose
superman ice cream and you lookat it.
You're like, yeah, that'sprobably all three of them right
there, a little red, uh, blue,blue five, and the green and the
yellow are all there, yellowsix.
(03:56):
And you're like, oh man, maybewe shouldn't get that one right
and maybe we should just defaultto vanilla or chocolate.
Those are are good decisionsand they're all around us and
these are the decisions we haveto make and unless we're aware
of these things, we really don'tdo it and I think it's because
most of us are just not aware.
When we download informationand we process information with
social media and all the choicesthat we have for information,
(04:19):
we choose entertainment morethan we do science.
And that may be okay beingentertained is okay but
sometimes a little bit ofinformation can go a long way,
and that's why this podcast ishere and many others like it in
the health industry is to helpmotivate parents and not
influence.
Not influence parents, butmotivate them and encourage them
(04:39):
and be supportive of thehealthy choices that they do
want to make and be moredecisive and educated on the
decisions that they do make.
So let's go behind the science alittle bit, I think on the last
two episodes I brought up allthese great facts, but I didn't
really cite science or brainactivity or anything like that.
So we're going to dive moreinto science, and research has
(04:59):
shown that synthetic foods withdyes and additives can have
measurable effects on brainfunction, particularly in
children, and here are some ofthe studies I pulled from.
Like the Lancet back in 2007,with hyperactivity and ADHD
symptoms.
This study was published in2007.
It was found that children whoconsumed artificial colors and
sodium benzenate had increasedhyperactivity and attention
(05:23):
issues, and you may see this inyour kids as well.
With any artificial colors,especially red, blue and the
yellow is, when they have these,they'll change in activity,
there'll be more mood swings, abigger crash afterwards and just
not listening to instructions.
That can happen there as well.
We've also noticed cognitiveimpairment as well, and this is
(05:45):
from Neurotherapeutics back in2015, from a research article
that indicates that certain fooddyes like red 40 and yellow 5
can alter neurotransmitterfunction and cause oxidative
stress in the brain.
So these are from dyes that aredoing direct effects in the
brain, and I you know I alwayslean back to children because
(06:05):
it's our job to protect them andtheir brains are growing, their
bodies are growing.
If this is doing that to theirbrain, it's also going to do it
to your brain too.
So these are things to maybe beaware of and consume in very
low quantities.
Behavioral issues Just from thejournal Pediatrics, 10 years
ago found a significantcorrelation between artificial
(06:26):
dye consumption and increasedaggression, irritability and
mood swings in children, andthen, in the Frontiers of
Neuroscience just four or fiveyears ago, highlighted that food
diets like blue wine can crossthe blood-brain barrier,
potentially leading toneuroinflammation and disrupted
neuronal communication andthat's based on neuro
(06:46):
inflammation.
And these are just, from youknow, five well-established
studies and peer review journalsthe Lancet neurotherapeutics,
the journal pediatrics thatwe're pulling this stuff from.
It's all out there and it's notonly just in 2019, 2015, 2012.
I could have pulled this stuffback 2001, 1996, 1987.
This stuff goes back a longtime 30, 40 years in the
(07:09):
literature showing behavioraland mood disruptors and
additives that we're adding toour food and additives in
general.
So there's a little bit ofwhat's happening.
We get the hyperactivityresults from food dyes.
We get cognitive impairmentfrom these dyes, behavioral
issues and the constantneuroinflammation from them as
the body tries to process thisout of the system.
(07:31):
So you know how do thesesubstances directly affect the
brain, the neurotransmitterdisruptions that we brought up,
that certain dyes interfere withthe dopamine and serotonin
levels in the brain.
These are your mood enhancers ormood downers that are usually
held in balance in your brainfor just general behavior and
(07:52):
mood.
Healthy levels of both keep youin a neutral state where happy
things make you happy and angrythings make you angry.
But when they get skewed, wecan be perpetually stated into
an angry or depressive state oranxious state because of the
disruption in theseneurotransmitters.
So these are crucial for mood,focus and behavior and if we
(08:13):
start disrupting theseneurotransmitters, well,
anything can happen withbehavior.
In the end of the day, theyalso cause oxidative stress and
free radical damage in the bodyas well.
Artificial dyes can increaseoxidative stress, leading to
damage in the body as well.
Artificial dyes can increaseoxidative stress, leading to
neuronal damage and impairedcognitive function.
And then, by passing theblood-brain barrier, they have a
direct effect on the brainitself.
(08:35):
Some food diets have even beenshown to weaken the blood-brain
barrier, allowing harmfulsubstances to enter the brain
long-term.
So if we're giving these foodcolorings to our kids and we're
damaging and weakening theblood-brain barrier, they're
going to be more susceptible toother things passing the
blood-brain barrier later inlife.
This is maybe sensitivities tomedications, sensitivities to
other additives that affect them.
(08:57):
Sometimes some of these studiesin Germany they've done falling
adults that had monosodiumglutamate and did have those
lucid dreams.
They followed theirs and theybelieved that the blood brain
barrier was weakened in theseindividuals, allowing things
like sodium to pass at a higherlevel, which caused not only
elusive dreams, mood behavior,mood swings, irregular sleep and
(09:18):
even insomnia and that was atheory.
They're still working on thatand doing more conclusive
studies on that and followingpeople over time, longitudinal
studies to see if the weakeningof the blood-brain barrier.
This is a new frontier inscience.
The blood-brain barrier and itsduration in life.
It was thought to be a thing.
It's just a barrier.
It's the blood-brain barrierand its duration in life.
It was thought to be a thing.
It's just a barrier.
It's there for your whole lifeto worry about it, but that
(09:39):
thing in itself can change overtime and be damaged over time.
That wasn't a thought 50 yearsago.
So that's interesting wherescience is going.
With the blood-brain barrier asa barrier, how does that force
field and that shield from thebrain and the body weaken over
time?
That's a new frontier for thatas well.
And then the gut-brainconnection as well.
Additives like emulsifiers candisrupt the gut microbiome,
(10:02):
which play a key role in brainfunction and emotional
regulation.
Let's talk about the vagal,vagus response from the brain to
the gut and it's really asensor between the microbiome of
the brain and the gut.
New literature and we've talkedabout this in previous podcasts
show that the mesenteric system, the gut system, has more
(10:23):
neural activity than the brainitself.
It's newer information.
It's kind of earth shatteringinformation.
When we thought the brain wasthe neural center of the entire
human body, it's actually thegut that has more neural
activity and more neurons thanthe brain itself.
The mesenteric system has more.
So the brain and mesentericsystem have this connection and
really the science is showingthat it's a sensory system
(10:46):
between the microbiome and howthat biome is living minute to
minute, second to second andgiving relays back to the brain
saying hey, we're doing okay,hey, we're not.
Hey, we're doing okay, hey,we're not.
And those signals can beappetite increase, appetite
decrease.
It can be a sweet tooth craving, it can be a salt craving, it
can be whatever.
The biome is craving or needingfor their bacteria and viruses
(11:10):
to survive can actually connectback to the brain and give them
information and be like oh,we're hungry, oh we need sugar,
and when we really don't, it'sreally the vital in the gut,
like candida overgrowth, sayingno, hey, we need the sugar.
The bad guys are saying we needthe sugar and actually disrupt
that communication between thebrain and body.
Crazy science that we're inright now to think about how the
(11:33):
body is working on so manyfronts and it's not just systems
.
We've classified the human bodyas systems to make it very
linear, so that, as humans, wecan understand in a linear basis
oh the circulatory system, ohthe cardiac system, oh the liver
, the pancreas, the stomach.
And we've taken apart the humanbody into these different
(11:54):
systems.
But it doesn't actually workthat.
Taken apart the human body intothese different systems, but it
doesn't actually work that way.
The human body works in harmonyevery second, communicating on
millions of fronts, uh, to makethis whole thing work and it's,
it's absolutely amazing.
So when we throw in chemicalsand additives and the reason we
have this podcast today isbecause it's by choice we can
choose not to put thesechemicals into our body.
We talked about toxins on twoepisodes ago and how you don't
(12:17):
have a choice for all of them.
Toxins come in physical,chemical and emotional.
And there's Wi-Fi, there's EMF,there's radiation, there's
microwaves, there's all theseother things that are happening
in your environment.
Where there's pollution,there's air pollution, there's
carbon monoxide, there's a wholebunch of things around you that
you can't control.
You can't go outside with a gasmask walking around.
I guess you could to try andfilter all the air every minute
(12:39):
of your life you could.
But there's pollution.
It's the way it is theoff-gassing in your home, in a
newer home, with the laminatefloors and the carpet and the
new oak table that you bought orthe new furniture that you got,
it's going to off-gas.
These are all additives andthese are all stimulants to the
human body.
Then there's environmentalpollution, chemical pollution,
(12:59):
corporate pollution, pollutedwater we talked about this and
you can't filter all of that.
You'd be a very weird.
Well, you'd be the bubble boy,right, you'd be in a bubble.
It doesn't work that way.
So we don't have the choice todecrease Wi-Fi, maybe not have
Wi-Fi in the home.
We talked about those things.
But the choices that you canmake are easily like what you
(13:21):
put in your mouth for sure.
If you keep your mouth closedand you don't put that in there,
then that additive and thosechemicals can't get into your
body.
Make sense.
So we're talking about thethings we can make choices on.
So instead of bright colors,like we choose bland foods or
real foods.
Instead of having Froot Loopsfor cereal, we're going to make
egg whites and some other stufffor cereal.
We're going to have some breadand butter.
(13:41):
We're going to have somehealthier choices no food dyes
in there.
So the things that we can do,you can do, to avoid these
harmful additives is read labels.
Number one you see color inthere.
I would just avoid it and Igave you the top five or six red
, 40, yellow, five yellow, sixblue, one blue, two green, three
(14:02):
.
Those are the ones.
So there's one red, two yellows, two blues and one green that
you should probably avoid on allcosts.
You may see some other ones outthere, but they're not labeled
with a green number.
The numbered ones are the onesapproved by FDA that can be into
food and pretty much all ofthem are not good.
They're additives that dodisrupt neurotransmitters in the
(14:24):
brain.
So read the label.
Number one thing you can do isjust blindly buying things based
on the packaging and how goodit looks Not the best decision
we can make.
Choose Whole Foods.
You go through the Whole Foodssection.
You're going to avoidartificial dyes, because an
apple is an apple and an orangeis an orange.
They're minimally processed.
(14:46):
If you buy organic, they'reminimally sprayed and they're
probably less GMO and all thatother stuff in there as well.
Look for natural alternatives.
You know some companies usebeet juice for red, turmeric for
yellow and orange, spirulinafor green, for color, instead of
synthetic dyes.
So that's pretty cool.
So if you see turmeric or beetjuice or spirulina on the side
(15:08):
of the thing, that's probablywhat they're using, more so for
the dye and the color of thepresentation than the taste.
Uh, beet juice is mainly sugarthe thing, or sugar beets is
where we get in america a lot ofour processed sugar from.
So beet juice is, you know, agreat red dye.
Turmeric gives you a greatyellow color and those are
probably used in more healthyfoods to get the food the color
(15:31):
that it needs to be and supportpolicy changes.
We're in a time in the UnitedStates that's very exciting,
with a fresh look at policy, fda, cdc, the foods, the drugs that
are being forced onto people.
This is a great time to getinvolved and just write a letter
or support a bill that you seegoing out there.
(15:53):
I know Florida is passingsomething right now on chemicals
being released from airplanes abill saying that you know you
can't actively do this withoutsome type of warning or some
type of foreshadowing or beingtransparent about this.
That's something we can supportabout or maybe you know, or
maybe you don't care about that,but support the ones that you
do care about.
There's going to be a lot offda changes coming up now.
(16:15):
That's where you write a letterand you send it to your
representative and say, hey, Isupport bill number number
number because these dyes havebeen in uh, in our food for
decades and it's time, with theliterature, that we all know
that these things should not beallowed in them anymore.
And it's writing that simpleletter and the representatives
see this in an overwhelmingsupport and then hopefully they
(16:36):
do their due diligence andsupport the people and vote in
favor of what we support.
Right.
So it's an exciting time.
The European Union has strictregulation on food dyes and the
US may fall suit with enoughconsumer demand if we are loud
enough about this and theeuropeans were loud about this
in the 90s.
Very loud about this is stopputting stuff in our food.
(16:57):
They love food out there themediterranean culture, the
spaniards, the italians, thegreeks, the french, the ones
they started figuring out thethings are being put in the food
.
They're like forget it.
The people actually stoppedbuying it.
So Kraft, one of the bigcompanies, pepsi, all of them
had to change their products toa piece to the people because
they were just not buying it.
(17:17):
They were voting with theirdollars.
I don't see that happening inAmerica.
If it's on the shelf, americanswill grab it.
So what we need to do is supportpolicy changes on that as well,
and then observationalbehavioral changes in your
children.
Keep an eye out for this.
If you see random mood swings,especially, you know you hear
the story.
Hey, we went, took the familyto Orlando, we came back but
(17:39):
we've got some mood issues andthey joke.
Parents joke like how could youhave mood issues when we're on
the roller coasters at UniversalStudios?
And they're like we just tookyou on this trip.
How are you all upset?
Well, it's a change in scenery.
It's overstimulation, yes, butgo back to the foods that they
were probably eating.
You probably didn't pack enoughfood for three days to do
breakfast, lunch and dinner eachday.
You went out.
(17:59):
Think about those things.
Well, where do we go?
Do they probably have additivesin there?
Yes, is that what's affectingmy child?
And being more aware and beinglike oh man, maybe we do have a
child that's sensitive tocertain matters.
Let's dig into that and helpsupport them better by knowing
which ones they are, avoidingthem in the future and helping
them eat cleaner and moreorganic.
(18:20):
Those are the strategies I usefor my family.
Those are strategies you shouldlook into as well, if you have
any more.
Thanks for the feedback, eventhe angry emails like there's no
literature behind this.
Well, I just gave you like sixor seven published research
studies on this stuff and it'sin peer reviewed journals.
So we are following up withthis.
And just because the FDA hasallowed things we talked about
(18:40):
this on the last podcast theallowable dose in food is a
non-toxic dose.
So just because it doesn't killyou once you eat it or cause
immediate cancer and the FDAapproves it, doesn't mean it's
good for you.
It just means that it's not atoxic dose.
The FDA's job is to protect thepeople from dying, not
necessarily protect them fromneurodevelopmental disorders,
(19:02):
adhd and all this other stuff.
That's not their job.
They can't do it all.
So they're there to putimmediate threats that could
damage people's health in theimmediate consumption of those
foods and drinks.
That's the FDA's job.
And drugs as well, right.
So that's their job there tomake sure that things don't kill
people like Vioxx.
And then when Vioxx starts tokill people, they pull it off
(19:23):
the shelf, right.
So that's the FDA's job and Iwouldn't put your family's
health in the FDA's hands.
It's your job to do that andthat's where this podcast came
from.
But your responses are great.
They're great questions.
They're out there saying, hey,where's the literature on that?
Boom?
I did a consumable podcasttoday on a little bit of the
(19:44):
research to not overstimulateyou.
But keep in mind about that,springtime's here.
We got the Easter eggs comingout, we got the candies coming
out and you'll see the lightpastel ones.
Choose those.
Those are probably not blue,red 40 and blue one and all
those other ones that we talkedabout.
They're probably turmeric orbeet juice and those are the
(20:04):
ones to choose for your familythis year.
Stay well, stay healthy.
Thanks for tuning in.
See you next week.
Have a great and healthy week.
Hi everyone, I'm Dr Enrico Bolchacori and welcome to
another episode of Living aFull Life.
We're continuing on with ourdiscussion about additives and
food dyes because of thefeedback these last couple
episodes if you listened in wetalked about toxins in our food
and then into specifically dyes,and now we're going to dive
right into food dyesspecifically that are added to
(00:23):
foods that are processed and thedirect effects on the brain.
So more of a neuro neurologicalepisode today on the science
behind how it actually happens.
A lot of the questions that arecoming in are not hateful, but
they're like well, where's theproof that this stuff really
does cause issues?
We've got parents that areconcerned and parents that are
(00:44):
skeptical and parents that areskeptical and parents that truly
support this and are like yes,I see it in my kids whenever
they have this.
So let's not persuade orconvince anyone.
Let's just get into the sciencebehind this and how these
chemicals direct chemicalsaffect neuromodular activity in
the brain.
We need to go through this andwhat's happening.
(01:06):
So this episode is all aboutfood additives and the
neurodevelopmental effects onthe brain so in children mainly,
but these effects can takeeffect on an adult brain as well
.
We brought up in the lastpodcast, things like monosodium
glutamate, like MSG that's added, and how they can lead to lucid
dreams and brain decreasedbrain activity not decreased
(01:28):
brain activity, altered brainactivity and altered REM sleep
within high doses.
So that can affect anyone anadult that weighs 300 pounds all
the way down to kids that mayweigh 60 pounds.
So let's go into some morespecifics about this and the
specific colors that are outthere and talk about how they
directly affect these things.
(01:49):
What we need to understand, thekey word here is artificial.
These are artificial substancesthat are added to food to
enhance color flavorzanine,yellow 6, sunset Yellow, b1,
(02:12):
brilliant Blue, blue 2, indigoCarmine and green 3, fast Green.
These are dyes.
They have also been used to dyematerial as well.
That's why they have thosenames.
So it's fast green, brilliantblue, allure red.
They're also used to dye sheetmetal plastics.
(02:33):
They are used for othercoloring agents as well clothes,
but in our food they have beenpassed by the FDA to be okay in
certain quantities in our foodto give them color and vibrance.
Some additives that are usedmore so to preserve food that
(02:54):
may impact brain functioninclude sodium, besamate, msg,
ascortane, high fructose, cornsyrup and emulsifiers like
polysorbate 80 and carrageenan.
So these are things I would saythat are probably at the top of
your list to look at.
(03:15):
Once you read the side of thepackage, you'll see things like
red 40, yellow 5, msg, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup.
Those are the common ones onthe side of packaging.
These should be avoided on all,on all fronts.
We should not be eating thisstuff.
They are used quite commonlyeverywhere and it's maybe a
(03:35):
little bit easier when we gothrough the grocery store to
flip a package over and read itand be like, okay, we're not
going to get this one, we've gotan alternative.
It's a little bit different whenyou're out and about and you're
taking the kids out for icecream and they decide to choose
superman ice cream and you lookat it.
You're like, yeah, that'sprobably all three of them right
there, a little red, uh, blue,blue five, and the green and the
yellow are all there, yellowsix.
(03:56):
And you're like, oh man, maybewe shouldn't get that one right
and maybe we should just defaultto vanilla or chocolate.
Those are are good decisionsand they're all around us and
these are the decisions we haveto make and unless we're aware
of these things, we really don'tdo it and I think it's because
most of us are just not aware.
When we download informationand we process information with
social media and all the choicesthat we have for information,
(04:19):
we choose entertainment morethan we do science.
And that may be okay beingentertained is okay but
sometimes a little bit ofinformation can go a long way,
and that's why this podcast ishere and many others like it in
the health industry is to helpmotivate parents and not
influence.
Not influence parents, butmotivate them and encourage them
(04:39):
and be supportive of thehealthy choices that they do
want to make and be moredecisive and educated on the
decisions that they do make.
So let's go behind the science alittle bit, I think on the last
two episodes I brought up allthese great facts, but I didn't
really cite science or brainactivity or anything like that.
So we're going to dive moreinto science, and research has
(04:59):
shown that synthetic foods withdyes and additives can have
measurable effects on brainfunction, particularly in
children, and here are some ofthe studies I pulled from.
Like the Lancet back in 2007,with hyperactivity and ADHD
symptoms.
This study was published in2007.
It was found that children whoconsumed artificial colors and
sodium benzenate had increasedhyperactivity and attention
(05:23):
issues, and you may see this inyour kids as well.
With any artificial colors,especially red, blue and the
yellow is, when they have these,they'll change in activity,
there'll be more mood swings, abigger crash afterwards and just
not listening to instructions.
That can happen there as well.
We've also noticed cognitiveimpairment as well, and this is
(05:45):
from Neurotherapeutics back in2015, from a research article
that indicates that certain fooddyes like red 40 and yellow 5
can alter neurotransmitterfunction and cause oxidative
stress in the brain.
So these are from dyes that aredoing direct effects in the
brain, and I you know I alwayslean back to children because
(06:05):
it's our job to protect them andtheir brains are growing, their
bodies are growing.
If this is doing that to theirbrain, it's also going to do it
to your brain too.
So these are things to maybe beaware of and consume in very
low quantities.
Behavioral issues Just from thejournal Pediatrics, 10 years
ago found a significantcorrelation between artificial
(06:26):
dye consumption and increasedaggression, irritability and
mood swings in children, andthen, in the Frontiers of
Neuroscience just four or fiveyears ago, highlighted that food
diets like blue wine can crossthe blood-brain barrier,
potentially leading toneuroinflammation and disrupted
neuronal communication andthat's based on neuro
(06:46):
inflammation.
And these are just, from youknow, five well-established
studies and peer review journalsthe Lancet neurotherapeutics,
the journal pediatrics thatwe're pulling this stuff from.
It's all out there and it's notonly just in 2019, 2015, 2012.
I could have pulled this stuffback 2001, 1996, 1987.
This stuff goes back a longtime 30, 40 years in the
(07:09):
literature showing behavioraland mood disruptors and
additives that we're adding toour food and additives in
general.
So there's a little bit ofwhat's happening.
We get the hyperactivityresults from food dyes.
We get cognitive impairmentfrom these dyes, behavioral
issues and the constantneuroinflammation from them as
the body tries to process thisout of the system.
(07:31):
So you know how do thesesubstances directly affect the
brain, the neurotransmitterdisruptions that we brought up,
that certain dyes interfere withthe dopamine and serotonin
levels in the brain.
These are your mood enhancers ormood downers that are usually
held in balance in your brainfor just general behavior and
(07:52):
mood.
Healthy levels of both keep youin a neutral state where happy
things make you happy and angrythings make you angry.
But when they get skewed, wecan be perpetually stated into
an angry or depressive state oranxious state because of the
disruption in theseneurotransmitters.
So these are crucial for mood,focus and behavior and if we
(08:13):
start disrupting theseneurotransmitters, well,
anything can happen withbehavior.
In the end of the day, theyalso cause oxidative stress and
free radical damage in the bodyas well.
Artificial dyes can increaseoxidative stress, leading to
damage in the body as well.
Artificial dyes can increaseoxidative stress, leading to
neuronal damage and impairedcognitive function.
And then, by passing theblood-brain barrier, they have a
direct effect on the brainitself.
(08:35):
Some food diets have even beenshown to weaken the blood-brain
barrier, allowing harmfulsubstances to enter the brain
long-term.
So if we're giving these foodcolorings to our kids and we're
damaging and weakening theblood-brain barrier, they're
going to be more susceptible toother things passing the
blood-brain barrier later inlife.
This is maybe sensitivities tomedications, sensitivities to
other additives that affect them.
(08:57):
Sometimes some of these studiesin Germany they've done falling
adults that had monosodiumglutamate and did have those
lucid dreams.
They followed theirs and theybelieved that the blood brain
barrier was weakened in theseindividuals, allowing things
like sodium to pass at a higherlevel, which caused not only
elusive dreams, mood behavior,mood swings, irregular sleep and
(09:18):
even insomnia and that was atheory.
They're still working on thatand doing more conclusive
studies on that and followingpeople over time, longitudinal
studies to see if the weakeningof the blood-brain barrier.
This is a new frontier inscience.
The blood-brain barrier and itsduration in life.
It was thought to be a thing.
It's just a barrier.
It's the blood-brain barrierand its duration in life.
It was thought to be a thing.
It's just a barrier.
It's there for your whole lifeto worry about it, but that
(09:39):
thing in itself can change overtime and be damaged over time.
That wasn't a thought 50 yearsago.
So that's interesting wherescience is going.
With the blood-brain barrier asa barrier, how does that force
field and that shield from thebrain and the body weaken over
time?
That's a new frontier for thatas well.
And then the gut-brainconnection as well.
Additives like emulsifiers candisrupt the gut microbiome,
(10:02):
which play a key role in brainfunction and emotional
regulation.
Let's talk about the vagal,vagus response from the brain to
the gut and it's really asensor between the microbiome of
the brain and the gut.
New literature and we've talkedabout this in previous podcasts
show that the mesenteric system, the gut system, has more
(10:23):
neural activity than the brainitself.
It's newer information.
It's kind of earth shatteringinformation.
When we thought the brain wasthe neural center of the entire
human body, it's actually thegut that has more neural
activity and more neurons thanthe brain itself.
The mesenteric system has more.
So the brain and mesentericsystem have this connection and
really the science is showingthat it's a sensory system
(10:46):
between the microbiome and howthat biome is living minute to
minute, second to second andgiving relays back to the brain
saying hey, we're doing okay,hey, we're not.
Hey, we're doing okay, hey,we're not.
And those signals can beappetite increase, appetite
decrease.
It can be a sweet tooth craving, it can be a salt craving, it
can be whatever.
The biome is craving or needingfor their bacteria and viruses
(11:10):
to survive can actually connectback to the brain and give them
information and be like oh,we're hungry, oh we need sugar,
and when we really don't, it'sreally the vital in the gut,
like candida overgrowth, sayingno, hey, we need the sugar.
The bad guys are saying we needthe sugar and actually disrupt
that communication between thebrain and body.
Crazy science that we're inright now to think about how the
(11:33):
body is working on so manyfronts and it's not just systems
.
We've classified the human bodyas systems to make it very
linear, so that, as humans, wecan understand in a linear basis
oh the circulatory system, ohthe cardiac system, oh the liver
, the pancreas, the stomach.
And we've taken apart the humanbody into these different
(11:54):
systems.
But it doesn't actually workthat.
Taken apart the human body intothese different systems, but it
doesn't actually work that way.
The human body works in harmonyevery second, communicating on
millions of fronts, uh, to makethis whole thing work and it's,
it's absolutely amazing.
So when we throw in chemicalsand additives and the reason we
have this podcast today isbecause it's by choice we can
choose not to put thesechemicals into our body.
We talked about toxins on twoepisodes ago and how you don't
(12:17):
have a choice for all of them.
Toxins come in physical,chemical and emotional.
And there's Wi-Fi, there's EMF,there's radiation, there's
microwaves, there's all theseother things that are happening
in your environment.
Where there's pollution,there's air pollution, there's
carbon monoxide, there's a wholebunch of things around you that
you can't control.
You can't go outside with a gasmask walking around.
I guess you could to try andfilter all the air every minute
(12:39):
of your life you could.
But there's pollution.
It's the way it is theoff-gassing in your home, in a
newer home, with the laminatefloors and the carpet and the
new oak table that you bought orthe new furniture that you got,
it's going to off-gas.
These are all additives andthese are all stimulants to the
human body.
Then there's environmentalpollution, chemical pollution,
(12:59):
corporate pollution, pollutedwater we talked about this and
you can't filter all of that.
You'd be a very weird.
Well, you'd be the bubble boy,right, you'd be in a bubble.
It doesn't work that way.
So we don't have the choice todecrease Wi-Fi, maybe not have
Wi-Fi in the home.
We talked about those things.
But the choices that you canmake are easily like what you
(13:21):
put in your mouth for sure.
If you keep your mouth closedand you don't put that in there,
then that additive and thosechemicals can't get into your
body.
Make sense.
So we're talking about thethings we can make choices on.
So instead of bright colors,like we choose bland foods or
real foods.
Instead of having Froot Loopsfor cereal, we're going to make
egg whites and some other stufffor cereal.
We're going to have some breadand butter.
(13:41):
We're going to have somehealthier choices no food dyes
in there.
So the things that we can do,you can do, to avoid these
harmful additives is read labels.
Number one you see color inthere.
I would just avoid it and Igave you the top five or six red
, 40, yellow, five yellow, sixblue, one blue, two green, three
(14:02):
.
Those are the ones.
So there's one red, two yellows, two blues and one green that
you should probably avoid on allcosts.
You may see some other ones outthere, but they're not labeled
with a green number.
The numbered ones are the onesapproved by FDA that can be into
food and pretty much all ofthem are not good.
They're additives that dodisrupt neurotransmitters in the
(14:24):
brain.
So read the label.
Number one thing you can do isjust blindly buying things based
on the packaging and how goodit looks Not the best decision
we can make.
Choose Whole Foods.
You go through the Whole Foodssection.
You're going to avoidartificial dyes, because an
apple is an apple and an orangeis an orange.
They're minimally processed.
(14:46):
If you buy organic, they'reminimally sprayed and they're
probably less GMO and all thatother stuff in there as well.
Look for natural alternatives.
You know some companies usebeet juice for red, turmeric for
yellow and orange, spirulinafor green, for color, instead of
synthetic dyes.
So that's pretty cool.
So if you see turmeric or beetjuice or spirulina on the side
(15:08):
of the thing, that's probablywhat they're using, more so for
the dye and the color of thepresentation than the taste.
Uh, beet juice is mainly sugarthe thing, or sugar beets is
where we get in america a lot ofour processed sugar from.
So beet juice is, you know, agreat red dye.
Turmeric gives you a greatyellow color and those are
probably used in more healthyfoods to get the food the color
(15:31):
that it needs to be and supportpolicy changes.
We're in a time in the UnitedStates that's very exciting,
with a fresh look at policy, fda, cdc, the foods, the drugs that
are being forced onto people.
This is a great time to getinvolved and just write a letter
or support a bill that you seegoing out there.
(15:53):
I know Florida is passingsomething right now on chemicals
being released from airplanes abill saying that you know you
can't actively do this withoutsome type of warning or some
type of foreshadowing or beingtransparent about this.
That's something we can supportabout or maybe you know, or
maybe you don't care about that,but support the ones that you
do care about.
There's going to be a lot offda changes coming up now.
(16:15):
That's where you write a letterand you send it to your
representative and say, hey, Isupport bill number number
number because these dyes havebeen in uh, in our food for
decades and it's time, with theliterature, that we all know
that these things should not beallowed in them anymore.
And it's writing that simpleletter and the representatives
see this in an overwhelmingsupport and then hopefully they
(16:36):
do their due diligence andsupport the people and vote in
favor of what we support.
Right.
So it's an exciting time.
The European Union has strictregulation on food dyes and the
US may fall suit with enoughconsumer demand if we are loud
enough about this and theeuropeans were loud about this
in the 90s.
Very loud about this is stopputting stuff in our food.
(16:57):
They love food out there themediterranean culture, the
spaniards, the italians, thegreeks, the french, the ones
they started figuring out thethings are being put in the food
.
They're like forget it.
The people actually stoppedbuying it.
So Kraft, one of the bigcompanies, pepsi, all of them
had to change their products toa piece to the people because
they were just not buying it.
(17:17):
They were voting with theirdollars.
I don't see that happening inAmerica.
If it's on the shelf, americanswill grab it.
So what we need to do is supportpolicy changes on that as well,
and then observationalbehavioral changes in your
children.
Keep an eye out for this.
If you see random mood swings,especially, you know you hear
the story.
Hey, we went, took the familyto Orlando, we came back but
(17:39):
we've got some mood issues andthey joke.
Parents joke like how could youhave mood issues when we're on
the roller coasters at UniversalStudios?
And they're like we just tookyou on this trip.
How are you all upset?
Well, it's a change in scenery.
It's overstimulation, yes, butgo back to the foods that they
were probably eating.
You probably didn't pack enoughfood for three days to do
breakfast, lunch and dinner eachday.
You went out.
(17:59):
Think about those things.
Well, where do we go?
Do they probably have additivesin there?
Yes, is that what's affectingmy child?
And being more aware and beinglike oh man, maybe we do have a
child that's sensitive tocertain matters.
Let's dig into that and helpsupport them better by knowing
which ones they are, avoidingthem in the future and helping
them eat cleaner and moreorganic.
(18:20):
Those are the strategies I usefor my family.
Those are strategies you shouldlook into as well, if you have
any more.
Thanks for the feedback, eventhe angry emails like there's no
literature behind this.
Well, I just gave you like sixor seven published research
studies on this stuff and it'sin peer reviewed journals.
So we are following up withthis.
And just because the FDA hasallowed things we talked about
(18:40):
this on the last podcast theallowable dose in food is a
non-toxic dose.
So just because it doesn't killyou once you eat it or cause
immediate cancer and the FDAapproves it, doesn't mean it's
good for you.
It just means that it's not atoxic dose.
The FDA's job is to protect thepeople from dying, not
necessarily protect them fromneurodevelopmental disorders,
(19:02):
adhd and all this other stuff.
That's not their job.
They can't do it all.
So they're there to putimmediate threats that could
damage people's health in theimmediate consumption of those
foods and drinks.
That's the FDA's job.
And drugs as well, right.
So that's their job there tomake sure that things don't kill
people like Vioxx.
And then when Vioxx starts tokill people, they pull it off
(19:23):
the shelf, right.
So that's the FDA's job and Iwouldn't put your family's
health in the FDA's hands.
It's your job to do that andthat's where this podcast came
from.
But your responses are great.
They're great questions.
They're out there saying, hey,where's the literature on that?
Boom?
I did a consumable podcasttoday on a little bit of the
(19:44):
research to not overstimulateyou.
But keep in mind about that,springtime's here.
We got the Easter eggs comingout, we got the candies coming
out and you'll see the lightpastel ones.
Choose those.
Those are probably not blue,red 40 and blue one and all
those other ones that we talkedabout.
They're probably turmeric orbeet juice and those are the
(20:04):
ones to choose for your familythis year.
Stay well, stay healthy.
Thanks for tuning in.
See you next week.
Have a great and healthy week.
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