LONDON, Sept. 6 Britain's Food Standards Agency is advising parents that certain artificial colors may be linked to hyperactivity in children.
The advisory was issued Thursday after the publication of a study in the medical journal The Lancet that suggests a combination of certain artificial food colors with the preservative sodium benzoate could be linked to an adverse effect on children's behavior.
The research by the independent Committee on Toxicity, conducted by Southampton University, tested combinations of colors and a preservative most likely to be found in foods popular with children such as soft drinks, candy and ice cream.
"(While) this research does not prove that the colors used in the study actually cause increased hyperactivity in children, it provides supporting evidence for a link," COT chair Ieuan Hughes said in a statement.
Study author Jim Stevenson said parents should not think that simply taking additives out of food will prevent hyperactive disorders.
"We know that many other influences are at work but this at least is one a child can avoid," he said.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
