This yellow is toxic | How To Cook That Ann Reardon

[@maxallsop13]

my normal process now is getting ready for bed and curling up with a nice, new ann video! great work as usual 🥳

[@LostBrit_292]

I like to listen along as I do housework in the mornings.

[@eightmysoul]

Its 4 am here lmaoo

[@Nexrasa]

Must be tough only getting to sleep once every 2 weeks :/

[@electriickiitty]

ikr!!

[@SmokeyChipOatley]

“Oooh look hun… it’s all natural!” “Yes so is arsenic”

[@hexmaniacwingy]

I had a teacher in HS who had a poster on her wall that said "SNAKE VENOM IS ALL NATURAL TOO" and that's stuck with me whenever someone tries to use "it's natural!" to insist something is safe

[@keetyalexx]

My favorite example is arsenic. Also belladonna. Also mercury.

[@norawin]

I had friends who joined multi-level marketing schemes trying to tell me that their products didn't use any chemicals. I pointed out that water is a chemical. They got pissed and stopped trying to sell me their garbage after that

[@lorddampnut5275]

I had a teacher that said that cyanide is natural, while insulin is made in a lab. So if anyone says natural is better ask them if they wanna swap them out and see how well that'll work.

[@imagiro1]

The most toxic substance in the world is natural - and people even like to inject it into their faces...

[@SavageGreywolf]

arsenic is 100% natural, gluten-free, and vegan.

[@addie1080]

thank you for clearly showing how natural does not necessarily mean safe, I hate how this has become a massive marketing term

[@AreilKnight]

Yes! I'm allergic to e160c which is a natural red colour from paprika. It's hard to explain to people that I can't eat anything that's red, purple or orange if the packaging says "natural colours" but doesn't list specific ingredients. I just can't trust that it's safe for me personally.

[@bluezitrone9731]

This, 100% Natural does not always equal safe. Say it louder for the people in the back!

[@jasonpatterson8091]

And additionally, synthetic doesn't mean dangerous.

[@inakuvaswaldenstrm6117]

​@@jasonpatterson8091 I love my artificial medicines for example.

[@bookfish]

I could scream when I hear "but this is natural, it's good for you"... Really? You know what else is natural and really not good for you? Snake venom, poisonous plants, overexposure of sunlight, radiation and so on... Hell the biggest concern for humanity was to manipulate the world around us to protect ourselves from countless "natural" things...

[@dw6561_]

As an ADHDer, those claims that food dyes are "causing" ADHD have always bothered me. I'm very glad you covered it because people often misrepresent or sensationalize the research, which contributes to misunderstanding and spreads misinformation about the disorder.

[@taraellis8279]

Im using that term for myself

[@krankarvolund7771]

Yeah, when they start to say "it cause autism" or "it causes ADHD" I tend to just ignore what's said, because a lot of a time it's false ^^' Like, autism is probably happening in the womb, how can food colors can cause it when taken by a children? XD

[@lilyfox313]

I do think some of it is scaremongering. I'm autistic, I'm sorry I didn't get that from food dyes. Just makes parents feel to blame for how their children are rather than working on ways to help them manage in the world

[@ellebastonart]

Same!!! I'm neurodivergent as well (ADHD, OCD and ASD) and blaming food or pills for causing it is such a pet peeve of mine -- my aunt totally bought into the whole "gluten causes autism" thing when their first kid was born with high-functioning autism and went hardcore into only giving her family gluten-free food (even replacing countertops and things like bread and pasta machines that had been only been used like once) and despite all that their second kid was also born with autism and way more dependent

[@KT-Kaboom]

I have both ADHD and autism... and an allergy to Brilliant Blue FCF/Blue Dye #1. Everyone assumed my symptoms were the dye "making the ADHD" worse while all I needed was a stupid Benadryl T-T

[@adamsfusion]

7:30 A helpful bit of context here is that purple was still a very expensive dye to produce and sought after because of its expense and rarity, so he more or less stumbled on purple gold. If there was any color dye most beneficial to accidentally create, it was purple.

[@mcv2178]

There is a whole book about these dyes and their history and use, called Mauve - that is the name he invented for his new purple - and it is interesting how much it has contributed to so many fields, like biology (staining microscope slides so you can see things), etc.

[@zagrych]

I feel the only other one to really strike it rich was the first one to find a substitute for ultra marine haha

[@MegCazalet]

@@mcv2178Mauve was the absolute favorite color of the last Czarina of Russia, Alexandra, who had her entire boudoir filled with all things Mauve. Just a little color & history tidbit.

[@LindaHimesama]

Purple was so rare it was reserved for royalty because they could only find it in asian countries.

[@elylew]

@@LindaHimesama That, and it required boiling loads of spiky snails to make it.

[@icarusbinns3156]

One of my high school classmates thought she was allergic to anything red. Turns out… she was actually allergic to those cochineal beetles! But since those are used in so many things, she opted to get allergy meds. Things like makeup can have the beetle color

[@vharmi.]

I also had that as a kid! Certain bright-red ketchups along with cinnamon would make me blush intensely, make it harder to breathe and get a slight fever. Now, I don't get these allergic reactions anymore, but I still choose darker ketchups and don't enjoy cinnamon that much even as a grownup.

[@icarusbinns3156]

@@vharmi. synthetic cinnamon, it sounds like? I try to go with cinnamon sticks when I can

[@vharmi.]

@@icarusbinns3156 Nope, just regular cinnamon as far as I could remember. Think I got a reaction after eating cinnamon buns at a friend's house. I was just lucky that at most I'd just get a severe flush and not anything that actually threatened my health.

[@icarusbinns3156]

@@vharmi. interesting. Well, humans can be allergic to anything. Including other humans.

[@annegrey3780]

I have that. I'm allergic to other beetles and mites too. I knew in was something in red die and not the colour red that was the problem, but was only about 10 years ago that I found out what it was.

[@Ageman20XX]

THIS is what a "balanced take" looks like. Clear, unbiased, backed with data, and presented in an informative but still engaging way. One would be hard-pressed to find a single moment in this video where Ann is *telling* the viewers the answer the a question (rather than presenting the facts and letting you come to your own conclusions), and yet I still come away feeling more educated than I went in and that's great. Thanks for making such fantastic content all these years.

[@aastha1911]

Exactly! Love Ann's videos so much for this ❤

[@Sp3ctralI]

Unfortunate that people hate people who are like this, they only want a hard opinion…

[@Ageman20XX]

@@Sp3ctralI Those people are, in a word, “simple”.

[@Ageman20XX]

@Cassandra TBS Just responding as a Canadian who went to school in the 90s, we DID learn that stuff. Now, whether or not certain students felt like paying attention was another thing.

[@Sp3ctralI]

@@Ageman20XX indeed, I don’t understand why a middle ground is such a terrible thing

[@Caipininha]

as a foodchemist working in offical risk assessment it drives me crazy how much misconceptions there are among normal people because everyone can say bs on the internet and the more polarizing it is the more people will hop on the train. im so glad you are one of the few that takes a neutral professional take on this topic

[@trudiethomas656]

Please start a tube channel. Ann cant do it all.

[@christinefournier685]

Normal people ?

[@wolfforce58205]

​@@christinefournier685 AKA people like me, who have no real knowledge of chemistry and/or are not food chemists.

[@volpelunare3613]

Another Foodsci here, this was a great take on certified, toxic and natural colors!

[@verity3616]

What sort of surveys are being done to get the results Ann discusses that people 'want' the vibrant colors? Personally, I would love to see what all food looks like uncolored (neither artificial or natural dyes). I'd love the shorter ingredient list and to see more pastel, calm food colors. Do food chemists ever get to conduct surveys/experiments? Surely I'm not the only one who would tell you this!

[@hmitchell374]

I'm close with someone who's allergic to turmeric, a very popular yellow/orange food dye, just because something is natural does not mean that it's necessarily safe for everyone, awesome video!

[@pixxiekity]

I'm allergic to turmeric, and capsaicin it sucks how much is used in food as dye

[@annamyob]

I also have a friend who is sensitive (not allergic) to turmeric and a bunch of other yellow foods. She was able to determine that the common factor among all of them was carotenoids. But just the yellow/gold ones-- the more orange/red carotenoids do not produce symptoms.

[@alternatecheems8145]

I assume you'd be allergic to ginger too right?

[@Gatorade69]

@@alternatecheems8145 Not necessarily. It could be a compound in the tumeric.

[@alternatecheems8145]

@Mud Kip idk, I thought i would be correct since turmeric and ginger are practically the same thing except turmeric evolved to store pigments too

[@dlh975]

"It's not as simple as that" Pretty much sums up the internet. People try to distill everything down into a meme - that's why it's important to get a fuller, balance explanation like Ann provides! Love her videos and approach.

[@objective_psychology]

That's the whole point of science. It goes against everything our impulsive, tribal, reactionary ape selves are evolved to do. Nearly every aspect of ordinary human psychology is an unscientific bias that needs to be eliminated if the goal is reaching objective truth.

[@Aquadolphin314]

"'it's not as simple as that' pretty much sums up the internet" - well I don't know if it as simple as that 😉

[@Ellie-uf4qc]

I was one of those ADHD kids who were tested to see if red food dye was the culprit. Because of this I can firmly say that ADHD is not caused by food coloring.

[@RG_Eph]

I mean you can only confidently say in your case it doesn’t. (I’m not saying it causes it…but your negative test does not equate to everyone with ADHD)

[@zacharyenglish2904]

@@RG_Eph this is not how experiments work. When properly set up you can absolutely generalize to the wider population

[@Friendstoyourend]

@@zacharyenglish2904 except she literally mentions in the video that not all tested individuals were effected And based on Ellie's statement they were obviously one of the people that fell into the uneffected category

[@jamul_cos]

​@@RG_Ephbruh

[@RG_Eph]

@@Friendstoyourend thank you

[@hypercane2023]

You continue to be one of the best science channels out there even as a cooking show. You don’t just say “that doesn’t work” you explain the science of it and show visual demonstrations to help better understand it.

[@HowToCookThat]

Thanks for your encouragement Hypercane 😀

[@MartinGiadrosich]

@@HowToCookThat What about the issue with the icing hack that you tested? Did you respond about that anywhere?

[@TaylorS0410]

@@MartinGiadrosich yeah on her the same video she left a long comment explanation.

[@ljslupylife]

​@@MartinGiadrosich It has been unpinned. On that video, sort comments by new and scroll down. It was posted 2 days ago and has 20 responses

[@ljslupylife]

​@@Wishtelle It has been unpinned. On that video, sort comments by new and scroll down. It was posted 2 days ago and has 20 responses

[@mattymerr701]

The yellow in the burger is probably to make it look like a brioche with lots of butter or something

[@inakuvaswaldenstrm6117]

Sneaky

[@InKY09]

Or egg yolk.

[@yazdhenab.]

but... why adding a yellow coloring? Bread is bread, it's usually white or brown (like complete bread) so why adding coloring instead for attracting kids and makes them obese?

[@dragonangel20111]

​@@yazdhenab.By adding yellow you make it look more buttery. Like someone stated, making it look like brioche. A better bread. Not really meant to attract children, but adults.

[@Jaypupp]

​@@yazdhenab. Adding yellow makes the bread look richer, not to attract children necessarily but for anyone who knows that there's different quality in different foods. You see its yellow, you associate a yellow bread with enriched bread, maybe with butter and egg yolk in and you think its fancier, nicer and higher quality than other breads.

[@KT-Kaboom]

Thank you for covering food dyes and neuroatypicality and how they're NOT linked! I'm both autistic and have ADHD, and I've had these since I was born. However, I ALSO had an allergy to a common blue food dye used commercially in the US in the 90s, and for YEARS it was assumed "the blue dye makes their symptoms worse! They're so squirmy and can't sit still!" It's because I was covered in itchy hives! Nobody ever thought to see if maybe something else was going on because "everybody knows food dye makes kids with ADHD get worse!"

[@JustMe-12345]

@@tikusblue reaction or nocebo? (Opposite of placebo)

[@beekeeper785]

Omg! I’m autistic too and allergic to food colouring! (It gives me bad hives) ❤

[@WolfireXybrid]

Your story is so interesting! I'm allergic to Red 40 and also have ADHD and when I ask if stuff contains Red 40 people assume I'm being neurotic and silly. But I've been allergic since I was a baby and my allergy has only gotten more severe as I age.

[@KT-Kaboom]

@@WolfireXybrid YUP. I get so tired having to ask if stuff has Brilliant Blue in it and having people think I'm some wacky crunchy granola person instead of just someone with a couple of VERY weird food allergies (my other one is chicory and all plants in the family, including radicchio. I'll never get to try the famous Cafe du Monde coffee in New Orleans T-T)

[@Gatorade69]

@@WolfireXybrid Same. I'm lactose intolerant and have had some awful reactions when I used to ask if something contained any form of dairy. Also to you two who are allergic, maybe just mention it when you ask "OH, I'm allergic to 'X', does this contain 'X' ?

[@JediDryad]

As one of those rare people with an allergy to artificial dye (at least when I was younger, it takes a lot more of it to cause a reaction now) knowing right away what it is is true! I didn't get asthma/anaphylaxis, but I did break out in hives pretty badly, it happened with one of the reds, but also Skittles on the whole - which we later learned was because ALL Skittles have (or at least had) that red in the chewy filling part. Of course, trying to explain this to other kids (and some not-so-bright parents) just made them think I couldn't have ANY red food, including apples, tomatoes, cherries and strawberries.

[@emeraldlking]

I also get hives from reds and blues! Definitely not fun.

[@oxylepy2]

I mean... I don't really blame the kids not getting it, lol. If you tell them you're allergic to the red dye in it, some of them might get it. But I've seen some pretty cut and dry simple things being almost immediately misunderstood.

[@reid3031]

Nothing could prep me for the last line

[@HackerActivist]

I was allergic to red dyes as well

[@hollisyeano1397]

I'm glad Ann pointed out the allergy aspect, as most videos take on the ADHD bingo word. Both my mother and I have an intolerance of Tartrazine, also known as "Yellow #5", "E120", "Yellow Lake 69", "Food Yellow 4", "Acid Yellow 4" and "Trisodium" plus like 93 other names all of which can not only be found in food but, hair product, cosmetics and some clothing. For us it caused migraine and swollen ankles if we consume it and hives if we wear clothes with it, trust me THAT was an experience. Thanks Ann for a nice neutral experience.

[@feywoodlander]

I myself am alergic to artifical yellow and also red. I don't remember which is which, but #40 and #5. I get hives, sometimes I become one gigantic hive of itchy horribleness. Since I can't recall the exact numbers of the colors to avoid, I just try to stay away from synthetic colors in general. I have to be careful with medicine, the coating of which is often dyed. For those who are interested, CVS carries dye-free versions of Ibuprofen and Benedryl.

[@lazygardens]

You could do a whole series on "The Horrible History of Food Safety". I have a couple of household hint books with sections for detecting adulteration in foods - a good housewife had to be a chemist. And found one that explained all the common tricks used by British food sellers and how to detect them.

[@miaria]

What is your favourite tip from the book for detecting these tricks?

[@bashfulwolfo6499]

I would love a history on food safety video lmao. Ever since I learned about The Jungle in Highschool, I’ve been fascinated (and also very grossed out) ever since lmao

[@hpgla]

That is a great idea!

[@MiakaKirino]

That sounds like a really cool series idea! The various changes science has made in our lives over the past couple hundred years are really fascinating.

[@lbatemon1158]

What is the name of the book? I'm sure the Guttenburg Project may have a copy available online? I would really enjoy reading about that!! It seems to me that the onus has always fallen on the parents to protect their children because our capitalist-centric society puts the financial bottom line above health. It's exhausting!! I wish we could just trust companies!! Today, I decided I'm forever done with all things Procter and Gamble. I was in the shower, re-reading my shampoo bottle label that clearly said, "No Silicones", something my straight hair really cannot handle. When I looked at the conditioner of the exact same scent and style (argan oil and coconut milk-- smells beautiful but my hair has been getting nasty), it has a silicone really bad for hair!! Dimethicone!! So why would they put "no silicones" on the shampoo?!? I assumed both bottles would have been silicone free, and now I feel like an idiot I didn't figure it out sooner. Shame on me for assuming, but shame on them for such shady antics!! Consumers have to be so wary if we want to be healthy!!

[@antiantipoda]

I paint and I recognize some of those pigments. Some pigments have been banned even from oil paint, like lead white. We use mostly mineral pigments for painting, in the hopes they will last a century at least. That is why natural pigments can't be used in paints, they rot and change pretty fast. On the other hand, while learning about tattoo pigments and how unregulated and unknown they are, also how the body deals with them inside the skin, I decided not to get tattooed.

[@pineappleparty1624]

I remember this being swept under the rug, even for the dark tattoo ink. No tattoos here either.

[@ashleynoble2880]

Definitely check out the regulations for your area and that the shop is under those regulations and licensed. Tattoos shops and quality control is actually VERY regulated in my area.

[@KaiyaAquamarine]

I honestly didn't know tattoo ink isn't regulated 😅. I don't have any so obviously wouldn't look into it.

[@erzsebetkovacs2527]

@@ashleynoble2880 Which is your area?

[@erzsebetkovacs2527]

Do you think any of the tattoo colours can be considered safe?

[@lauraelaineallen21]

Thank you so much for talking about the fact that "natural" is not synonymous with "safe." Just as synthetic is not synonymous with unsafe. It's one of my big pet peeves. That and when people say things are full of "Chemicals!" I'm always like, did y'all not have a chemistry class? Everything is made of chemicals.

[@rosalie.e.morgan]

I don't understand how it's legal for companies to market products as chemical free. So many pet cleaning products do this.

[@lindsayshanks7555]

​@I It makes me laugh that there are people who forgot that Corn is literally man made. It's not the only food either, I'm pretty sure that Wheat, as well - at least the kind that we use to make bread - is also man made. I learned this in high school so I'm honestly confused why GMOs are seen as inherently unhealthy

[@SignedWithBlood]

True. Everything is chemistry. Air and water.

[@tigerslioncub]

This is so true! But it also makes it easy to mess with people. Tell them their beverage is contaminated with dihydrogen monoxide, and plenty of people start freaking out. 😂

[@JayceeElle]

I was a microbiologist in a food safety lab and I know some colleagues of mine published research suggesting that azo dyes (very common food colouring) can alter the gastrointestinal microbiome. I suspect that a lot of the more finicky behavioural changes associated with artificial dyes may be linked to this alteration as our gut microbiota confer a greater influence on our mental health than we fully understand.

[@HealingBeats777]

👍👏

[@HackerActivist]

😢omg those contain lead :0

[@kyriejones6060]

Could these dyes potentially cause bladder infections? I know people who avoid artificial dyes because of this problem.

[@EthanReesor]

@@HackerActivist What are you talking about? Azo dyes do not contain lead. "Azo" just means that it contains a Nitrogen-Nitrogen double bond. Literally any organic compound that contains a N-N double bond is an azo compound.

[@hedgehog3180]

Ironically one of the earliest attempts at creating anti-biotics involved azo dyes but it turned out that the dye did nothing.

[@susanmarie9513]

My dad gets migraines if he eats anything with any red/yellow/blue food dyes. He even found out that his denture tablets have yellow dye after scouring the manufactures website. Changed them out, dropped food dyes and minimized his migraines (although he does have other food triggers as well). Every body is different and reacts to everything differently, but being aware is the best thing a person can do 😊

[@Merip1214]

I never considered colours for that, thanks for sharing

[@susanmarie9513]

@@Merip1214 of course! It took him months to even consider it a possibility so I share when it’s appropriate in case others are struggling like he did 😊

[@amghinistar4582]

I get migraines from red and blue food coloring too! I've been lucky with yellow so far, but I try not to eat it much. They do hide colors in so many things. Had to change toothpastes, can't take the pink Benadryl had to find clear Benadryl without red coloring.

[@susanmarie9513]

@@amghinistar4582 we had to switch to a dye free Benadryl too. Canola oil also triggers his migraines and is in so much food we had to switch to making everything from scratch to avoid all the different food triggers he has. Which isn’t a bad thing but boy does it take more time than I wanna give sometimes 😆

[@Morphwastaken]

I remember back in middle school I had a friend who “couldn’t have food dye” because her mom told her that food dye made her go crazy and the last time she ate food coloring she “ate her sisters blanket”. Her favorite snack she had every day was goldfish.

[@Coops1985]

we had a girl in school also that was "allergic to red food dye" and she'd be wild. more likely as it was the 90's that she has undiagnosed ADHD...

[@vlmellody51]

My son has bipolar disorder and ADHD. Red 40 makes him massively hyperactive. When he was a teenager, it always tipped him over into psychosis. To this day, we avoid all products that contain this dye.

[@amethyst1826]

She eats real 🐠 goldfish?

[@Morphwastaken]

@@amethyst1826 you haven’t heard of the snack goldfish? I thought they were a worldwide brand

[@pepe-gfv2]

@@Morphwastaken Nah it's not international

[@cncinc100]

I wonder if you'd consider doing a video about MSGs, and the whole debate surrounding whether its harmful or not? Might be interesting.

[@SharpAssKnittingNeedles]

Yes! Asking the questions that matter! From my reading the negative hype surrounding MSG is largely unsupported by the data, but would love to see Ann weigh in on this!

[@hopefaith764]

Yes! I would love to see this!!

[@LaylaSofia06]

Hayiaaaaaa MSG is for flavor, what you doing 😅😂

[@SharpAssKnittingNeedles]

@@LaylaSofia06 only white powder I do 😂

[@dontbefatuousjeffrey2494]

low-key loving the Uncle Roger fans on this thread - right or wrong

[@CherrycatMatsuri]

If Ann would have been my teacher in school, I would have understood soooo much more than I actually did in the end. You're amazing, Ann!

[@Jemima1377]

I don't want to take anything away from Anns amazing work and I am happy fpr you taking so much from it - but please take into consideration, that this was a 20 minute video that I'm sure took a lot of hours for her to prepare, shoot and edit and that at teacher teaches more than 20 whole 50 minute lessons each week, so the amount of research possible and time available to prepare (and reshoot scenes, add and create additional content like experiments, additional video, pictures and so on) is a LOT less per timeunit than a youtuber has. If teachers only had to teach one 50 minute lesson a week, the quality would undoubtedly increase dramatically too... ^_~

[@hhiippiittyy]

@@Jemima1377 I see similar sentiments on so many educational youtuber videos. We are lucky to have the likes of Ann, Scishow, Electroboom, Smarter Every Day, Practical Engineering, Adam Ragusea and so many more. But they don't exist in the same educational space as school teachers and it's an absurd comparison. It's like going to the local gym and expecting my personal trainer to be an Olympic gold medalist power lifter.

[@atriyakoller136]

@@hhiippiittyy and a gold medalist might actually be a bad trainer because they usually start out very young and by the time they keep memories which aren't hazy, they are already way more advanced in sports than the average person, and also they may not even have the education to train anyone. I totally agree that these concepts are incomparable

[@LikkieAU]

@@Jemima1377 What a load of crap. Apart from occasional updates, a teacher doesn't need to re-research and re-prepare the same lessons they teach over and over. They also don't need to shoot and reshoot scenes because they teach live and are allowed to make mistakes which they can correct on the fly. Those aren't things which make a great teacher anyway. It's the ability to communicate their subject in a way that engages their students and that's what Ann has in spades.

[@madp6755]

​@@LikkieAU when the curriculum changes, or they get a different cohort of children, different age of children then yes they do need to change the lessons and research.

[@theirishrake]

I love that she has a jar of toxic poison just in a sandwich bag lmao

[@helentee9863]

Mercury is highly toxic. I still have a glass mercury thermometer. When l started nursing 40 years ago we still used glass mercury blood pressure readers, that only really stopped with the advent of modern blood pressure monitors that use computer chips 😁

[@Kat-queenofnerds]

Lol i know. I think they're used for painting watercolours now tho

[@grif0716]

Why wouldn't she. Look at your list of cleaning chemicals. Hell, I'm pretty sure my paint and glue is toxic.

[@alternatecheems8145]

​@Grif 07 your laptop chargers, Desktop PSUs and phone chargers most likely have way worse stuff like cadmium, mercury, lead, so yeah I definitely agree with you

[@JustMe-12345]

@@helentee9863 or the air pressure ones.... i love the manual ones....

[@pixystixnfairycrack]

I've got a pair of cousins, who are brothers, that used to have a lot of health issues when they were kids (they're just over a year apart in age). It drove my aunt and uncle nuts because no one could figure out the problem. Then my uncle noticed that they would get exceptionally bad after going to baseball games and eating red hot dogs. It was kind of a lightbulb moment for him. He then went home, went over the labels on the kids favorite foods and noticed that almost all of them contained Red 40( ?.. I think it was 40) coloring. So, he went out and bought a bunch of food without the Red coloring on the ingredients label and only let them eat those foods for a couple of weeks. Problem solved. They had no issues at all once it was cut from their diets. They're both in their 40's now and still check the labels to make sure Red coloring isn't included and they haven't had any of the problems that plagued them as kids.

[@Andromeda103]

Too often do people equate natural with safe and artificial with toxic when the real answer is "it depends". Thank you for making these videos.

[@avgperson6551]

I find “it depends” to be applicable in a lot of things, because the world and life is complicated

[@rosalie.e.morgan]

It's always disheartening to hear people talk about irresponsibly using pesticides, rodenticides, or other dangerous products because they are natural and therefore safe for children pets and bees, when they are absolutely not safe.

[@mademoiselle.m7006]

Another very interesting video! As someone who's allergic to a few artificial and natural food dyes, the most frustrating thing is reading a label only to realize that the only thing listed on there is "color" without any specifications on which one... 🙄🙄

[@TigerAceSullivan]

ive noticed they do this with fragrance too; a friend of mine is allergic to lavender and any sort of personal hygiene product is a potential risk :/

[@bananas3841]

@@TigerAceSullivan it’s done in fragrance, and even more specifically perfumes and colognes, to keep the actual way of achieving the smell secret so it can’t be recreated easily. Very common in the perfume industry.

[@christinefournier685]

Same with spices 😢

[@amara560]

​@@christinefournier685 Yes 'spices' are the bane of my existence as well :( as well as 'fragrance'

[@cooldog1994]

not only that but it also is a nightmare for vegetarians, like when things just say "color" or "natural flavor" how is anyone supposed to know if it contains crushed up bugs or beaver anal gland secretions

[@asuban]

The amount of research you do to your videos must be astounding. You are not just covering Australia, but the other world as well. Massive respect in an era where misinformation is so common. How I tackle the food additives thing is I make my own bread, my own cakes and cookies and stick to vegetarian diet most of the time - fresh produce I prep myself. I realize many people don't have the facilities or the fresh produce in their countries is too expensive and I am glad that there are studies made to make the food more healthy.

[@paular6547]

Ann is like a stable, vivid, natural blue food colour then. So rare and you can’t look away. I’m addicted, more videos please!

[@RosieDuck]

I am very very glad you've talked about how natural doesn't always mean safe. I mean, snake poison is natural too lol. But it has become such a buzzword for the food, health and make-up/skincare industries that people don't tend to look into it as much as they should. Comprehensive and easy to understand as always Ann! I am very glad you're bringing science into the lives of millions of people.

[@MyDreamIsAStory]

And even things we consider safe can be bad if we consume too much like water. So this fear mongering people do is very deceptive.

[@ConstantChaos1]

Technically snake venom is safe to eat unless you have any abrasions along the gi tract prior to the stomach. Now poisonous snakes (which absolutely exsist there are actually a lot of poisonous snakes even like garter snakes are poisonous as well as mildly venomous) that is a problem when injested Ik I'm being pedantic but its topical

[@TheEarthCreature]

Venom, of course. only a few snakes max in the whole world are poisonous.

[@razrv3lc]

Right? Uranium is natural and it WILL give you cancer lol. There’s so many natural and entirely unsafe things.

[@janemiettinen5176]

And synthetic doesnt mean its poison, it goes both ways. As an artist Im using much rather synthetic cadmium colors than the real ones.

[@bassetts1899]

Thank you for what you said about ADHD, I have it diagnosed and it really makes a difference every time someone speaks against the stigma :)

[@yazdhenab.]

It's like ham here in France. Manufacturers decides to stop adding Nitrites for conservation so the sliced ham is no longer bright pink! It's a little greyish pink and my mom refuses to buy the 'new' ham because the color makes the ham looking already old. I don't mind the color of my ham, as it isn't already green or covered with mold of course! x)

[@el5001]

I mean, if there's no red blood cells in muscle, it's grey. A lot of the blood is lost with meat processing, so there's nothing to give the meat colour. It tells literally nothing about the freshness

[@FreeBroccoli]

​@@el5001 The red color in meat comes from the protein myoglobin, not blood. If you grind a piece of beef and leave it in the fridge for a few days, you will see it turn bright red to dull red to gray over time, so it does tell you something about freshness.

[@GenerationalSavant]

Oxygen/sealing matters too. It'll look fresh as a daisy color-wise and be totally off because of anaerobic pathogens.

[@FreeBroccoli]

​@@GenerationalSavant Right, the amount of information it conveys about freshness is somewhere between a direct correlation and "literally nothing."

[@donnalynn2]

i have to say that as a lover of ham, that just doesn't sound right. I would not be able to get past that color. I had no idea all this time that wasn't natural.

[@deleijon3415]

In Canada a few years ago I remember one Halloween night my chocolate candy (Smarties for Canadians) had muted colors. I found it strange at the time, but that must be when they changed to natural coloring. To be honest, even if the blue wasn't electric anymore, it didn't change my enjoyement of the chocolate. To this day, the colors are soft muted, but I don't mind at all.

[@lindamarshall3485]

Kraft Dinner is not neon orange anymore, either.

[@tikusblue]

​@@lindamarshall3485 I always found that neon orange unappetizing. So much better now.

[@booksnlipstick]

I actually love the muted smarties colour palette now.

[@melaniec2120]

I was just about to comment about Smarties! Sometimes I miss the neon blue of my childhood, lol.

[@kevinmartin7760]

...but do you still eat the red ones last?

[@fnjesusfreak]

I think in the past Kraft (in both the US and Canada) used tartrazine to dye the cheese powder in their boxed macaroni and cheese - now they use turmeric and annatto, which just makes more sense to me because annatto is what gives red cheddar its color.

[@pixxiekity]

That is good to know because I'm allergic to both annatto and turmeric

[@yesh_phani.25]

Annatto is used here in India, too, for the processed cheese slices.

[@kageokami5]

I didn’t know that Prussian blue came from peas at first. It’s an amazing color that saw heavy use in Japanese woodblock printing.

[@eclectichoosier5474]

Interestingly, Actual "prussian blue" is Iron hexacyanoferrate. That's iron with six cyanide molecules attached to it. But it is used as a drug to treat certain types of heavy metal toxicity. You'd have to eat a lot of it to have any ill effects. It is mostly used as an intensely blue dye.

[@Gatorade69]

Different types of Prussian Blue as she explains in the video.

[@kageokami5]

It’s really cool that you can see when Prussian blue was easier to make as a synthetic color since the blues in woodblock prints turn so much more vibrant, even if the print hasn’t been preserved so well

[@logitimate]

@@Gatorade69 Absent an actual source for that claim, she's just wrong. Pierre Duplais, writing in 1855, discusses both how to prepare a blue dye for use in coloring spirits and liqueurs from Prussian blue, and how to tell if you're being sold "indigo" that is actually Prussian blue (which is much cheaper), without any indication that he's referring to different substances. (He also pretty much invariably gives instructions for how to extract vegetable dyes yourself, and says nothing about Prussian blue peas, or any other peas; his instructions for preparing Prussian blue dye start from solid Prussian blue (which is expected to "completely dissolve," which peas would not), oxalic acid, water, and alcohol.) His discussion of how Prussian blue will behave when subjected to various tests matches how iron hexacyanoferrate actually behaves. And it's not like the artist's pigment was a novelty when he was writing; it was first produced (and rapidly became very popular among painters) well over a century before, in the early 1700s. It's the same Prussian blue.

[@saiyasha848]

Two things I always find interesting: First the Idea that "natural" means "healthy"Whenever people say that i want to remind them that Uranium is technically natural. Sure, it's super rare, but it is able to form in nature and it sure as hell isn't healthy for you The other thing I love and loath at the same time is how scientific your videos are. The Question is "Are food colors safe?" and the scientific answer is "To the best of our knowledge, proabably yes, but ask us again in 30 years" I think this is why so many people turn to pseudoscience. Science nearly never has clear cut answers, because it operates under the header of "We test, we observe and we hypothesise and we can at a certain point say with a high degree of certainty that something is this way or that way, but we always keep the door open for possible knew developements" Science nearly never amswers staright and that is frustrating for people because it forces you to listen, to think about it and to come to your own conclusion. It is so much easier to say "Vaccines cause autism" because now you have a concrete thing that you can fight agaianst "Autism is caused by a number of different mutations and combinations in the cell stage of the embryo and there is no real way to tell what exactly that is and even if we could we can't really fix it right now" Is not the nswer you want to hear when you wish you could do something about it. But it is the correct answer, wheres "Vaccines cause autism" has been disproven again and again and again, meaning all the evidence points to it not being a factor. Sorry for the ramble but It has always saddened me that I know _why_ people don't listene to science but i wish they would

[@Person01234]

It's not all on the individual though. For example, I think we will see a massive spike in anti-vax believers in the west, and especially the United States, because of how much they lied and propagandised about the covid vaccines these past few years. Science, including medical science, relies on trust to have people believe that the process works and the messages being gotten out are accurate. The US public health advisors have completely destroyed their own credibility and massively undermined trust in the healthcare establishment with their conduct over the past few years (and the media continue to ruin their credibility every day but that's been ongoing for a long time). Nobody, except a handful of people who are entirely on the "god said this so it's true no matter what I can see with my eyes" ideology, is really anti-science. What people are is distrusting of the scientific establishment and it's messengers, and believe that they aren't actually being accurately told what is being shown by science. And that is entirely reasonable when you look at any of the reporting that gets done on scientific topics. the reason the public seem so misinfomed on science isn't because everyone is stupid, it's because they've been misinformed on science. Which then has a knock on effect when people find out the first thing the media told them wasn't true, why would the next thing be true.

[@frostincubus4045]

Yeah, humans hate the unknown and uncertainty, it's wired in our survival instinct, but some are able to get past that and willing to learn new things

[@bar_library]

Organic used to mean carbon-based. Now it means no pesticides were used.

[@ConstantChaos1]

I have a room full of a natural parsnip flavouring.... it poison hemlock. It's totally natural so it should be healthy right? Absolutely not, the reason I have so mych is kids were getting sick because it grows all over here so I hut it now, if I find it I will destroy it very carefully and note where it was so I can go back and monitor its growth. It's deadly for years after it degrades so I have to hold onto it till it degrades to safe levels to be thrown out

[@udderlylost1178]

@BAR_Library frustrating thing is that's what people think it means, organic agriculture still uses pesticides, just naturally occurring ones. Naturally occurring obviously does not equal safe

[@sotragespacefullgacha1430]

Sweetgod thank you so much for covering the whole idea that dies cause ADHD I have ADHD and honestly that believe has affected me a lot. A lot of people have said just stop eating dies or if tried to judge my parents for giving me dies and I tried to tell them it’s a biological thing and it’s just ridiculous of people ever think that guys could cause ADHD.

[@jasminv8653]

For real it's one of the most insulting and infuriating claims about adhd, and there are a LOT of those around to begin with.

[@sotragespacefullgacha1430]

@@jasminv8653 I know a TEACHER who believes this and says she took her kid of dyes to avoid him “getting” adhd- she said that to me a kid with adhd

[@Pinkyyyy13]

so frustrating! they act like ADHD or autism is a death sentence 🙄

[@mimahakurei4430]

I recently told one of my neighbors that I have ADHD and she straight up asked me how I got it. I then had to explain to her that I was born with it, and it's not a thing that you can "get". So many people just don't understand that.

[@sotragespacefullgacha1430]

@@Pinkyyyy13 FR ! It’s part of the problem!!

[@siljefjosne]

I’m from Norway, and as you were saying I grew up without «brightly colored candy», our candy was probably more subdued in terms of color. My only thoughts and memories regarding that is we had to go to Sweden to get a hold of blue candy. But to this day, I think sweets with bright colors look off-putting, and I never buy them really. Not because I think they are dangerous, but because I’m not used to them I guess. «Blue rasberry» is alien-like to me 😅

[@rhyslikesthis416]

You know those little gummy men you have in Norway? I think they're called Siegmenn or something like that? They're one of my absolute favourite sweets but I feel like they're quite vibrant in colour. Do you think they're vibrant or do they look dull to you?

[@pemanilnoob]

Only time I’ve ever had blue raspberry was when my mom bought some maoam from England It was so weird, not at all close to being as good as real raspberry flavor

[@pemanilnoob]

@@rhyslikesthis416well in my opinion I think they’re pretty brightly colored. Just replying since the original commenter didn’t

[@PetWessman]

I work for a research project looking at gene expression in hybridisation and speciation, and each time I watch a HTCT video I'm amazed at Ann's skills in explaining difficult concepts to people with no background in the subject. I've had to work hard on finding an answer to the question "oh, what are you studying, then?" which a non-biologist can understand but without making them feel like I'm 'dumbing it down' for them. I'm still not sure I could answer follow up questions well, but Ann and HTCT serves as a constant inspiration to continually work on my skills in science communication.

[@rea6268]

The fact that you go out of your way to find historic books and ingredients from rocks and bugs and so much more is incredible! Thank you so much for the education you provide and communicate in such a fun, clear, concise and yet factual way!

[@bapho-p]

My grandmother had a huge obsession with stuff like this, or the idea that gluten somehow kills you. They were usually fads for her and came and went in a few months. As a kid though, I didn't really get half of it. I reasoned that if I'd been getting fed all the stuff before, it must not actually matter that much. It's kind of nice to see you going into stuff like this--I finally get to know the actual science and truth behind a bunch of the stuff my grandmother (and occasionally mother) would suddenly go ranting and raving about.

[@Jakioliberty]

let's say that the people screaming to remove gluten from food did it good for people who were actually gluten intollerant because when i was young you could only find gluten free food in the pharmacy. Now supermarkets have entire sections. So yeah, public opinion is good even if they are wrong xD

[@bapho-p]

@@Jakioliberty I wish my grandmother were that nice. She just got convinced for a while by some guru that gluten would somehow give you cancer or Autism. I am glad the food is finally more accessible for the people who need it though!

[@txlady1049]

My uncle is like that, has been since he moved to Colorado. Although, to his credit, he's 93 and still sailboards, so maybe he's right!

[@lbatemon1158]

​@@bapho-p as an Autistic person, it's totally genetic. My Dad and Grandpa were never diagnosed, but they are totally Level 1 Autistic just like I am. It frustrates me that I have to figure out the tools I need to thrive in this life because my parents refuse (even to this day) to believe that mental health is important. I have come to the conclusion that we are going to learn what we need to learn in this life one way or another. Whether we reach for knowledge, or life beats it into us, we learn before we die. I'm grateful for those who worked for gluten-free stuff because my youngest child has a legit gluten sensitivity. As a family we made a switch, because try explaining to a 3 year old why she can't have something her sister can have. I'm grateful it's easier to find the products we need!!

[@FarHowling]

My mom's been avoiding Gluten for years now, since she learned that Gluten is bad... for people with celiac's. She doesn't have celiac's. Tried to explain to her many Times that the Logic is kind of flawed, and that she doesn't think strawberries are bad either just because SOME people have a strawberry allergy. She also has a strong Aversion to any "substitutes" like nut milks or Tofu, even in dishes that actually call for Tofu instead of meat. So far the Most of an explanation I got on this one is "It's not the real thing". And to top it off, she keeps preaching that Sugar is worse than cocaine, and people who go cold turkey on Sugar will have the same withdrawal Symptoms. I Love my mom, she's great. But unfortunately she's also the kind of Person to immediately believe whatever she reads in any Facebook article and hold onto that believe for dear life.

[@shackleshotgun]

Me who grew up on a farm with natural ingredients, nothing store brought, and still ended up with ADHD: must've been the food coloring. :(

[@shackleshotgun]

HOW DO THESE DOCTORS HAVE JOBS

[@michaelvandervelde3664]

😂😂😂

[@klear19634]

Its definitely because all the food dye produced have molecules in the air that absorbed into ur skin and caused it /s

[@terryenby2304]

ADHD is neurodevelopmental, just like autism. I am Autistic and I have ADHD I also have asthma and skin issues similar to eczema. I was breastfed, had a diet rich in vegetables and low in sweets, ran around outside often walking miles and miles a day, had a low salt diet as a kid, had mostly organic/home grown/local, lean proteins with a sensible amount of healthy fats and whole grains etc etc.basically the “perfect” childhood for health! It doesn’t prevent any of these things from being real. It may be correlated with a lower occurrence, but correlation is not causation. And the things that have been proven to have a causation link aren’t the whole cause! Interestingly my eldest child was breastfed for 6 months and ate a very basic baby diet (jars, biscuits and rice crackers before moving on to regular meals), my youngest was breastfed for 2 years and had probably had the very best diet ever, and yet the youngest is the one who has asthma and eczema! It’s all more complex than it seems. And honestly, if they don’t make you have allergy issues you are probably fine eating most foods. It’s safer and healthier than it has been in human history.

[@ciyapciyap3458]

Overstimulation from the use of gadgets is a more likely culprit

[@RosaFriend]

As someone with ADHD and autism, the fact that people claim that red dyes cause mental illnesses is so frustrating because it just blames me for something that I didn't choose to have. When I ask for accommodation in school or help with my symptoms in everyday life, they have an easy out, saying well you did this yourself, instead of giving me the help I actually need.

[@napoleonfeanor]

Do they actually say that or are you afraid they may say it?

[@RosaFriend]

@napoleonfeanor4122 they say that all the time. I can't tell you how many times I've been told shit like, "have you tried not eating red things?" or "what if you just paid attention harder?" It's so incredibly frustrating.

[@blebbies]

@@napoleonfeanor i have adhd and you would be amazed at the stupid shit people will say to you to your face about what disorders you may have

[@SallyBerry9]

@@blebbieshere here. I got told, to my face, that my ADHD and Autism must be caused by being given caffeine too young… like? Unless caffeine can go back in time and change my genetic code then I don’t think so

[@blixten2928]

That is absolutely disgusting. You and your parents should sue that school.

[@KnightmarePhoenix_official]

Me and my siblings are all allergic to petroleum-based colorants, particularly red 40. They caused bad behavioral issues for me when I was a kid, but for a long time several family members didn't believe I had the allergy because it sounded "silly" to them to be allergic to a color. There's a couple of pretty good stories about the events that had to occur to prove it to them. Nowadays, my family pretty much only eats foods dyed with vegetables, like algae, beet, and turmeric. Aldi's is our best friend.

[@kawaibakaneko]

Why is there so many adults unable to understand allergy?

[@AbbasAli-ci9vc]

I'm so happy you explain WHY something is/isn't a certain way, but that you explain it and educate your audience, it's amazing.

[@jadinroberts2341]

I've been allergic to Red Dye 40 my entire life, much worse as a child. Whenever I had even a tiny bit as a kid it would drastically change my behavior! I would become uncontrollable and wreak havoc😂 it's gotten a little better as an adult but I still can get hives all over my body from it. Thanks for the representation Ann!! ♡

[@lenalyles2712]

It was a migraine trigger for me.

[@ShinyQuagsire]

I'm so glad California is banning red dye 3 bc it tastes unbelievably bitter. Apparently most ppl think pink candy hearts taste minty but all I can taste is the red dye 3 lmao

[@ckEagle165]

Ann is one of the only content creators and educators who responds to her people. Thanks for not just educating us, but for _engaging_ with us!

[@beate9377]

She didn’t respond to anyone during the drama though?

[@christinefournier685]

@@beate9377 What drama ?

[@enenenergp]

@@christinefournier685 you can go look at the comments of her previous video to find out. But I agree, very disappointed in her not addressing it at all.

[@andreagriffiths3512]

I’ve made rainbow pasta before. My niece loves the blue so I bought some butterfly blue pea flowers and it made a very vibrant blue. Green I make from any leafy greens or peas. Beetroot makes a lovely red and you can get purple by mixing it with the blue. It’s not hard to get colours…just time consuming and not always cheap. But a great way of getting some extra goodness into food.

[@mikerichards6065]

Fantastic chemistry lesson Ann. I wasn't expecting William Perkins and the invention of mauve in a food channel! One of the early synthetic dyes that caused serious illness was Scheele's Green (copper arsenite). originally used as a colour for paper, but that ended up in food in late 19th Century Scotland. It latter went on to be used as an insecticide.

[@lbatemon1158]

Oh! Sounds like you would have a lot of information here!! I always wished I understood science more. I have figured out that, because my brain doesn't naturally understand ideas of a scientific nature, I need to find sources I trust to help me be an educated consumer. Capitalists are shady and only care about money and not human health, it feels like. Or they use good PR firms to try and hide the shady things they are doing to cut costs. I'm so annoyed that this is a lesson on repeat, over and over again, that as long as it makes money and consumers aren't crying out against the practice, they keep doing it. Where is integrity these days? With Ann, of course.

[@AlexaFaie]

Its a shame because its such a pretty shade of green. I would have died so badly back then with my wallpaper and dress and everything that colour. LOL.

[@GuiSmith]

It’s worth noting Scheele’s Green wasn’t the only toxic dye (let alone toxic green dye) of that era. But there is more to that story. Historians aren’t actually sure how much of the arsenic content of foods, papers, and textiles were from the dyes. Arsenic, in its basic elemental and mineral forms, makes for a surprisingly effective colour binder, water-faster, and UV stabiliser, which means straight up arsenic was used to hold all kinds of colours (very saturated colours, soft pastels, and all kinds of pinks) in fabrics and papers. Some foods even used tiny amounts, although they generally used dyes without the need for stabilisers. That likely contributed to a bunch of eclectic symptoms of the time. Worse, arsenic was also in some of the “medicines” that were marketed toward symptoms of arsenic poisoning.

[@kawaibakaneko]

​@@GuiSmithArsenic, arsenic everywhere. Wasn't arsenic used to embalm body too?

[@jarlairess]

I think that if Ann Reardon have been my home economics teacher I would have learnt so much more

[@HowToCookThat]

I think if I was a home ecc teacher I'd try and make the lessons much more fun than they were when I was at school.

[@CrimsonAkato]

Ann would be a better teacher in ever topic I learned at school xD she can easily replace all my teachers , math , biology, chemistry, honestly all of them xD

[@Frostfern94]

@@HowToCookThatI might have actually chosen Food Tech

[@user-ry5th8cs6d]

As a former teacher I can say that a good teacher can teach their subject well but great teachers, like Ann, can teach anything well!

[@itsLilyKitty]

Im kinda sick and tired of people telling me my autism stems from literally anything when its just the way I was born. Also my autism isnt anything negative, I am still perfectly capable of loving myself. Thank you for the informative video Ann

[@grass-ifrass]

Right? Like okay sure, if one is BOTH dye-sensitive AND is ASD/ADHD, THEN maybe food dyes will impact the person such as "increasing" the "symptoms" (I'm using scare quotes to show that I think calling neurodivergent personality traits "symptoms" is bs). It all comes down to sensitivity to dyes, natural or lab-made.

[@JustynaSzalno]

When it comes to natural ingredients, I think that Pratchett summarized it the best in "Making money": "It contained herbs and all natural ingredients. But belladonna was an herb, and arsenic was natural.” Thank you for another informative, fact-packed video! 😊

[@SapavemLasae]

I found this to be highly informative. I'm allergic to artificial red food dyes, and it makes it very hard to enjoy lots of foods that you buy in the stores. A lot of products that you wouldn't expect to have red food dye do. Still, I've gotten good at avoiding those products even if it sucks sometimes when drinks come out or when a new candy or food comes out with those.

[@kuipernebula6740]

I'm reminded of the Sawbones episode on this exact topic, which goes into MUCH more detail about the medical studies about food dye on children's behavior. I'm sure they'd be glad to see a similarly nuanced and balanced take on the subject matter!

[@Cassylp]

The days is good when there is a video from Ann!

[@GenericMcName]

I'm surprised you didn't mention that people used to use Paris Green (arsenic) in food dye, which not so coincidentally killed a lot of people really fast.

[@RooftopRose079]

Ad not just in food either, they used to dye wallpaper, paint with it, dye clothes with it and even painted children's toys with it.

[@YamiHoOu]

Victorians: why are we so sickly all the time? Also Victorians: puts poisons in everything.

[@alexandrakonigsburg6474]

Both copper and arsenic are "natural" too! After people stopped using it as a dye, it got used as an insecticide and rodenticide.

[@nishantmadhan2482]

The way you procure all these authentic vintage goods for us to see and observe , is just massively impressive to me, Ann, always thankful for your concise data collection and crisp delivery❤

[@JoeyBaldacchino]

I would really love to see a deeper dive into food additives that are banned in other countries but not the US. It made me curious about it with what you mentioned about the FDA banning food dyes that other countries didn't ban.

[@lordgodkingbufu2158]

there is the fact that US bans if PROVEN to be unsafe while other countries ban if there's a chance of being unsafe, even if the chances are minuscule

[@tiahc3]

I would love comparison of what and why countries have banned certain foods! Is it true that the dyes in Mountain Dew are the same in dyes in Glow sticks?!? My daughter's broke one on her clothes when she was little and it messed up the clothing!

[@lordgodkingbufu2158]

@@tiahc3 nope! snopes debunked that mountain dew could be made to glow back in 2007

[@lbatemon1158]

Thank you so much for doing this video!! Americans are so frustrating (I know, I am one!). My youngest has always been very sensitive to foods. It was so frustrating trying to figure out a whole new way to eat! But I am so grateful we did. Not only have her rectal prolapses and extreme constipation and bloating stopped, but she now sits through full story times at the library and even brings me books to read her!! Her whole life she would never sit still while I tried to read her a book like her older sibling would. But since Feb 2023 when we cut out processed foods, gluten and dairy, she's been such a happier and more present child. I will never doubt the connection between diet and mental health again. Added bonus? I never crash in the afternoons anymore, both me and my husband have lost weight and inches, and my older child has a lot less anxiety. I'm on the autism spectrum, and both me and my husband also have ADHD and suspect our children do, too. Eating for health instead of for cravings, and eschewing the "typical American diet" has truly changed our lives for the better!! And one more note: eating more whole foods was more expensive at first, especially as we tried to figure out new recipes. But now, 2 months later, we've figured out systems and things that we love. Like plain rice cakes spread with herbed goat cheese and veggies sliced on top like zucchini, carrots and celery is one of my 3 year olds favorite lunches! And I love a dip made with plain Greek yogurt with a dash of honey, lots of herbs like parsley, basil, and dill, with tofu and dip fresh veggies in it. I'm excited to learn more recipes that make me feel full and happy.

[@DekuLord]

I absolutely love the way you cover these issues. You always seem to put effort into not only being factual but fair as well. Many people would attack people on the "other side" of the issue, but you always make sure to highlight where their concerns are valid. It shows that what you care about is the truth, and not winning some argument because often the truth is nuanced and murky.

[@blackmber]

Don't forget that natural doesn't mean safe! For one thing, people often have allergic reactions to minerals, plant extracts and animal products.

[@Sableagle]

Ricin's natural. Botulinum toxin's natural. Cobra venom's natural. Partially invert sugar syrup's not natural. Fancy a teaspoonful?

[@pineappleparty1624]

What you mean to say is, what they put in food is not always safe just because it's legal. I always enjoyed cooking from scratch at home rather than eating out. This video makes me want to do it more often.

[@PotatoPirate123]

​@@pineappleparty1624 everything can be 'unsafe' if the wrong person eats it. All the things we now consider safe - whether it's carrots, cochineal or cinnamaldehyde - were only established to be safe through decades and centuries of people eating them. Most of the scary chemicals that are considered safe by food agencies now are no more scary than the older ones, they just happen to be more modern. It doesn't mean they're bad.

[@PotatoPirate123]

@@AiLoveAidoru very true!

[@collin4555]

@@pineappleparty1624 that's very vulgar, speaking your own thoughts as what someone else "means to say".

[@dorkenspache8353]

I like how Ann Reardon is using her knowledge in food science to dispel the myth of "natural is always better than synthetic" when natural doesn't always mean good or better for you. And you pointed this out with a lot of natural dyes like cinnabar which is toxic. Hell, they could even try using something like cobalt for blues since that is natural, but it is toxic

[@paulh2981]

It's not just because you're making a decision based only on looks. Colors affect how people perceive taste. For example, if you put green food coloring in one scoop of vanilla ice cream and brown food coloring in another of the exact same ice cream, most people will say they taste different and have a preference. Some will even say they can taste chocolate or coffee in the brown and mint or pistachio in the green.

[@chellarose4272]

Ann coming through AGAIN. I can picture my alarmist, self proclaimed "healthy" relatives that preach about 'unhealthy' things likes food coloring, biased by false reports and phantom Google searches (much like the so-called 'experts' featured throughout this video). Now I can simply direct them to this video. Thank you, Ann!

[@Melsharpe95]

People's research these days is "I saw it on facebook."

[@FirstnameLastname-jd4uq]

@@Melsharpe95same people who said “don’t believe everything you see online”

[@tuiteyfruity5010]

One of the problems with the red color from insects is it’s not kosher and a lot of products with artificial colors that are kosher would suddenly lose that

[@GabrielleHM]

The brown food coloring reminded me of a family story. My great uncle Jerry opened a bakery in San Francisco. He used to make all sorts of sweets, including donuts. One morning, he realized he didn't have enough chocolate to melt down for glaze. So, he took some regular glaze and added brown food coloring. He wasn't sure if customers would notice. And to his surprise, a few even told him "These are the best chocolate donuts I've ever had!" 😂

[@ArchitGupta1411]

I was just binging/ re-watching some your older videos! Another upload made my day!

[@SuperJrod97]

Thanks!

[@samholden4014]

Thanks for the video, Ann, it's informative and entertaining. One thing I particularly despise with this topic is one of the clips at the start suggesting that food colour could 'cause' ADHD and/or Autism, especially coming from someone who looked to be a person of authority (or at least had an audience). It's frustrating because some people see these behavioural differences and want to explain them away, say it's the food colouring or vaccines or whatever else and not try and treat what is not a disease, but a set of behavioural differences in people who have different needs. Thanks again for the video

[@_Usakoi_]

As someone with ADHD, I've always been annoyed with the conspiracy heads that literally say these dyes **cause** ADHD. People with with ADHD are either born with it or have suffered significant head trauma. Because of these people, I'm very weary to believe that dyes rather than high and/or artificial sugar content are the culprits behind increased behavior issues. The difference between what's allowed and not in the States v. the rest of the world, it's no wonder I approach these kind of things with caution and scepticism. 😅 Thank you for always providing a scientific and evidence-based approach to your videos.

[@S41t4r4]

Sadly, using ADHD and autism for misinformation is extremely effective.

[@matthewbowen5841]

Correlation does not equal causation. Seems part of the scientific community has forgotten that. Usually the part that gets some income from marketing/sales.

[@crestren5996]

I love how you went through food coloring history instead of just focusing on current events, it gives more needed context.

[@SignalHillHiker]

You are so good at this. I love that you address the fear but leave adult viewers comfortable enough whichever way they wish to proceed. I’ll likely be more conscious of the amount of neon food I eat, haha, but probably not afraid of it.

[@RQsuperglue]

I absolutely love the way you present such touchy subjects. I wasn't even aware about how deep this conversation actually goes. Thank you Ann! Will be sharing this video with family and friends for sure

[@CoopBurrito]

I absolutely love Ann's measured and relatively unbiased approaches to topics like these. A lot of people would just start with a stance, e.g. "artificial colors are always bad", and make their case from there, but Ann's videos are always full of information so people can make their own conclusions.

[@fardiah-]

I literally only anticipate Fridays because of your video releases! You are truly awesome

[@oshradu]

You are AMAIZING I can just imagine the amount fo research and work that goes into a Vid. Like this. And you present it sooo interesting and casual. 🍧

[@annreardon4828]

Thanks Oshra

[@alolisa113]

היי אושרה

[@oshradu]

@@alolisa113 מי כותב לי כאן בעיברית? ,😂

[@lizziedoll321]

One of my absolute favourite channels, sitting down to breakfast in Ireland and watching this 😊 Thank you for taking the time to not only explain how everything works but also the effort you put into your demonstrations. Makes the whole thing so much more interesting ❤️

[@RooftopRose079]

Breakfast in Ireland? That sounds wonderful.

[@ItsMiss5p1d3r5]

When I was a kid, everyone said that red cordial would make you hyper, and I never understood why specifically red should make anyone hyper. This video answers that question, thank you Ann Reardon!

[@iamthenightgoddess8226]

Thank you for making this video, and going into detail explaining everything. My youngest son wound up allergic to Yellow 5 & Red 40.. he had rough (think sandpaper), bleeding rashes from his ears to his ankles, we were told to give him liquid Benadryl (for the record, at that time it had red 40 in it), which helped the itch, but the rash never got better. We even had an allergist tell us it was impossible to be allergic to the food dyes, just like it was impossible to be allergic to strawberries and cinnamon (he is very wrong by the way). It was by trial and error that we figured it out. After that I became religious on reading ingredient lists on packaged foods, and then eventually got to the point where we just made all foods from scratch. Fortunately his scarring from the rashes is minimal. I wish more doctors would take this seriously.

[@rileyhester177]

Thank you for this! I grew up with a lot of food-color scare and have always wondered how true it was.

[@heli0ns]

Once again Ann comes in with a well researched and explained video on a topic that sorely needed it! Thank you so much!!

[@saralove9805]

I never knew that food dyes could cause hyperactivity at all. I noticed that any time my son ate things that were red he would act violent and extremely hyper. So I did some tests of my own and sure enough any time he had red 40 his behavior changed IMMENSELY. Any time he has it now it's like jeckyl and Hyde. It doesn't matter if he has a tiny little bit or a lot, the reaction is the same

[@zerishkamal279]

I hope Anne would address the last debunking video mistake about surgerologie considering the topic of this one

[@Hailstormand]

Well, this was NOT the Journey Into Colours that I was expecting! Highly informative and very useful as ever!

[@maccamacca2548]

I love seeing your view with being a good scientist and someone who knows a lot about food!! It’s so interesting to hear facts from someone who knows what they’re talking about. I love learning from your videos!! Thanks again!

[@iwantedtobethatanomaly2270]

As someone with autism, I hate how autism or ADHD is implied to be a "horrible disease" that can be caused by vaccines or food coloring. Thank you Anne for making these informative videos and shedding light on important topics❤

[@Skittenmeow]

I hate that people think autism or ADHD need to be "cured" I already mask too much, but pathologising my neurodiversity is not in any way helpful. It's likely to increase my visible symptoms, if anything, due to the additional stress of faking being neurotypical.

[@jnprjedi]

mood...i keep seeing people spread the idea that certain food colourings outright cause adhd and i just want to rip my hair out...adhd is a GENETIC disorder and has nothing to do with any oh-so-terrible chemicals

[@sonicthehedgegod]

the amount of pseudoscientific garbage they'd spew on those doctor shows is so maddening to me, i can't believe some of those were allowed to air. linking food coloring to causing autism? almost every "cause" of autism of that sort had been debunked by like 2003. drives me up a wall.

[@shadowheartart3898]

This. So much. We're not broken because of stuff our parents gave us to eat. We don't need to be cured. We're humans with flaws, just like everyone else

[@GeneralNuisance00]

Yep! I myself am AuDHD, and while yes, my ADHD can be debilitating some days and my autism has caused me problems, it's not some horrible illness. It's who I am. They're disabilities that require accommodations and adjustments, and that's not a bad thing. Disability isn't a bad word and it's not helpful to blame these things on food dye and try to search for a "cure" that people with said disability DO NOT WANT. What's helpful is teaching us self advocacy and ensuring that we have access to the things we need in order to thrive. Blaming red food dye isn't productive and doesnt help us in any way, it distracts from what WILL help us. My ADHD and my autism cannot be separated from the rest of me. They're a key part of who I am.

[@NazoKira]

Another great video by Anne the Food Scientist. :D Must not miss this.

[@applegal3058]

Is she really a food scientist? Just curious what her credentials are. I'm just a casual watcher of her videos, and I don't remember ever hearing her give a disclaimer about her educational experience.

[@skawesomeone]

@@applegal3058 According to Wikipedia, "Prior to becoming a KZbin personality, she worked as a qualified food scientist and dietitian."

[@HowToCookThat]

@@applegal3058 you’re only the second person in 12 years to ask that. Yes I have a degree in nutrition and food science and then went on to do further post grad study to become a dietitian.

[@applegal3058]

@@HowToCookThat oh wow, that's a good background for the types of videos that you make. Thanks for sharing all of this information to us 😊

[@lazygardens]

@@HowToCookThat "Food Science" ... it's biochem, but with edible lab projects! U of AZ had regular tasting days for their concoctions. Not an easy subject. We peeked into it for microbiology and lab animal management but there was a whole set of courses in the intersection of micro and food chem that I didn't get into. Mostly the profs recommended hiring someone with the right degrees if we needed one.

[@kaiazzmepandaru411]

I love how Ann explains things. It's easy for me to understand.

[@jamesbrown99991]

The colour in red cabbage changes depending on pH, so you can get many different colours from the same source. It's red in acid, and blue-green in alkali.

[@katiedunson5400]

Thank you for always answering the questions we all wonder with research and honesty!! Love Fridays!

[@thatmessy132]

I remember loving Smarties (candy coated chocolate similar to MnMs) but they switched to natural colours and the taste changed for the worst. Not for health reasons but for marketing purposes.

[@TinyTonyTin]

I rember this, I had fun figuring out the colors tasted now different, also my gum didt get stressed like before. I guess they changed the coating too. Unfurthaly I don't find them anymore in our local supermarket, just that mini ones that are packaged in mini boxed and than in a big plastic bag.

[@thatmessy132]

@TinyTonyTin I think the artificial colour had a more neutral taste, the natural colour has a flavour that throws off the candy coating's flavour. Astros still taste the same

[@megha593]

Always loved your videos. I get to learn so much from them. They are so satisfying and stress relieving for me for some reason. Like as a bio student i literally cringe internally at wrong information s. But yours are just perfect with research done and history noted.❤Love from India

[@pammasheppard1338]

What a well spoken and well researched video. Much better than those by people out to prove that they are "right" at the top of their lungs about these sorts of things no matter what. Thank You.

[@llfn1718]

KZbin has a cruel sense of humour! I was eating Skittles when I saw the thumbnail for this video haha! Thank you Ann for such an informative video. You never fail to perfectly combine entertainment with education! Keep up the good work!

[@hannamariewilson]

Boxed cake mixes aren't brown due to cocoa powder! They have chocolate flavoring in them and use special colored powders that look wounded together while dry to make it look brown. It's the anti-flash colors. So cool.

[@suzannestrickland1586]

I love all these knowledge expanding videos you have been doing. Some of the information I knew, some was new. Thank you

[@hez_am_i2448]

my brother and i grew up in the era of omg red food colour makes kids hyper. my brother has autism and occasionally would go hyper, so of course everyone blamed red. but after a lot of elimination diet testing - turns out it was the combination of natural yellow colouring (like in cheese) and caffeine (including in tea or chocolate). if he had the two to close together - hyper! separately - he was fine

[@HowToCookThat]

good testing

[@thescholarsjourney661]

As someone who reacts negatively to most artificial food dyes, the Feingold diet has helped me a lot. It doesn't cause hyperactivity or anything so much, but it can cause mood swings, fatigue, headaches, and more sensitivity in all of my senses. The same is true for a lot of artificial flavors, and they all affect me differently. It's really frustrating.

[@Justapikachu577]

Hi! I know this is meant in good faith but I feel the need to specify: Food coloring does not cause autism or ADHD. Those are determined by genetics according to current research and no food or chemical has been found to actually cause it. Especially AFTER birth, because by then it is already determined. Food coloring might increase hyperactivity by a tiny bit, but won't cause ADHD.