Last updated 11:30, Saturday, 12 April 2008

FOOD makers should drop the use of six artificial food colourings after research found a link with hyperactivity in children.

Food watchdog the Foods Standard Agency wants the Government to push for voluntary removal of the colours by next year.

The demand by the FSA follows research that shows banning the additives could cut the number of hyperactive children by a third.

In a study for the FSA researchers at Southampton University looked at the effect of food colouring on behaviour.

The Southampton team calculates that some 6.6 per cent of children aged three to 12, 462,000, suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The academics believe this figure could be reduced by 30 per cent – around 140,000 – if the additives were banned.

A total ban on the use of the colours would have to be agreed by the EU.

In the study, 300 children were randomly given one of three drinks, either a potent mix of colourings and additives, a drink that roughly matched the average daily additive intake of a child of their age or a ‘placebo’ drink with no additives.

Their hyperactivity levels were measured and researchers found that the drink with the highest level of additives had a “significantly adverse” effect compared with the placebo drink.

This follows a UK study in September last year which claimed that children behaved impulsively and lost concentration after consuming a drink containing additives.

The additives are:

• Sunset yellow (E110) – found in squashes, sweets and ice cream
• Carmoisine (E122) – jellies, biscuits, sweets and ready meals
• Tartrazine (E102) – fizzy drinks, lollies, biscuits, mushy peas
• Ponceau 4R (E124) – red colouring in sweets, drinks and biscuits
• Quinoline yellow (E104) – food colouring found in pickles, smoked haddock and sweets
•  Allura red AC (E129) – orange/red food dye used in cocktail sausages and drinks