Food Additives & Children: A Parent's Guide

Food additives in children's products — particularly those in brightly colored candies, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, and snack foods — have attracted substantial parental concern, especially in the context of childhood hyperactivity and attention disorders. This concern intensified following the publication of the 2007 Southampton study, which showed a statistically significant association between consumption of a mixture of artificial food colors and sodium benzoate and increased hyperactivity in some groups of children.

Understanding what scientific research has and has not established, what regulatory agencies have decided, and how to practically interpret food labels is valuable for parents seeking to make informed choices for their children. This guide presents the official positions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) — not personal dietary advice.

In September 2007, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study by McCann et al. was published in The Lancet. The study included 153 three-year-old children and 144 eight/nine-year-old children. Participants received one of three drinks daily for six weeks: a drink containing Mix A (six artificial colors + sodium benzoate), Mix B (six different colors + sodium benzoate), or a placebo. Parents, teachers, and independent observers rated hyperactivity using validated rating scales.

The study found statistically significant increases in hyperactivity scores for both age groups consuming the active mixes compared to placebo. The effect size was described as roughly equivalent to one-third to one-quarter of the effect size seen in ADHD. Importantly, the study tested mixtures, not individual colors, so it could not attribute the effect to any single additive.

EFSA evaluated the Southampton study in 2008 and concluded that the evidence did not provide grounds to revise the ADIs for the individual colors, due to study design limitations, unclear mechanistic basis, and the fact that the mixture effect could not be attributed to individual components. However, EFSA recommended further research and the European Commission adopted a precautionary warning label requirement.

The FDA reviewed the same evidence in 2011 and concluded it did not find a causal link that warranted changes to its regulations for these color additives.

Aspartame (E951) contains phenylalanine as part of its molecular structure. Phenylalanine is an essential amino acid that is harmless for most people, but individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU) — an inherited metabolic disorder — cannot properly metabolize phenylalanine. In children with untreated PKU, phenylalanine accumulates and can cause serious neurological damage.

EU law requires all products containing aspartame to carry the statement "Contains a source of phenylalanine" on the label. This warning is specifically important for parents of children with PKU, who must carefully manage phenylalanine intake from all dietary sources. PKU is typically detected through newborn screening programs and is managed under close medical supervision.

For children without PKU, the phenylalanine in aspartame is no different from phenylalanine in other foods and poses no additional concern at typical intake levels.

Sodium nitrite (E250) and related compounds are used to preserve processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon, ham, and luncheon meats — foods that often feature prominently in children's diets. Regulatory agencies worldwide including EFSA, FDA, and JECFA have set maximum permitted levels for nitrites in food based on a risk-benefit assessment weighing the risk from nitrosamines against the critical food safety benefit of preventing botulism.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and EFSA have both noted that processed meat consumption is associated with increased colorectal cancer risk, partly attributed to nitrosamine formation. Both organizations recommend limiting processed meat intake. This does not apply specifically to children, but dietary guidance recommending balanced and varied diets generally leads to moderation of highly processed foods in children's diets.

Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) values are expressed per kilogram of body weight, which means they scale with body size. A child weighing 30 kg has an ADI of 1,200 mg/day for aspartame (at 40 mg/kg bw/day), compared to 2,800 mg/day for a 70 kg adult. Because children eat more relative to their body weight than adults, ADI calculations built on body weight already account for higher relative food consumption in children.

ADI values also incorporate large safety margins — typically 100-fold safety factors applied to the highest no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) found in animal studies. In practice, average dietary exposure to most individual food additives from typical consumption patterns is well below the ADI. However, for children who consume large amounts of a small number of highly processed foods that contain the same additive, exposure from that additive may be higher.

EFSA regularly evaluates dietary exposure to food additives across different European population groups, including children, to ensure that ADI values remain appropriate. These evaluations are available in EFSA's scientific opinions.

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