According to an article in the New York Times, Kraft is responding to a petition begun by our favorite know-nothing, the Food Babe, and replacing synthetic colors and preservatives in its iconic macaroni and cheese products. What we are seeing here is simply an extension of the Feingold diet, which originated in the 1970s as a way to supposedly correct behavioral issues in children.
Devised by Dr. Feingold, a pediatrician and allergist, the diet prescribed eating only foods without salicylates (related to aspirin), the preservatives BHA and BHT; later, he added the avoidance of artificial colors. Such compounds were even forbidden in toothpaste and perfumes. The point was to eliminate hyperactivity in children, though the whole family would have to adhere to the diet. Later research failed to support the efficacy of this diet, but it resulted in fears of such products by parents that persist to the present day.
And in her typical fashion, now we see that the Food Babe is using the precepts of this disproven diet to exploit for her own nefarious agenda parents fears to the extent that a major corporation is taking steps to assuage their baseless concerns.
ACSH s Dr. Ruth Kava commented While we have nothing against paprika, turmeric and annatto (the substitutes that Kraft will use), or their use in foods, these substitutions will do nothing to improve the public s health, nor will it affect the prevalence of ADHD in children. We expect that the only real effect of these substitutions will be to increase prices.