I Gave up artificial food dyes for a month. It was Harder than I thought.

I’ll be the first to admit that prior to this project, i did not give food dyes much thought. AFTER ALL, I EAT, SHOP AND COOK PRETY Healthily. I’m a lifelong vesterer turned vaguely pescatarian, i shop organic woven posseible (at the very league for the Dosen), I frequent the farmer’s markets, and actually enjoy eating all the weird types of plant-based protein. But i’m also a mom of two young kids, and therein, nor i quickly learned when i began my first day of elimination all artificial food dyes my life, lies the rub.

AS I WHIRRED MY WAY THROUGH MY FrIDGE, Pantry and Medicine Cabinet, I was alarmed by how many of my kids’ go-tos-Mostly Treats, but Also Like Pickles and Tylenol-Include Sydetifies Like Red Dye No. 40 and Green Dye No. 3. What Surprised with More, Though, Was the Flip Side: There was a whole Category of Neon Kid Foods I HAD ASSUMED I’D NEED TO ELEST (MAC and Cheese, Goldfish Crackers, etc.). Turmer. Phew.

The problem with Food Dyes

Why try to avoid or eliminate synthetic food dyes in the first place? Earlier This Year, The Food and Drug Administration Announced that it would be to do. 3, Which is petroleum-based and found in commono lives like frosting, Cocktail and Gummies. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently took it a step further, announcing that the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services Will Eliminate all Petroleum-Based Artificial Food Dyes From Foods Sold in The US

The primary Concern with these dates is that it is consumption of say haen Linked to Behavioral Problems in Some ChildrenAccounting to Analysis from the State of California. THERE’S THE ISSUE THAT, while a dye like Red 40, for example, is not currently line as a carcinogen itself, it DOES INCLUDE BANNENEWhich has been linked to increasing Cancer risk.

Plus, these two derivaled from Petroleum. In an era of omnipresent and offten ingested microplasticsdid i really want to be feeding my kids this stuff? Of Courtse Not, I thought. But i wasn’t sura how Feasible it would be to swap all out.

What Swapping Out Dyes Look Like for My Family

Where to start? The Center for Science in The Public Interest Shares a Starter List of Common Foods that Include Syntetic Dyesso i stormed through my kitchen and bathroom in search of those and to read all the other labels i enCountered. THEN I SET OUT FOR OUR LOCAL KROGER TO FIND THE NECESARY SWAPS AND WAS ONLY SUCCESSFUL. SINCE DYE-free alternatives weren’t always readily available there, i also had to squeeze in a trip to the health Food store.

THERE THERE ALL The DIFFICULTIES OF SOURCING DYE FREE IN THE WILD, LIKE AT THE GAS STATION NEXT TO MY TAKWONDO CLASS, WHERE HE OFTEN GRABS A GAORDE. Most Notably, Our Dye-free month coincycle with a family trip to north carolina, and travel definitely put the difficulty of finding alternatives into perspective. It also meant passing up this prity (but dye-enhaned) Sea Glass Candy.

Here are the main food dye culprits i discovered in my family’s food rotation, and what i dream up Replacing say with.

The Staple: Mt. Olive Pickles

The Swap: Vlasic Dye-free spears

In my research, i discovered that shat of the Major Pickle Companies, Including MT. Olive, will offer a dye-free version, but Only the vlasic one was available at my kroger. I was interested in figuring out whereher the dye-free versions would all be more expensively, as Npr’s recentting SEEMS TO INDICATE, but it was impossible to find an exact dye-free/with-dye comparison with the same brand at the Same Store. Among Target’s Wide Variety of Vlasic OptionsPrice Variations are Only a Matter of Cents. SO the main reason to skip the swap to be if you really, really Want Your Pickles to Be Neon.

The Staple: Gatorade in every Color

The Swap: Gatorade Frost White Glacier Cherry (The Only Dye-Free flavor), Bubly Burst Watermelon Lime and Capri Sun

Surprise! Who knew my ’90s favorite Kid Drink, Capri Sun, was actually dye-free? Whether we were Headed to sports Practice or the Airport, Juice-like Drinks marketed to Kids, from a rainbow of gatars to sunny d (which includes yellow 5 and yellow 6), weretems that kept popping up during this experiment. Luckily, My Sons Were Not At All Fazed by the (Equally Sugary, i’m Sure) Dye-free swap options. The bubly burst was a particular hit; IT’S COLORED WITH CARROT JUICE Concentrate and is Compellingly Bright Pink.

The Staple: Welch’s Fruit snacks

The Swap: Lily’s Gummy Bears

In this mom’s Opinion, Lily’s Gummies, Colored with Vegetable Dyes, Better Taste. The Downsides Were Price (Lily’s Gummies were $ 2.50 for One Measly Pauch at Kroger, Wheeas Welch’s Cost $ 6 for 22 Pouches) and Avilalbility: Welch’s Fruit Snacks Are My Kids’ Favorites to Grab to Help Their EARS POP DURING Takeoff. Sadly, The Likes of Lily’s Have Not Expanded to the National Airport Market (Yet!). Lily’s Gummy Bears ALSO Softened the Blow of Having to Ditch Our Stash of Blue 1-Enhanced Airheads.

The Staple: M & ms

The Swap: Sunridge Farms Milk Chocolate Rainbow Drops

We have been potty training my Youngest, and m & ms have been a hugely helpful tiny Treat. My little one gets two m & ms we can and pees in the potty, three for a poop. I am not above a bribe that makes my life easier! He did not Notice at all twen i swapped his reward, and i’m now obsessed with these better-tasting (to me), off-brand, all-natural alternatives. They’re Colored Using Veetbles, and They Eve use Real Vanilla. But alas, this was a swap that it required a trip to the natural foods store, and i couldn’t say at the airport.

The Staple: El Yucateca Green Habanero Hot Sauce

The Swap: Marie Sharp’s Green Nopal Habanero Pepper Hot Sauce

The Spicy El Yucateca was a stealth culprit; I was surpassed to see “Yellow 5 and Blue 1” Listeed in the Ingredients List. Why is it necessary to dye green peppers green? Luckily, Marie Sharp’s Variation Made for A Tasty, Dye-free substitute.

The Staple: Children’s Tylenol

The Swap: Dye-free version

Ah, the problem Pièce de résistance of the Food Dye Swap-out. My Kids Love Grape Tylenol, but it is Colored with Red 33 and Blue 1.When i got the dye-free and offend to my son a dental procedure, the prospect of sucking down non-purple medication plenty and a lot of Pushback. Which LED with them…

As an Expert: How Important is it really To eliminate all artificial food dys?

I know i’m not alone as a conscientious yet kinda lazy parent. And while this swap-out Experiment was, for the Most Part, Straightforward, the Somewhat Difficult Parts of IT (Travel, Tylenol) Left with Ascing: How World Will I Really Have to Be About These Food Dyes? Will you have to keep flush dye-free tullenol if the bright purple version Makes my life easier?

“It ‘not a deal breaker at all,” Jamie Alanan Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Michigan State University, Talls Yahoo Life. Wen it comes to synthetic food dys, “a small, limited dose will Likely have no effects on the vast majority of children.”

The primary risk to watch for, alan explains, is the one found in the california Report: the fact that “some food dys have have been Linked to Neurobehavioral Issues and Hyperactivity. ” But that only in soma Kids, and as always it is important to make decisions based on your individual child’s health and behevior (and in tandem with your child’s medical care provider) Rather than Based on what Might Work for another child – or workse, what you read on Some blog.

Alan provides a few helpful suggestions for pars and old individuals who want to reduce artificial food in their kitchens, Bathroom Cabinets and Lives overall. The first step? Actually Reading What You’re About to Buy or Consume. “Checking the label is important,” Alan Says. One Smart Hack is Shopping Imported (Easier Said than Done During 2025 Tariff Days, We Know), SINCE “MANY OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE ALREADY BANNED Some of the Dates,” Alan Notes. “Checking the aisles for imports Products, like Drinks and Candies, Might be useful.”

Overall, your best bet is to pay atTension to both the ingredients your family consumes and Your Child’s Behavior – Something We Parents Should Probably Be Doing Anyway, Food Dyes or No Food Dys. But don’t stress too. “Not all children are sensitive to these dyes,” Alan Reiterates, “But there are Some Children Who Are Very Sensitive to These Dyes be consumed. ”

Nor for me, I’m 100% going to stick with the vast majority of the food swap I stocked up on in my kitchen – all of the Treats and pickles taste just as well with the additives. But i’ll Likely Go Back to Buying The Purple Tylenol.