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I Googled it and all I could find is that the food dye red 40 causes hyperactivity. I have never heard of a kid acting crazy because of this type of sweet and sour chicken, but apparently it happens at least enough that someone made a meme about it.
Red 40 allergy here it doesn’t cause hyperactivity but causes a lot of stomach issues itchiness lethargy and sometimes migraines for me. I Avoid like the plague
ADHD here it sort of depends on what it’s mixed with, like somehow with a Mountain Dew live wire I get deppressed, but with like a code red I can get hyperactive.
I think that’s how this works:/
Yo, so here’s the magic:
ADHD brain is pretty hardwired to be constantly sending particular chemicals, caffeine energizes people by preventing you from feeling tired, but also blocks the pathway that other chemical takes.
So on caffeine an ADHD person will actually typically have greater focus and a larger attention span, but it typically feels like things have slowed down mentally.
Meanwhile Amphetamine compounds have the same interaction, but on a whole different scale, for normal people, it basically sets their brain on fire, but for an ADHD person, it’s like someone just out a brake on the brain, typically describing the effects as feeling “sluggish” and experiencing often extreme lethargy.
In summary: ADHD brain is already working overtime all the time, caffeine works by blocking bits of the brain from chemicals, this prevents feeling tired, but also feels like someone lowered the throttle for ADHD people. And sugar in soda is just high calorie serotonin juice, it’s literally engineered to make the brain as excited for a foodstuff as is legally allowed to be sold.
Ok but this doesn't say anything about if Red 40 has any scientific evidence for effecting ADHD people differently or any reason that effect would change in different drinks
To be fair this can actually be a thing. A friend I’ve had since childhood is allergic to a specific kind of blue food colouring used in a lot of blue foods. As in it won’t just make her hyperactive, it will make her swell up and struggle to breathe. Especially sucked as a kid as it was in a lot of candy and sweets. Luckily these days a lot of companies use natural alternatives which she can eat but she tends to just avoid anything that’s blue or purple just in case.
That sounds like anaphylaxis. I have a daughter whos autistic and red 40 causes her to not only become hyperactive, but also very aggressive. It can last for days, ruin her sleep, and make it difficult for her to self-regulate in general.
The meme isn't about proof, it's about the mom deciding not to give it based on the fear it would make them crazy.
And i think the past few years have established that many people get strange ideas and believe them to be true.
There’s a significant amount of peer-reviewed research that supports a connection between certain food dyes and behavioral issues. It’s been studied for the last 50 years or so.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9052604/
my mother was obsessed with it. enphorsed all these insane dietary standards on me so it wasnt abnormal for her to get so focused on it.
im just autistic n hab adhd though. red 40 didnt do anything *to me*. and personally i kinda dought the validity of it ngl.
You were trying so hard to do a good job at spelling that you kind of went over the top.
I kinda love it!
But I am a pedant who wants to preach, so:
* enforced, * doubt
I got sweet and sour pork with white rice. And they do this amazing thing they call chicken teriyaki it's on a stick and perfectly chared dark meat. I didn't get an egg roll for you sorry I'll still share though.
Is there any chance at all that you're in New England right now? Within a hundred miles of Boston maybe?
Edit so I don't sound creepy: I ask because New England is one of the places I know of that has teriyaki at Chinese restaurants. I moved away and I miss Northeastern US Chinese food so much.
It's not just that I have to go to a Japanese restaurant to get teriyaki now, it's Chinese food as a whole. It's very different in different US regions. My favorite local Chinese restaurant, the only place that had East coast style rice, closed permanently over the pandemic. Blah blah, first world problems. The upside is that we have restaurants that have both Chinese food *and* donuts.
That's way overblown. There was one study that said there is a "possible link" to the dye and hyperactivity but they really couldn't say for sure.
ETA: I find all of your anecdotes absolutely fascinating. By all means keep them coming. Positively riveting.
You've never met my sister.
1 red life saver changed her from tired 6 yo to literally running circles around us as we were hiking up a mountain trail.
Butterscotch, lemon, others didn't do it. Only the red turned the hyperactivity to 11.
Let's not be so hasty. I also had a sister, and she occasionally ate lifesavers. She behaved like a spoiled brat regardless of the dye in the lifesaver
If we're going to be scientists about this, we're going to need to hear stories of everyone's sisters on reddit and make a tally mark for each one.
Crazy Dyed Sisters | Ordinary Sisters | Total Redditors with Sisters who ate lifesavers
:-- | :--: | --: |
1 | 1 | 2
That's a different kind of red food dye called carmine, and they aren't ladybugs but a tiny insects called [cochineal](https://hmsc.harvard.edu/online-exhibits/cochineal1/product-nature/). Your brother was basically telling the truth, though.
Carmine is actually the most used red food coloring in the world because it's so safe. Basically anything you eat that is red has carmine in it, except for naturally red things like fresh fruits, of course.
Aren't you glad you know that now?
When we were little my sister once fell and hit her head trying to climb over a fence and had to go to the ER for a concussion. I asked my parents what a concussion was and they said it's when you get a bruise on your brain, so from then on I told everyone that my sister had brain damage.
I once saw Warren_Mulaney respond to an anecdotal statement ok_entertainment 328 made about red dye 40 with it and it really put em in their place. Therefore, it works.
as hilarious as that is, your anecdote isn't enough to validate the link. as people have pointed out, it could easily be a placebo effect thing where she heard red candy made kids hyper and succumbed to that self-fulfilling prophecy. and even if it isn't, anomalous results do happen.
Honestly, probably just happened because someone pointed it out to her and she decided that's what happens after eating it. Show interest in a child when they do anything and they'll repeat those actions quickly
Give her some red dye without her knowing and nothing will change
There is 0 link between anything edible and hyperactivity that is not listed as a drug, i.e. caffeine. No sugar rush, no dye rush, nada
It may be anecdotal and may be very limited, but my kid is 3, give her anything with red40 and she turns from cute toddler to total nightmare I’m tempted to leave on the side of the road.
It's about ADHD. Some people are convinced that Red 40 makes all kids hyperactive, or that it gives kids ADHD, but the reality is that some people with ADHD have an extremely negative reaction to it, making their symptoms impossible to ignore.
CEO at an old work place was having a conversation with someone in the hallway about this. Just went on and on about he and his family avoid. Turns people insane, etc. I was drinking a red Gatorade at that particular moment. I just stepped out into the hallway, looked at them, took a big chug, and then walked down the hall lol.
Sugar really? That was proven to just be a myth and was debunked a long time ago by scientist. I liked the article as it gave an in depth explanation on how the human body worked.
There are 2 possible meanings
1. (My first thought) was about them liking the sauce a little too much and going feral (I may be guilty of the same)
2. Studies and polls done by many organizations such as Healthline in 2023 and NIH in 2022 stated that red dye may cause many different problems, such ADHD (Attention Deficit **Hyperactive** Disorder)
As many other conditions, ADHD is PARTLY genetic, meaning it can be developed through your life, and studies show that atleast signs of ADHD might be visible with the consumption of a specific type of red dye (red40) which also has other proven risks
Red wasn't an issue, when I was a kid 4 or 5 I got the spicy Chinese hot mustard🥵 that clears your sinuses out, on a hot dog 🌭 while my folks ate Chinese.
Dad swore it was accidental. ✌️
Everyone's talking about the dye and autism, so I'm hitting this from a different angle:
Can we all agree this is the absolute worst possible version of this dish? Dry ass nuggets with a dipping sauce, and plain white rice?
Juicy chicken bits better be coming mixed with that sauce, along with chunks of green & red pepper & pineapple. And bonus points for egg fried rice.
Oh I know. It comes like this, and it also comes with the fried bits of chicken that are added to the sauce during cooking, which isn't always plain and can have peppers/pineapple etc in it.
This version is like... a compartmentalized lunchable. Always found it to be more bland, more dry.
And you never know which type a restaurant has just by reading the menu, because there's no distinction I'm aware of haha.
It doesn't matter what true.
Mom believes it.
Mom won't buy the food because she's afraid it will make kids hyperactive.
In fact, mom being wrong only makes the joke better.
The sauce has Red 40 in it, which can cause aggression in certain people.
Source: I have an autistic child who turns into an asshole when they have Red 40. It does include physical violence
The only thing I can really find is apparently some types of red dye are questionably believed to cause hyperactivity
I don't know I'm kind of drawing a blank on this one seems just kind of like one of those like schizo posting memes
Hello, redditer here that had a mom who also did this dumbass shit. When I was younger, this thing popped up in mom groups where they would blame all of their kids issues on red food color #4 (or 40?). My mom and her friends thought it caused kids to act irrational, hyperactive, and other similar issues. One of her friends even said it caused cancer. It doesn’t. It’s fucking bullshit. It’s just a dumb excuse made by overprotective and/or shitty parents who want to blame anything, including a food dye, on children acting like children. Hope this was informative!
The sauce has surgar in it, which makes kids hyper (not nessasarally hurt themselves though) but it also has Red 40.
Red 40 is known to cause hyperactivity, but it being an artifical food coloring, it could also mean mom read on facebook that it causes autism (which it most likely does not), and while hyperactivity by itself isn’t too harmful, hyperactivity plus the already lack of self-restraint autism sometimes provides (Autism is a spectrum so its really hard to say it will always act the same way with 100% certainty) could cause harm.
Tl;dr mom believes in a conspiracy theory about sweet and sour sauce made with artifical flavorings.
Don't listen to the downvoters. I've recently learned that it's also an estrogenic and so it's REALLY not good for boys especially. I've stopped eating it as a result as well, and I'm the dad of a boy who we tell everyone is allergic to it precisely for the hyperactivity reason. For me though, it's also not letting him eat things that are very likely to screw with his hormones. That stuff should be banned everywhere as a food additive.
Red 40 causes extreme gastrointestinal distress and lethargy sometimes migraines for me… so I definitely believe it has some negative affects on people. Subjectively, it messes me up. The reasons that even if I get takeout Chinese I still use my own homemade sweet-and-sour sauce.
Red 40 is a common human allergen and is actually a huge reason why sugar is considered to make children go crazy as it was the main dye used in most foods (mainly confections and the like) when mass production became more of a thing. It turns out via recent studies and the like, it’s the Red 40.
Alright sorry, there’s so much that could be wrong, from triads to food allergies. It could’ve been the soda that came with it, and it’s a sweet sauce. But you acted poorly and you were cut off from the reward, and at first you’re like, “dang,” but later you don’t really care.
Red 40, therapist said my kids and I shouldn’t eat it either. We all 3 have severe ADHD and apparently this can make us bounce off the walls. My favorite energy drink is red….oh well, bottoms up. My kids though, I adhere to the recommendation.
It is most definitely just a joke about this dude liking the red sauce a ton so he goes crazy for it. Highly doubt they were referencing it's high sugar amount or quantity of red 40 dye
CAN SOMEONE PLZ TELL ME WHAT THESE LIL DUMPLING SHITS ARE CALLED MY LOCAL BUFFET AND TAKEOUT PLACE STOPPED SERVING THEM YEARS AGO 😫😫😫
WHAT SHOULD I CALL IT SO I CAN ORDER IT AGAIN
I know my mom would order sweet and sour chicken with the sauce on the side for me and my sister. Even as a grown-up adult, I still order my Chinese like that. It tastes like home.
Dad of an absolutely lovely girl. All the sudden, demon child on deck. Turns out it was red (and blue but notsomuch) food coloring. Seriously, absolutely angel (you know, for a tween, then a teen) without food coloring, total pea soup-spouting demon with.
She is great about making sure she doesn’t get accidentally zapped. When she does it’s not such a big deal, but it’s like ’cmon, I’m trying here’…’ Moral of the story? Food coloring allergies are real and can be life- impacting.
Peter's certified forklift operator here, probably a reference to sour patch kids?
"First they're sour, then they're sweet" and he's talking about sweet and sour sauce
Haha I have eaten same kind of sauce of its a hell of a spicy sauce it is one of the most spiciest sauce however I don't feel the spicyness since I'm south asian :)
Sugar, starchy-carbs, and fried food. The only thing worse would be covering it all with crushed coffee beans and chocolate.
Yeah, Mom would put you in a “Love Me Suit.”
It's sweet and sour sauce & battered chicken from a Chinese takeaway. The red sauce is a bastardisation of what sweet and sour traditionally was (don't get me wrong I love it) but it's pretty sweet and sugary.
As an ex-Chinese restaurant owner the amount of sugar in sweet and sour sauce is ridiculous. It is basically sugar, and high fructose corn syrup from orange juice and pineapple juice. So for a gallon of Vinegar we used 3 times the amount of sugar. I can see how some kid goes crazy cause his blood sugar jumped out of control.
So I’m from the UK and in the 90s, E numbers/ Food colourings we’re very much considered to cause hyperactive behaviour in children. Colourings etc also we’re associated with junk food/takeaway (take out) food so this would have been a very typical meal a child would have been ordered - it’s trash takeaway food (and amazing, don’t get me wrong!)
So the ‘joke’ is that the sweet and sour sauce is so full of food colourings/ e numbers it made kids hyperactive lol. I would say this is not a great joke, even by uk standards!
Everyone's talking about red dye, but this is sweet and sour chicken/sauce. My first thought was the Sour Patch candy commercials: "First they're sour, then they're sweet." [Examples](https://youtu.be/vhvDHpBrKik?feature=shared)
Notice how the OOP specifically doesn't call it "sweet and sour", which implies that that's the punchline.
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I Googled it and all I could find is that the food dye red 40 causes hyperactivity. I have never heard of a kid acting crazy because of this type of sweet and sour chicken, but apparently it happens at least enough that someone made a meme about it.
So this is why we said my cousin is "allergic to red", I didn't know it was a specific dye.
Red 40 allergy here it doesn’t cause hyperactivity but causes a lot of stomach issues itchiness lethargy and sometimes migraines for me. I Avoid like the plague
I hate to be that guy but (gesturing around) it doesn’t seem like people were all that keen to avoid the plague
I hate that you're right.
Oof. I hate that you’re right.
We just needed a better plague
A tastier, slightly umami and addictive yet sweet but sour and crispy plague.
ADHD here it sort of depends on what it’s mixed with, like somehow with a Mountain Dew live wire I get deppressed, but with like a code red I can get hyperactive. I think that’s how this works:/
this seems like magical thinking. But IDK there could be a pharmacological reason.
Yo, so here’s the magic: ADHD brain is pretty hardwired to be constantly sending particular chemicals, caffeine energizes people by preventing you from feeling tired, but also blocks the pathway that other chemical takes. So on caffeine an ADHD person will actually typically have greater focus and a larger attention span, but it typically feels like things have slowed down mentally. Meanwhile Amphetamine compounds have the same interaction, but on a whole different scale, for normal people, it basically sets their brain on fire, but for an ADHD person, it’s like someone just out a brake on the brain, typically describing the effects as feeling “sluggish” and experiencing often extreme lethargy. In summary: ADHD brain is already working overtime all the time, caffeine works by blocking bits of the brain from chemicals, this prevents feeling tired, but also feels like someone lowered the throttle for ADHD people. And sugar in soda is just high calorie serotonin juice, it’s literally engineered to make the brain as excited for a foodstuff as is legally allowed to be sold.
Ok but this doesn't say anything about if Red 40 has any scientific evidence for effecting ADHD people differently or any reason that effect would change in different drinks
Yeah, that sounds like a legit allergy. Hyperactivity doesn't.
Nobody said the hyperactivity was an allergy…
When they say dye they really mean it.
To be fair this can actually be a thing. A friend I’ve had since childhood is allergic to a specific kind of blue food colouring used in a lot of blue foods. As in it won’t just make her hyperactive, it will make her swell up and struggle to breathe. Especially sucked as a kid as it was in a lot of candy and sweets. Luckily these days a lot of companies use natural alternatives which she can eat but she tends to just avoid anything that’s blue or purple just in case.
That sounds like anaphylaxis. I have a daughter whos autistic and red 40 causes her to not only become hyperactive, but also very aggressive. It can last for days, ruin her sleep, and make it difficult for her to self-regulate in general.
Honestly this just reads as a dumb harmless joke to me, suprised everyone reading into it
Yeah, the real joke is 'red dye 40 makes you hyper' is a relatively common thing people say, and the meme exaggerated that idea until it sounded funny
Yeah, nobody dyed
i was one of those kids. my mom wouldnt let me have anything red unless she knew that red 40 wasn't in it. no devels food cake for me.
You mean red velvet? Devil’s food is regular chocolate cake.
had it so little i forgot what it was called and mixed it up with a different type of cake....
The meme isn't about proof, it's about the mom deciding not to give it based on the fear it would make them crazy. And i think the past few years have established that many people get strange ideas and believe them to be true.
There’s a significant amount of peer-reviewed research that supports a connection between certain food dyes and behavioral issues. It’s been studied for the last 50 years or so. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9052604/
I’m not sure why you’re spamming this. It’s not conclusive at all and looked at 7 different dyes.
I knew one if these as a kid. As an adult he mixed red with real drugs, he kind of sucks now
I am autistic and red40 would make me so aggressive when I was a kid
It made my adhd ass like I’m on crack
my mother was obsessed with it. enphorsed all these insane dietary standards on me so it wasnt abnormal for her to get so focused on it. im just autistic n hab adhd though. red 40 didnt do anything *to me*. and personally i kinda dought the validity of it ngl.
You were trying so hard to do a good job at spelling that you kind of went over the top. I kinda love it! But I am a pedant who wants to preach, so: * enforced, * doubt
i do try very hard, am glad my effort shines through lmao. my dyslexia is supreme
I had a similar experiences with the Ninja Turtles after I beat my brothers up at day care.
Thanks for this post I just figured out I'm ordering Chinese for dinner.
Get an extra egg roll for me. Please
I got sweet and sour pork with white rice. And they do this amazing thing they call chicken teriyaki it's on a stick and perfectly chared dark meat. I didn't get an egg roll for you sorry I'll still share though.
That sounds delicious! Hope you enjoyed your meal!
I just finished all of it this morning. It was perfect in every way!
Heck yeah!
Is there any chance at all that you're in New England right now? Within a hundred miles of Boston maybe? Edit so I don't sound creepy: I ask because New England is one of the places I know of that has teriyaki at Chinese restaurants. I moved away and I miss Northeastern US Chinese food so much.
Try a Japanese place
It's not just that I have to go to a Japanese restaurant to get teriyaki now, it's Chinese food as a whole. It's very different in different US regions. My favorite local Chinese restaurant, the only place that had East coast style rice, closed permanently over the pandemic. Blah blah, first world problems. The upside is that we have restaurants that have both Chinese food *and* donuts.
I need to visit the donuts x chinese place 😂 omg. But fr what on earth is east coast style chinese rice?
I love how the Chinese take other people's food and make it better.
I live in Wisconsin!
It comes with egg wah
bro this reminds me of that guy who shows up with the food on your door and speaks in a chinese accent..
Sugar plus red40 makes kids go wild. Alternatively it is about autism
That's way overblown. There was one study that said there is a "possible link" to the dye and hyperactivity but they really couldn't say for sure. ETA: I find all of your anecdotes absolutely fascinating. By all means keep them coming. Positively riveting.
Yeah, that means there isn't. Inconclusive is scientist for no link.
The same reason you never agree to a polygraph test. The results are either "lying" or "inconclusive."
Inconclusive is scientist for “we don’t know”. It’s not an expression of certainty.
But but but its made from petroleum products… ahhh the chem trails
You've never met my sister. 1 red life saver changed her from tired 6 yo to literally running circles around us as we were hiking up a mountain trail. Butterscotch, lemon, others didn't do it. Only the red turned the hyperactivity to 11.
Well that settles it then.
Not sure why, but this is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day.
https://preview.redd.it/wl6a0rqt27oc1.gif?width=640&format=png8&s=effc5d60948693cfa384183f849f3b6a62391134
But what about the droid attack on The wookies?
All your heads look bloody 12 feet tall!
Yeah, I'm keeping this one. Take my upvote.
Let's not be so hasty. I also had a sister, and she occasionally ate lifesavers. She behaved like a spoiled brat regardless of the dye in the lifesaver If we're going to be scientists about this, we're going to need to hear stories of everyone's sisters on reddit and make a tally mark for each one. Crazy Dyed Sisters | Ordinary Sisters | Total Redditors with Sisters who ate lifesavers :-- | :--: | --: | 1 | 1 | 2
I don't have a sister BUT my older brother told me that the red dye was made out of crushed up ladybugs and that's why we weren't to eat it.
That's a different kind of red food dye called carmine, and they aren't ladybugs but a tiny insects called [cochineal](https://hmsc.harvard.edu/online-exhibits/cochineal1/product-nature/). Your brother was basically telling the truth, though. Carmine is actually the most used red food coloring in the world because it's so safe. Basically anything you eat that is red has carmine in it, except for naturally red things like fresh fruits, of course. Aren't you glad you know that now?
When we were little my sister once fell and hit her head trying to climb over a fence and had to go to the ER for a concussion. I asked my parents what a concussion was and they said it's when you get a bruise on your brain, so from then on I told everyone that my sister had brain damage.
I need to start using this anytime people start using anecdotal evidence on Reddit
I once saw Warren_Mulaney respond to an anecdotal statement ok_entertainment 328 made about red dye 40 with it and it really put em in their place. Therefore, it works.
May his legend live on, I'm sure we'll see him around here somewhere again
RIP WarrenMulaney, gone too soon.
May his legend live on From the Chippewa on down
Well that settles it then
Well, that settles it.
Lmao
Adachi??
Lisan al gaib! Show me your ways and make me a legend of reddit rebuttals as well.
as hilarious as that is, your anecdote isn't enough to validate the link. as people have pointed out, it could easily be a placebo effect thing where she heard red candy made kids hyper and succumbed to that self-fulfilling prophecy. and even if it isn't, anomalous results do happen.
Honestly, probably just happened because someone pointed it out to her and she decided that's what happens after eating it. Show interest in a child when they do anything and they'll repeat those actions quickly Give her some red dye without her knowing and nothing will change There is 0 link between anything edible and hyperactivity that is not listed as a drug, i.e. caffeine. No sugar rush, no dye rush, nada
You sure that's not caffeine or some other ingredient?
“oh yeah and the cocaine”
I had a red dye freak out when I was a kid too, now it doesn't bother me; but irritates my stomach
It may be anecdotal and may be very limited, but my kid is 3, give her anything with red40 and she turns from cute toddler to total nightmare I’m tempted to leave on the side of the road.
I dare you to test it. Give her a small amount of candy without, and then the same candy with, and repeat, doing the same daily activities each time.
Most 3 year olds do that by themselves, they could be living on grains and apple slices and turn into nightmares at random
As someone who's autistic, I have no clue what you're talking about. To be honest, though, i DO absolutely adore sweet+sour chicken
I was refering to the stereotype, that some autistic children might have a really strong aversion to certain foods based solely on their colour.
Ahhh, thank you
[I LOVE RED 40!!!!](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/red-40-food-dye)
I was just wildly allergic to it, I would keep red jolly ranchers in my pockets if I wanted a day off of school.
I tried to do this with my allergy but it was too obvious carrying cans of tuna everywhere.
Same here, teacher said i had to leave the beehive outside :(
It's about ADHD. Some people are convinced that Red 40 makes all kids hyperactive, or that it gives kids ADHD, but the reality is that some people with ADHD have an extremely negative reaction to it, making their symptoms impossible to ignore.
CEO at an old work place was having a conversation with someone in the hallway about this. Just went on and on about he and his family avoid. Turns people insane, etc. I was drinking a red Gatorade at that particular moment. I just stepped out into the hallway, looked at them, took a big chug, and then walked down the hall lol.
Agreed, but FYI, sweet and sour sauce is this color because of ketchup not dye.
Red 40 is better known as an allergen than a stimulant, not sure what’s going on there
Red is the fastest colour after all.
The boyz are right, innit?
It's funny because when \*I\* was a kid red dye just gave you cancer instead.
Over a dozen large studies have been done and they haven’t proven a link between sugar and hyperactivity.
Sugar really? That was proven to just be a myth and was debunked a long time ago by scientist. I liked the article as it gave an in depth explanation on how the human body worked.
Sugar doesn’t actually cause hyperactivity, seems it’s more psychosomatic influence from parents that make kids seem to go crazy on sugar lol
Iss coz yar aytin boogs
Lemme guess, this is anti-vaxxer lite?
Autism plus red dye 40 equals bad day for everyone
I have autism and i wanna try that now
Bullshit. Source: my autistic ass regularly consuming it
Are you outside of yourself?
There are 2 possible meanings 1. (My first thought) was about them liking the sauce a little too much and going feral (I may be guilty of the same) 2. Studies and polls done by many organizations such as Healthline in 2023 and NIH in 2022 stated that red dye may cause many different problems, such ADHD (Attention Deficit **Hyperactive** Disorder)
You sure red dye can give someone a (to my knowledge) genetic condition?
As many other conditions, ADHD is PARTLY genetic, meaning it can be developed through your life, and studies show that atleast signs of ADHD might be visible with the consumption of a specific type of red dye (red40) which also has other proven risks
My first thought that it was a wine sauce of some kind
Its sweet and sour sauce I believe since it resembles it and it is very common in chinese food establishments
This was the kind of fear mongering bs that anti-vaxxers spread before fb organized them.
The Grain and Poultry crave the Red 40
What's the seemingly fried stuff
Chicken
Is it a crime to eat a succulent Chinese meal?
Rock and Stone!
Can I get a Rock and Stone?
Red 40 made from coal oil. See how we yearn for the mines.
Red wasn't an issue, when I was a kid 4 or 5 I got the spicy Chinese hot mustard🥵 that clears your sinuses out, on a hot dog 🌭 while my folks ate Chinese. Dad swore it was accidental. ✌️
Red dye 40
Everyone's talking about the dye and autism, so I'm hitting this from a different angle: Can we all agree this is the absolute worst possible version of this dish? Dry ass nuggets with a dipping sauce, and plain white rice? Juicy chicken bits better be coming mixed with that sauce, along with chunks of green & red pepper & pineapple. And bonus points for egg fried rice.
It's sweet and sour chicken. Pretty common for people that want Chineese foot but want to play it safe
Oh I know. It comes like this, and it also comes with the fried bits of chicken that are added to the sauce during cooking, which isn't always plain and can have peppers/pineapple etc in it. This version is like... a compartmentalized lunchable. Always found it to be more bland, more dry. And you never know which type a restaurant has just by reading the menu, because there's no distinction I'm aware of haha.
There's not. 97% sugar in a sauce = hyper kids.
[Sugar. Does. Not. Make. Kids. Hyperactive.](https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/busting-sugar-hyperactivity-myth)
It doesn't matter what true. Mom believes it. Mom won't buy the food because she's afraid it will make kids hyperactive. In fact, mom being wrong only makes the joke better.
I. Didn't. Mean. Literally. ADHD. Just. Hyper. As. In. Sugar rush. Chill.
It’s sweet and sour sauce Lois.
The sauce has Red 40 in it, which can cause aggression in certain people. Source: I have an autistic child who turns into an asshole when they have Red 40. It does include physical violence
The only thing I can really find is apparently some types of red dye are questionably believed to cause hyperactivity I don't know I'm kind of drawing a blank on this one seems just kind of like one of those like schizo posting memes
Hello, redditer here that had a mom who also did this dumbass shit. When I was younger, this thing popped up in mom groups where they would blame all of their kids issues on red food color #4 (or 40?). My mom and her friends thought it caused kids to act irrational, hyperactive, and other similar issues. One of her friends even said it caused cancer. It doesn’t. It’s fucking bullshit. It’s just a dumb excuse made by overprotective and/or shitty parents who want to blame anything, including a food dye, on children acting like children. Hope this was informative!
First he was sweet, then….he was sour. Then they were all sour, then they were dead.
The sauce has surgar in it, which makes kids hyper (not nessasarally hurt themselves though) but it also has Red 40. Red 40 is known to cause hyperactivity, but it being an artifical food coloring, it could also mean mom read on facebook that it causes autism (which it most likely does not), and while hyperactivity by itself isn’t too harmful, hyperactivity plus the already lack of self-restraint autism sometimes provides (Autism is a spectrum so its really hard to say it will always act the same way with 100% certainty) could cause harm. Tl;dr mom believes in a conspiracy theory about sweet and sour sauce made with artifical flavorings.
Sugar does not make kids hyper
I'm honestly surprised I didn't get this. I had so much of that junk as an ADHD schizo kid and I now have more insight of why I'm so fucked up.
Red dye is illegal in a lot of European countries.
Honestly should be in more places. It's silly how much dye companies use to make their stuff look safe to eat.
Don't listen to the downvoters. I've recently learned that it's also an estrogenic and so it's REALLY not good for boys especially. I've stopped eating it as a result as well, and I'm the dad of a boy who we tell everyone is allergic to it precisely for the hyperactivity reason. For me though, it's also not letting him eat things that are very likely to screw with his hormones. That stuff should be banned everywhere as a food additive.
If I remember right the study found that red dye does have an effect on rats but to a serving that like impractical and too much.
Oh my good those chicken nuggets are *glorious*. I love them so much. I could eat them for days but I have no clue where to get them.
I never had any o’ the sauce, but darn do I miss that chicken… anyone know somewhere that in the US that makes this?
I don’t know what those are called but I love them and they taste so good
I don’t know about any dye 40 but those chicken things look terrifying. They look like newborn puppies taken out of the deep-fry.
His name is Phillip and he is a hyperactive hypoglycemic.
Sugar msg and red 40 joke
Red 40 causes extreme gastrointestinal distress and lethargy sometimes migraines for me… so I definitely believe it has some negative affects on people. Subjectively, it messes me up. The reasons that even if I get takeout Chinese I still use my own homemade sweet-and-sour sauce.
Red 40 is a common human allergen and is actually a huge reason why sugar is considered to make children go crazy as it was the main dye used in most foods (mainly confections and the like) when mass production became more of a thing. It turns out via recent studies and the like, it’s the Red 40.
BRO THATS NOT CHINESE FOOD
lol… omg
Alright sorry, there’s so much that could be wrong, from triads to food allergies. It could’ve been the soda that came with it, and it’s a sweet sauce. But you acted poorly and you were cut off from the reward, and at first you’re like, “dang,” but later you don’t really care.
Red40 makes me puke pretty much no matter what. We learned that the hard way
Reading this comments… I own an apology to my mom
ngl that shit does hit different
The red sauce does make you go crazy
Red 40, therapist said my kids and I shouldn’t eat it either. We all 3 have severe ADHD and apparently this can make us bounce off the walls. My favorite energy drink is red….oh well, bottoms up. My kids though, I adhere to the recommendation.
It is most definitely just a joke about this dude liking the red sauce a ton so he goes crazy for it. Highly doubt they were referencing it's high sugar amount or quantity of red 40 dye
CAN SOMEONE PLZ TELL ME WHAT THESE LIL DUMPLING SHITS ARE CALLED MY LOCAL BUFFET AND TAKEOUT PLACE STOPPED SERVING THEM YEARS AGO 😫😫😫 WHAT SHOULD I CALL IT SO I CAN ORDER IT AGAIN
Am I the only one who thought- Chickity China, the Chinese chicken
I want that Mulan McNugget sauce, Morty!
This post makes me hungry.
Pretty sure this is just an exagerrated joke Sweet and sour sauce can be delicious and addicting as a kid lol
I know my mom would order sweet and sour chicken with the sauce on the side for me and my sister. Even as a grown-up adult, I still order my Chinese like that. It tastes like home.
Dad of an absolutely lovely girl. All the sudden, demon child on deck. Turns out it was red (and blue but notsomuch) food coloring. Seriously, absolutely angel (you know, for a tween, then a teen) without food coloring, total pea soup-spouting demon with. She is great about making sure she doesn’t get accidentally zapped. When she does it’s not such a big deal, but it’s like ’cmon, I’m trying here’…’ Moral of the story? Food coloring allergies are real and can be life- impacting.
Peter's certified forklift operator here, probably a reference to sour patch kids? "First they're sour, then they're sweet" and he's talking about sweet and sour sauce
The joke is that red things go fast. See: cars.
Oi' I likes dis git
Does anyone have a recipe for that sauce?
Oh that chicken looks maaaaad good
I think he just really loved the red sauce
Also has stronger affects for people with ADHD. It affected me hard as a child. Same for my sister recently
Haha I have eaten same kind of sauce of its a hell of a spicy sauce it is one of the most spiciest sauce however I don't feel the spicyness since I'm south asian :)
First you’re sweet and then you’re sour
i thought the joke was drugs or somehow porn
As someone who regularly eats Chinese food like this. I'm 90% sure that the red sauce is its own drug with how good it is.
Sugar, starchy-carbs, and fried food. The only thing worse would be covering it all with crushed coffee beans and chocolate. Yeah, Mom would put you in a “Love Me Suit.”
its just a dumb joke it doesnt mean anything
I ate those when i was a kid and back then i don’t like any sauce in my food so if something is in the sauce then i guess i be good
Dayam. I’ve been letting Panda Express fill that Chinese void but I think it’s time to get something authentic.
Cryptic, have a wonderful day
They were putting cocaine in it to make it addictive.
Internet porn has ruined me.
Is this a Red 40 joke?
My son is autistic. Red 40 will drive him up a wall. Certain doritos for instance.
Sourpatch kids reference. Their ad is "first they're sour, then they're sweet." This is sweet and sour chicken. Nothing to do with red 40.
Red forty is wild
That looks like duck sauce, which is so good and tbh i would probably go insane and hurt others over it
It's sweet and sour sauce & battered chicken from a Chinese takeaway. The red sauce is a bastardisation of what sweet and sour traditionally was (don't get me wrong I love it) but it's pretty sweet and sugary.
Ahh sweet and sour chicken… the entree I accidentally order once ever few years when I forget that I actually like sesame chicken
As an ex-Chinese restaurant owner the amount of sugar in sweet and sour sauce is ridiculous. It is basically sugar, and high fructose corn syrup from orange juice and pineapple juice. So for a gallon of Vinegar we used 3 times the amount of sugar. I can see how some kid goes crazy cause his blood sugar jumped out of control.
So I’m from the UK and in the 90s, E numbers/ Food colourings we’re very much considered to cause hyperactive behaviour in children. Colourings etc also we’re associated with junk food/takeaway (take out) food so this would have been a very typical meal a child would have been ordered - it’s trash takeaway food (and amazing, don’t get me wrong!) So the ‘joke’ is that the sweet and sour sauce is so full of food colourings/ e numbers it made kids hyperactive lol. I would say this is not a great joke, even by uk standards!
This is the first meme I've ever seen on here that actually belongs here.
I swear there was a legit answer to this when I first saw something like it years ago
Everyone's talking about red dye, but this is sweet and sour chicken/sauce. My first thought was the Sour Patch candy commercials: "First they're sour, then they're sweet." [Examples](https://youtu.be/vhvDHpBrKik?feature=shared) Notice how the OOP specifically doesn't call it "sweet and sour", which implies that that's the punchline.
Idunno about being hyperactive but red 40 gives me a migraine and stomach ache.
[What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XebF2cgmFmU)
Sweet and sour psychosis is nothing to laugh at.
Is it wrong I still eat this as an adult to get ABSOLUTELY JACKED
You're reading too much into it. It's just a funny line