Do Food Additives Cause Hyperactivity?

Reviews the book, Food Additives and Hyperactive Children by C. Keith Conners (1980). This book investigates the Feingold hypothesis that foods containing artificial colors and artificial flavors as well as fruits and vegetables that contain natural salicylates (e.g., apples, oranges, peaches, tomatoes, etc) are a major factor in causing hyperactivity. The author concludes that food additives do not cause hyperactivity, but he recognizes that a small number--"less than 5%"--of hyperactive children may benefit from the diet for reasons that are unclear at this time, he states "only certain subjects are susceptible to the adverse effects of the food dyes, while most of the effects of Feingold's diet are placebo or nonspecific effects." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)