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A busy day today with lots of media interviews to discuss the research the Agency commissioned from Southampton University on the link between some artificial colours and hyperactivity in children.

As I’ve said on the radio and TV, both the study and the science underpinning it are very specialist and complex and require careful interpretation.

The point I also made is that measuring children’s behaviour is not easy. A careful balance has to be made between designing a study that includes rigorous controls but at the same time is relevant to the real life setting which children will encounter and that is practical to study. 

One of the very real problems is that observing children in a situation with which they are not familiar, or where the observations are carried out by someone new to them, can of itself change their behaviour.  

It also requires a significant effort from the families involved in the study and it is thanks to them that the research was completed successfully. 

The findings are a helpful additional contribution to our knowledge of the possible effects of artificial food colours on children’s behaviour.

I think this is a good example of the Agency engaging in a challenging area of research and I would like to congratulate Southampton University for doing an excellent job.

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