Have you ever wondered if there are more natural ways to lower your high blood pressure,

guard against Alzheimer's, loose weight, feel better?

Well, it turns out there is.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts podcast.

I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger.

Today we look at the best ways to treat ADHD, and we start by taking a close look at the effects

of artificial food colors in children's diets.

Nearly 50 years ago, Cedars-Sinai, Chief of Pediatrics Ben Feingold, published heresy,

suggesting that artificial food colors could induce behavioral disturbances.

Dow Chemical disagreed, as did Coca-Cola, as well as other players within the trillion-dollar

processed food industry, who were able to convince the medical establishment that it was all

just one elaborate placebo effect. But the truth can only be buried so long.

In 2004, a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge was published,

hyperactivity in preschoolers was significantly reduced

when artificial colorings and the preservative sodium benzoy

were eliminated from their diets,

but hyperactivity jumped back up when the additives, rather than a placebo, were reintroduced

into their diets.

The researchers suggest the benefit would accrue for all children if they didn't consume

artificial food colors or benzodiape preservatives.

Then another randomized double-blind, a civil-controlled food challenge was published in probably the most prestigious medical journal in the world.

This time, researchers found that artificial colors and other food additives and processed foods

...