Red Dye #40 and behavior?

[Mojojackson]

Since I was a kid, I have always had trouble with red dye. Particularly #40 and #5, I am unsure how many red dyes are out there, but those two seem to be rather prominent in packaged food/drinks. I have noticed our two toddlers go nuts if they get ahold of Hawaiian Punch.

Jkel, I have never heard of Stevia, but am looking to cut our artificial sweeteners. I had not done so because I had not found a replacement product yet and honestly natural honey doesn't taste good in everything (imo).

I know this is a sweetener question, but how much stevia is needed to sweeten things, eg. cup of coffee, glass of tea? I found a bottle online, but its nearly $2o for 2 oz. Just curious and appreciate any input you folks may have.

[WifeofBath]

I have managed to eliminate most food dyes, especially red, from my kids' menu. My son would go absolutely crazy after eating any items with artificial colors.
He no longer eats:
chocolate pudding (homemade from the box or pre-packaged)
M&M's or any other colored candy
Froot Loops or any cereal with artificial colors
fruit snacks like Betty Crocker, etc
Original Kraft Mac & Cheese
Jello
Popsicles (unless made from fruit)
The list goes on!

I also try not to buy anything with artificial flavoring, especially Vanillin. It's derived usually either from petrochemicals or is a waste by-product of paper processing (tree) products. Yuck!
I also try not to buy too many things with preservatives. BHA, BHT and TBHQ are all bad and are derived from petroleum products also. But it is hard to eliminate everything when I have a picky eater. I can always tell when he has had something with dyes in it at a friend's house. He comes home acting like a Tasmanian devil.
Oh, I also don't give him diet soda, not that he drinks much soda to begin with. But most diet sodas have aspartame (Nutrasweet) in them and the aspartame has the same effect on him as the dyes. Fortunately, he has told me he doesn't like how he feels after drinking a diet soda, makes him feel "funny", so it was very easy to eliminate those altogether.
Honestly, I'd rather have my kids eat old-fashioned natural sugar. Sugar doesn't make my kids crazy, just the un-natural, artificial crap does.

[amy17green]

Our ped recommended removing red and yellow dyes from our daughters diet. We have seen a difference in her. It is hard to get others to follow though. We have a few friends that are very respectful of this and are wonderful. Others have no reguard and tell us we are depriving her. We also do not use topical (shampoo. lotions) that contain these dyes.

Make sure that you look at every label. We were shocked to find that there was dye in brownie and chocolate cake mixes. Life cereal (which is a WIC food) has yellow dye also. It is a committment that takes a lot of effort at first, but is so beneficial if your kids are acting better. We too can tell when she has gotten into something.

[scrapbookingmanda]

One thing that a lot of people don't realize has red dye and it isn't on that list is kids yogurt. The Dora/Diego/Blue's Clues flavors don't, but the Trix yogurt has it pretty high on the ingredient list. Not sure about the go-gurts, because we don't eat them.