Episode 52: The Risks of Consuming Synthetic Food Dyes with Whitney & Brandon Cawood | Are Food Dyes Bad for You?

Imagine if your child was kicked out of daycare for behavior issues, in spite of the fact that you’re making intentional choices as parents.

Devastating!

But what if the problem wasn’t caused by your child OR your parenting choices?

Brandon and Whitney Cawood’s story will break your heart and then give you hope because they found what was hurting their son and were able to remove it from his life – and he’s a different kid now.

They wanted to share what they learned with the world and poured their talents into a 2.5-year project going live on January 14, 2025.

Look up their film To Dye For: The Documentary immediately on Amazon or Apple TV (and other streaming service, we hope)!

You’ll love this interview with such humble, curious parents, and I can’t wait to watch the documentary. They share some juicy behind-the-scenes stories and a lot of information about synthetic food dyes, the central focus of their family’s story and their film.

What started as a tiny ray of hope in the Cawood’s lives has become a beacon for hundreds of thousands of families, and their impact is soon to get even bigger!

If you’ve ever wondered if you should pay attention to ingredients like Red 40 and Blue 1, this is the interview for you!

Can’t see the video? Watch All About Food Dyes here on YouTube!

No time for the video? Here are the notes!

The Risks of Artificial Food Dyes

• 1:21: My Heathy Parenting Handbook guests today are parents turned independent filmmakers, Brandon and Whitney Cawood. After discovering their son’s sensitivity to food dyes they created the documentary To Dye For featuring experts and families to teach about the dangers of synthetic food dyes. Here’s the resource page mentioned.
• 3:49: Let’s start by hearing the Cawood’s story. Their son would have days where he was really sweet and good and then other days were filled with tantrums, hitting, irritability, and aggression. Some of his behaviors were developmentally normal, but the frequency and intensity were the problem. His teachers and care providers didn’t think it was normal, but doctors all said it was normal behavior for a 3-year-old.

God made you his mama, you need to trust your gut. -Whitney Cawood

• 6:45: Whitney has several food allergies and sensitivities so she knows the power of food. One day she decided to do an elimination diet taking out wheat, dairy, and synthetic dyes from her son’s diet. Within 48 hours he was an easygoing kid! After 30 days, they reintroduced wheat and then dairy and saw no difference. Within 15 minutes of trying food dyes, their son was having fits of rage again.

• 8:24: You might think from this dramatic result that the Cawood’s son was getting lots of food dyes in his diet, but he wasn’t. He was taking a couple of medications like a daily allergy medicine that had dyes in them. He was getting stuck in a red 40 loop from that tiny amount!
• 9:16: Medications are usually not where people look first when they’re trying to eliminate food dyes. Over-the-counter medications are the easiest to find dye-free. If you have a prescription it can be much harder if not impossible to completely avoid artificial food dyes. 
• 11:29: The Cawoods discovered that many doctors just didn’t know much or anything about kids reacting to artificial dyes in food. 

Do Food Dyes Affect Behavior?

• 12:36: The biggest pushback the Cawoods have gotten is that there’s not a lot of research about food dyes, but there are actually 27 clinical trials on food dyes with children and behavior alone. The research shows that synthetic food dyes do affect children by increasing hyperactivity, irritability, aggression, and sleeplessness. Here’s the OEHHA report mentioned.
• 14:16: The backbone of the documentary is personal stories from families who have been affected by food dyes, but they also dive into the science to show that this is really happening and the stories are legitimate.
• 15:35: Since finding out about their son’s sensitivity, the Cawoods have discovered that these types of reactions are not as uncommon as they originally thought. How many more kids are there who are reacting to dyes and their parents have no clue to even investigate the option?
• 16:07: Brandon does video work for a living, so when they had the idea to create a documentary about artificial dyes they had the skills and equipment to make it happen. 
• 17:56: This documentary is not just for crunchy moms looking for one more thing to avoid. There are many kids and parents who do not have any idea food dyes can be bad for you. There are also many who have very limited options for avoiding them.

Side Effects of Artificial Food Dyes

• 20:20: Not every child will have as dramatic a shift as the Cawood’s son. For many kids, it won’t be a huge shift to remove artificial dyes, but they’re adding an extra layer of irritability and aggression that can be avoided and could be obscuring symptoms of anxiety or ADHD.
• 21:03: Not everyone reacts neurologically. Based on studies, artificial food dyes can increase susceptibility to colitis, contain carcinogens, cause hyper-allergic reactions, and be genotoxic. (Genotoxic means it can damage your DNA which can be passed on to your children and cause cancer and other tumors.) Some anecdotal benefits people have seen are rashes healing, seizures decreasing, and autistic children focusing or speaking more when food dyes are removed. 

• 22:33: In the United States, we put stuff in food until we can prove that it’s dangerous. If something is approved by the FDA, they’re very unlikely to reevaluate it. In Europe, you have to prove an additive is safe before it’s allowed.
• 22:58: It can sound a bit crazy to claim that artificial food dyes can cause such significant reactions and I know many parents have people blow them off and say it isn’t a big deal. I hope the To Dye For documentary helps people understand that this is a valid problem for many people.

Tips for Avoiding Food Dyes

• 24:03: You have nothing to lose by experimenting with removing dyes for 30 days. Even if you notice no benefits, it certainly won’t hurt anyone. 
• 26:17: There are the short-term effects you could see, but also there are long-term effects of food dyes that you can’t necessarily see. You can’t see carcinogens building up, so why not just cut out food dyes?
• 26:30: Let’s talk about finding sneaky food dyes. You can’t just avoid brightly colored foods, dyes are in foods that are white, brown, and dull colors as well. If you sign up for the Cawood’s email list, they’ll send you a list of all the synthetic dyes to look out for. Some unexpected foods that often contain dyes are marshmallows, fortune cookies, fruit cups, chips, vanilla, chocolate icing, pickles, ice cream sauces, cinnamon rolls, yogurt, and baked goods (even ones that aren’t colorful!), berry products, movie popcorn, toothpaste, and mouthwash.
•  28:32: There are 9 approved synthetic food dyes in the US. Two of them aren’t really used anymore. If a food is manufactured in the US it has to be listed as a color and number. If a food is made outside the US it gets a little bit more tricky. In Canada, the chemical name is often listed, and Europe uses the E number system.

Finding Dye-Free Foods

• 30:44: There are plenty of naturally dyed foods out there using things like beet juice or spirulina. In the EU there’s a warning label added to artificially dyed foods, so many American manufacturers will actually make a naturally dyed version of their products to export to EU countries. 
• 33:25: Aldi’s store brand does a pretty good job of avoiding food dyes and Trader Joe’s also has many dye-free versions of things. 

To Dye For: The Documentary

• 34:31: Brandon and Whitney share some of the interesting experiences they had behind the scenes filming their documentary. 
• 37:23: To Dye For: The Documentary comes out on January 14th and it’s available for preorder now. (Pre-ordering really helps creators out!) It will be on Amazon, Apple TV, Google TV, and hopefully more soon!
• 39:19: The Cawoods want their kids to be their own best advocates when it comes to what foods they consume. Their son is 6, but he’s really good at spotting food dyes and avoiding them. With kids, you want to tie the food to how it makes them feel. If they know they don’t like how they feel when they eat food dyes, they’re more likely to be on board with not eating them. Teach your kids the facts, but not in a scary way.

We don’t want him to be fearful of food, but we want both of our children to have the facts so that they can avoid food dyes as best they can. -Whitney Cawood

• 41:53: If your child eats a lot of colorful food, it will be hard to make a sudden and complete shift to avoiding food dyes. Find swaps that are similar to foods they’re used to but dye-free to ease into it. Add in lots of whole foods to nourish their bodies. The Cawoods have frozen cupcakes and a “swap box” at their kid’s schools for any time there is a party or event at school with artificially dyed food. 

• 42:47: After meeting the Cawoods at a Kellogg’s rally I suggested to my youngest that we do a 30-day dye-free experiment. We’re already mostly dye-free, but that Halloween candy can sometimes last forever around here. Here’s an older post I wrote about avoiding artificial food dyes.
• 43:44: Brandon shares how they teach their kids to be nonjudgmental about what other people eat. Sharing your story as “this is what works for our family” is a great place to start. 

Do the best that you can. You’re doing so much better by being aware and by putting in the effort. -Whitney Cawood

• 47:21: We end with a practical step you can take today to begin avoiding food dyes. Start by learning to find food dyes on labels. By eliminating foods with synthetic food dyes, you’ll by association eliminate a lot of other unhealthy additives. Avoiding dyes is a gateway to healthier living. 

Resources We Mention for Avoiding Food Dyes

• Find To Dye For: The Documentary
• Follow them on Instagram
• The ToDye For resource page
• The OEHHA report mentioned
• Sign up for the Cawood’s email list to get the list of food dyes to look out for
• Here’s an older post I wrote about avoiding artificial food dyes
• Dr. Elisa Song and I also talked about artificial colors and flavors

Parents-turned-independent-filmmakers Brandon and Whitney Cawood embarked on a fascinating quest after discovering their child’s sensitivity to synthetic dyes. Together they created the film To Dye For: The Documentary featuring meetings with leading experts and heartfelt interviews with affected families delving into the profound impacts of these chemicals. They have taken this project on as their life’s calling to build awareness so families know more and can help the kids whose behavior is affected by artificial dyes. Through poignant stories and scientific evidence, they unveil the hidden perils of synthetic dyes, igniting awareness of their far-reaching effects on individuals and families.