FDA Commissioner: 'We want to focus on food'

(NewsNation) — As part of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary told NewsNation Thursday that one of the agency’s top targets is eliminating artificial food dyes by the end of 2026. 

Dr. Makary, the 27th Commissioner of Food and Drugs, joined NewsNation on Thursday to discuss his first 100 days as Chief of the FDA. He said the agenda to phase out synthetic food dyes from the United States food supply by year’s end is due to a suspected link that artificial food dyes can cause and/or exacerbate health issues and disorders like Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

“There’s 1,000 chemicals in the U.S. food supply that are not in the food supply of Europe, and so we're doing an inventory of all of them, and these petroleum-based food dyes, that is artificial food dyes, have been implicated in Attention Deficit Disorder, and other problems in the health of children. So, we're saying we want to see natural ingredients. We want to see people eat less ultra-processed foods,” Makary said. 

“A Review of the Association of Blue Food Coloring with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Children,” from the NIH in 2022, said the cause of ADHD was unknown. They found that there was no direct link between artificial food dyes and ADHD; however, there were findings that they exacerbated symptoms. 

Makary told NewsNation the agency is trying to authorize alternative options, like natural dyes. He says the agency expects to approve one such dye later this week.

The FDA announced in April that they are working on phasing out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the United States food supply as part of the Make America Healthy Again commission.

“We want to focus on food. People forget that the ‘F’ in FDA stands for food,” Makary said.  

FDA investigating impact of processed food on children

Makary noted that the processed foods are often targeted towards children, and said the agency has focused on fighting childhood obesity and diabetes. 

 “The maker of Skittles announced they're going to get rid of titanium dioxide, another chemical that we'd like to see out of candy, and so we're going to keep going like this,” Makary said. “I don't believe our childhood diabetes epidemic is a willpower problem. We've got to look at what we are doing to children.”

Testing the impact of things like artificial dyes on minors is a challenge, Makary noted, and said his agency will rely on hearing from patients and their parents to understand more. 

“We've got to listen to parents when they say, my kid had a lot of bad behavior, aggressive behavior, was diagnosed with ADHD. We cut out all the petroleum, artificial dyes from the diet, and the kid’s behavior improved. That's a data point. It's not a randomized control trial, but when you have enough of those, and you do have some good, robust medical studies in the literature, we can take action,” Makary said.

The FDA’s goal is to remove synthetic food dyes by the end of 2026. Companies like Kraft Heinz, General Mills, PepsiCo, Nestle and ConAgra said they will phase out artificial dyes.

But enforcing those bans could prove to be difficult, with at least one major brand already pushing back. 

“I think you win more bees with honey than you do with fire. I think we're starting off with a very diplomatic approach, making this request on behalf of the public. Remember, this is a very popular issue among parents in the United States; over 90% of parents want to see these petroleum-based food dyes removed from the food supply of children,” Makary said.