Healthy happy you.
Should warning labels be on artificially dyed foods? The FDA is trying to decide this following a study showing that those petroleum-based dyes found in everything from cereal to candy can cause behavioral problems like ADHD. If the findings worry you, moms who still want to make a colorful treat for her kids can still feed them the rainbow by using natural food dye, which are made from the Read more
We just received a shockingly colored package of salt water taffy in the mail. While I think the candies' vibrantly colored flavors are fun to display, I'm not sure I want to know how any candy got to be that shade of blue or hot pink. How do you feel about foodstuffs with bright coloring? Are You Turned Off by Brightly Colored Foods? Yes. I don't like eating colors that can't be Read more
Fruity Loops, Fruity Pebbles, and other technicolor cereals could be bad for kids, and not just because of the sugar high. Turns out, the food dyes used to create such candylicious treats could be contributing to childhood hyperactivity and other behavior issues. Last week, the Center for Science in the Public Interest began urging the Food and Drug Administration to outlaw eight artificial food Read more
Today is May 4, the unofficial holiday that Star Wars fans have proclaimed Star Wars Day. If you encounter anyone wearing fanboy paraphernalia this Friday, make sure to greet them properly by saying, "May the fourth be with you." It will give you instant geek cred. We made a Star Trek cake for Captain Picard's birthday, so of course we had to make a sweet treat for May 4 too. To replicate this Read more
It's eggtacular! With all of the talk about food dyes and their effects on young tots this week, mamas preparing for Easter may be thinking twice about how they'll color their eggs this year. Using plant, fruit, and vegetable extracts, rather than the Red 40 and Blue Lake dyes at the forefront of the controversy, the Eco-Eggs Easter Egg Coloring Kit ($16) still creates vibrantly dyed eggs without Read more
Seven types of ballpark eaters — Food Republic The best and worst food from Ikea and Costco — HuffPost Food In defense of the seven-layer salad — The Kitchn Starbucks is officially replacing red bug dye — The Daily Meal Genius recipe: shrimp and grits — Food52 The best butters and spreads — Real Simple Martha Stewart gets a new cooking show on PBS — Grub Street NY Read more
They make food fun and enticing to a lil one's eyes, but there's more to food dyes than many mamas might imagine. The same drops that are used to create rainbow foods have been linked to attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in tots and much more. This week an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration will meet to discuss the possibility of added warning labels to products Read more
If you love red velvet cupcakes but not the bright scarlet hue that comes along with them, try gabi29's dye-free version. Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting are just as delicious without the food coloring. Click here to see how they were made. Share your own baking stories (and pictures) with us in the YumSugar Community. You could wind up featured here. Read more
Earlier today I watched an interesting clip on Good Morning America about how a food's color affects perception of taste. In the video, children and adults are given the same flavor of jello and chocolate pudding, but it's been dyed several different colors. Both the tots and grown-ups assume each color is a different flavor. Most food is artificially colored in some way and at the end of the Read more
I love using color to brighten up my baked goods, but sometimes the idea of adding drop after drop of artificial food dye makes me cringe. So with St. Patrick's Day coming up, the hunt was on to find a natural coloring agent to turn my baked goods a lovely shade of green. Historically used in Japanese tea ceremonies, matcha is finely milled green tea powder that today finds its way into mochi, Read more
