red food dye allergy?

[jolenegreen]

Hi everyone...to make a long story short...i think my oldest son may have an allergy to red food dye..

I know I have read plenty of stuff on this board about it and cant find what I read...I wondered if anyone can point me in the right direction. I am actually looking for any advice, list of non dye foods, tips, articles etc...can anyone help me out? Thanks

[gini1313]

Two of my kids have yellow dye sensitivities (not sure about the baby yet, since he is still only nursing). I believe dd may also be sensitive to red dyes. I know alot more about yellow dye, but really, the big thing is to read labels. I googled yellow dye allergy and found a ton of info.

I think red dye is easier to avoid than yellow because it seems like yellow dye is in everything (did you know there is yellow dye in pickles?). Do be aware, though, that from everything I read, cross sensitivity is common between red and yellow dyes. Also, be aware, that at least with yellow dye, there are several names they can use to mean yellow dye. I don't know what the other names are for red dye... Also, with experimentation, you may find it is only one type of red dye. Ds seems to only react to yellow dye #5 (dh and his mom both react to that, too), but dd reacts to both yellow dye #5 and #6, but it is a little different. Yellow #5 causes an immediate reaction while #6 seems to need to build up in her system before we see a reaction. We are lucky in that it only causes a rash for them, no behavioral stuff or anaphalaxis or anything.

Good luck. It really sucks that they put coloring into EVERYTHING.

[kjbrown92]

When my DS and DD2 were tested for food intolerances, DS came back sensitive to blue dye #1, and DD2 was sensitive to yellow #5 and red #40. Because of their other intolerances, we basically can't eat processed foods, so in effect we are avoiding them, however, I've found dyes in the strangest places, like blue dye in white marshmallows. They do seem to put it in everything. This a good website: http://www.foodreactions.org/allergy/additives/400.html

Also check out the Allergies subforum of Health & Healing. There may be other people there that avoid it.

[WTHamI?]

Red dye gives me migraines. I've also heard from some that it gives their kids behavioral problems and even have one friend who it gave MS-like symptoms. Petrochemical food dyes are just generally nasty things and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to avoid it with your whole fam, not just the one with the known allergy. The best thing you can do is just read labels and eat unprocessed whole foods as much as possible. They really do put that crap in everything so there isn't really a list of things to avoid...although I don't think they can use it in certified organic. But most everything else that comes in a box is going to have dye so you just have to get in the habit of label-reading.

[tanyalynn]

There was a thread recently in Health &Healing about food dyes, places to learn more about it, and ways to potentially reduce your LO's sensitivity to it (not that anyone _should_ be consuming it, but it's atypical to noticeably react)... can I find the thread? hmm....

http://mothering.com/discussions/sho....php?t=1220312

yay for Firefox!

[raidercake]

I had a red dye allergy/sensitivity when I was a child (not sure if I still have it or outgrew it -- I'm too chicken to try it out). My husband thinks I'm totally crazy but I swear it's true! Every time I ate red dye in liquid form (ie -- soft drinks, prepared kool-aid type drinks - like Hawaiian Punch, food prepared with red food coloring, etc.) I got super sick with vomiting and diarrhea. Not so much with "dry" red foods (such as powdered drink mix that you add to water). Nothing really to add except thanks for validating my sensitivity -- maybe DH will believe me now LOL!

[ShadowMoon]

I had a red dye allergy when I was a child. I would break out in large rashes and hives on my face and arms. I think I outgrew it, (I've had a few things with red dye and haven't had that reaction).

However, I try to avoid all artificial food dyes if possible. I definitely make sure to avoid them with DS. I just check ingredient labels and see if they've been colored with natural plant dyes or not at all. I avoid anything with artificial colors/flavors or anything with numbers in the ingredients, (like Red #40, yellow #5, etc).