One of my favourite memories as a child growing up in Miami was going to the local fair and having bright-blue cotton candy – candy floss, as you’d call it in Britain. My siblings and I would stick out our tongues to compare how blue they were. Sometimes as blue as the milk in our Lucky Charms cereal bowls, where the marshmallows shaped like blue moons, horseshoes and rainbows coloured anything that got in contact with them. Candy corn was a staple on Halloween, and corn syrup jugs were ubiquitous at Thanksgiving to bake pumpkin and pecan pies. These were rare treats – we were an immigrant family who largely ate traditional Indian food – and for that caution, I’m grateful.
We now know how artificial food colourings affect the cognitive, behavioural, metabolic and nutritional development of children, and how they are linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This includes my favourite brilliant blue dye. A 2024 scientific review of the evidence titled Synthetic Colors in Food: A Warning for Children’s Health refers to the possible toxicity levels of these additives, and suggests substituting dyes from completely natural sources instead.
