Annika AngeloHave you ever wondered if food dye affects ADHD symptoms? I’m Annika – I’m an ADHD nutrition research expert and I’ve actually read, dissected, and looked into every single study there is on food dye and ADHD. The first thing I want to say before we get into this conversation is that, to be frank, the majority of the research conducted on ADHD symptoms and food dye have a lot of major design concerns. That’s a conversation to be had in my upcoming book (more on this in the future!), so I won’t get into the details now.
Even so, it is estimated that 8% of children with ADHD experience symptom exaggeration related to food dyes. Throughout the years, meta-analyses continue to assert that there is only a small, almost negligible effect of artificial food dyes on ADHD symptoms. Now, if you’ve heard over and over that food dyes are the devil for ADHD, you’re not alone. It’s a common fear trope that’s touted off and on. I’m not saying that it’s bad to try to avoid artificial colors when able, though. All I’m saying is that a lot of this messaging that we’ve received was rooted in unsubstantiated fear.
Statistically, it won’t affect your kid. When we look at the research on ADHD adults and food dye, the statistical likelihood that you’ll be affected decreases to essentially zero. That being said, it’s not something we should ignore, either. After all, 8% is still an important number, and people deserve to understand how to best care for themselves or their children.
So, why do some kids with ADHD experience increased symptom severity and others don’t? The answer might lie within our genes. But, before we get into that, I want to quick talk about histamine (you’ll see why later).
Histamine Genes, Food Dyes, and ADHD
You might me asking me, “Why the heck do we care about histamine with ADHD?” That was my first reaction when I started researching ADHD and histamine a while ago. After all, I’ve been told my whole life that histamine is only relevant if I had MCAS. The funny thing about our bodies, though, is that they are quite complex and all of our functions work synergistically together in a dynamic way. This includes histamine.
For instance, in rat models, we’ve found that the receptor H3 is largely connected to hyperactivity and dopamine release. Histamine in general also seems to play a part in ADHD, as histamine depletion in the brain seems to be correlated with neurological disorders, with theories indicating that more histamine in the brain could improve symptoms of ADHD.
WHAT?
Isn’t histamine supposed to be a bad thing? Well, again it all comes down to the location and how the body is able to use it. In the neuronutritional field, we consider histamine to actually be a neurotransmitter. Just like any neurotransmitter, too little, too much, or gene polymorphisms regarding their receptors can either improve or exacerbate different mental health conditions. Regarding histamine, in general layman’s terms, too little histamine in the brain can exacerbate symptoms (it’s more complicated that this, but that’s the truth generally).
It’s curious, however, since too much serum histamine (i.e. histamine in the body, not the brain) is associated with worsened ADHD symptoms. To make it even more confusing, the current working theory in the ADHD nutrition space is that it’s less about histamine and more about having ineffective or dysregulated levels of something called DAO – an enzyme that breaks down histamine.
Anyway, I want you to keep all of this in mind as I break down this current study on ADHD, food dye, and histamine receptor polymorphisms. After all, this is a really complicated topic at the end of the day.
Alright! Now that we have all that out of the way, this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial – our gold-standard of scientific research.
| Method | Outcomes |
| 153 3-year-olds and 144 8/9-year-olds participated in the study | The gene polymorphisms HNMT Thr105Ile + HNMT T939C were the only ones to reach significance |
| The study’s dietitian had the parents perform a 24h food recall diary | HNMT T939C reached significance with both age categories with both mixes. |
| The parents administered either placebo or one of two dye mixes (they were unaware) to their child over six weeks – each week was also different, though they were unaware. | Based on the specific types of food dyes tested, the dyes yellow 6, red 3, yellow 13, and red 40 appear to have the most impact on hyperactivity for those with the above gene polymorphisms. |
| They did oral swabs to conduct genotyping |
Ok, so what does all this really mean?
It means that if you go get genetic testing and you have the HNMT T939C gene polymorphism, then it may be wise for you to try to avoid the specific food dyes yellow 6, yellow 13, red 3, and red 40.
However, I want to emphasize that this was only done in children and that we do not have any technical generalizability to adults at this time. Even so, this could be one reason why some kids with ADHD seem to react to certain food additives: they have a gene polymorphism that affects their histamine.
This all being said, the possible effects of histamine and food dye on ADHD may be mediated simply by eating enough vitamin C. We find that vitamin C is an effective regulatory nutrient regarding histamine, and seeing as a lot of people with ADHD don’t eat lots of fruits and veggies (where most of our vitamin C comes from), this is a great starting point.
As always, I will advocate for adding in our nutrients before worrying about subtracting different foods. Lots of people with ADHD thrive better on this mindset, especially since for a majority of people, foods with dyes are their ‘safe foods.’ If you are able to eat your food-dye riddled cereal with a glass of orange juice, you’re already doing better.
Try not to worry too much about the small things. Eventually they will get squeezed out by more nutritious options as you continue to work on your health journey. The stress that you experience worrying about the small things you’re trying to restrict is undoing the progress you’re trying to make. Trust me – as a person who’s studied nutrition and psychology, restriction is one of the most unhelpful first steps when we’re focused on long-term physical and mental health.
Thanks for reading!
If you have any thoughts, questions, or comments, be sure to shoot me a DM on Instagram @Nutrimindcoach, comment below, or send me an email at nutritionalmentalhealthpodcast@gmail.com. I LOVE hearing from you!
Don’t forget to tune into this week’s episode of my podcast: Approaching Brain Fog Holistically – I chat with Hashmin, a recent intern from the Center for Nutritional Psychology about her food journey and our current scientific understanding of brain fog. We break down what to do: nutrition, stress, herbs, and more. Click the button below to listen!
