Halloween Scares Me to Death Because of Aluminum
I
remember when the scariest thing on my doorstep at Halloween was a child in a
monster or alien costume. Now I find the
scariest thing to be the bags of chocolate and brightly colored candy that are
clutched in the hands of small children on my doorstep. My fear stems from aluminum in both chocolate
and the food dyes used for candy. This
aluminum is a neurotoxin that will continue to kill neurons in these children’s
brains long after Halloween. Aluminum
has been linked to autism in children and should not be allowed in candy. Cocoa trees are the source of chocolate.
Cocoa trees prefer a clay soil that is rich in aluminum. This results in 84 samples of chocolate from
different sources containing from 170 to 4,260 mcg of aluminum per ounce.
The following table taken
from my book “Prevent Alzheimer’s, Autism, and Stroke” shows how much aluminum
is in food and candy.
Foods
and Sweets Containing Aluminum Lake as an AFC397
|
||
Food or
Sweets Colored with Aluminum Lake
(Serving
Size in Parentheses)
|
AFC per
Serving (mg/Serv.)
|
Estimated* Amount
of Aluminum per Serving (mcg/Serv.)
|
Kellogg Frosted Cherry Poptart (1) – Red 40
|
10.1
|
1,110
|
Marsh Green Sprinkles Cookie (1) – Yellow 5, Blue 1
|
1.4
|
154
|
Hostess Orange Cupcake (1) – Yellow 5 & 6
|
3.5
|
470
|
Betty Crocker’s Blue Cupcake (1) – Blue 1
|
1.2
|
84
|
Betty Crocker’s Red Cupcake (1) – Red 40
|
34.7
|
3,470
|
Okedoke Cheesy Popcorn (1 cup) – Red 40
|
3.8
|
420
|
Combos (1/3 cup) – Yellow 5 & 6, Blue 1
|
3.2
|
350
|
Hamburger Helper (1 cup prepared) – Yellow 5 & 6
|
7.7
|
1040
|
Scalloped Potatoes (1/2 cup prepared) – Yellow 5 & 6
|
1.4
|
190
|
M&M Milk Chocolate (48 Pieces) – Blue 1 & 2, Yellow 5 & 6,
Red 40
|
29.5
|
2,950
|
M&M Peanuts (15) – Blue 1 & 2, Yellow 5 & 6, Red 40
|
14.1
|
1,410
|
Skittles Original(61) –Blue 1 & 2, Yellow 5 & 6, Red 40
|
33.2
|
3,320
|
Reese’s Pieces (51) – Blue 1, Yellow 5 & 6, Red 40
|
6.6
|
660
|
Rainbow Nerds (1 tablespoon) – Blue 1 & 2, Yellow 5 & 6, Red
40
|
3.7
|
370
|
Sprees (8 pieces) – Blue 2, Yellow 5, Red 40
|
1.9
|
230
|
Red Jawbreakers (3) – Red 40
|
1.2
|
130
|
Orange Jawbreakers (3) – Yellow 5 & 6, Red 40
|
0.4
|
50
|
Purple Jawbreakers (3) – Blue 1 & 2, Red 40
|
0.7
|
70
|
Green Jawbreakers (3) – Blue 1 & 2, Yellow 5 & 6
|
0.5
|
50
|
Yellow Jawbreakers (3) – Yellow 5 & 6
|
0.2
|
27
|
AFC stands for artificial
food colorant * Assumes no alumina extender and 2 atoms of aluminum per
molecule of colorant, except 3 for Yellow 5, and assumes a mixture of 4 colors
to be approximately 10% aluminum.
At the
beginning of the 20th century a number of synthetic dyes and
pigments became available. They were
synthesized from bituminous coal and were called “coal-tar dyes”. These dyes were less costly to produce and
superior in color when compared with natural dyes available at the time. In the U.S. only seven of these synthetic
dyes were initially approved for food under the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act of
1906. These dyes are in general soluble in water. In order to add color to candy and prevent the
color from “bleeding”, the aluminum salts of these dyes are used as an
“Aluminum Lake” in the candy.
Currently
some manufacturers of candy are promising to remove aluminum from candy in the
future but for now both chocolate and colored candy is neurotoxic and should
not be given to children. For Halloween
this year my wife and I are giving the children on our doorstep rubber spiders
and erasers that are too big to swallow.
