What more is needed to make the following a description of the “ideal experiment?
“Children whose behavior is claimed to have improved on the Feingold diet should be challenged periodically with suspected substances in double-blind fashion.” Is the improvement of the children stable or are they having trouble using the diet? (The David study used children whose parents thought they saw a response to additives but needed help figuring out a diet. David simply challenged (using a salicylate drink for both challenge and placebo) children already not doing very well, and saw no difference. One child was in the midst of a many-days-long tantrum when they “challenged” her with Yellow #5 and they saw “no change.” Apparently, she continued her tantrum behavior.) Is the amount of challenge material sufficiently high? One tablespoon of bright red frosting has over 150 mg of FD&C Red #40. With 2 tablespoons per cupcake, plus the dye (and flavoring) in the soda, the candy, the ice cream …. it is not hard to envision getting over 400 mg of dye alone at a party … and back in
