A new study showing a link between hyperactivity in children and additives has been exciting the world’s media today. Researchers funded by the UK’s Food Standards Agency and published in The Lancet found children on an additive free diet given food colours and benzoate preservatives to drink were more hyperactive than those given just fruit juice (abstract, registration required). “We now have clear evidence that mixtures of certain food colours and benzoate preservative can adversely influence the behaviour of children,” said research leader Jim Stevenson, of the University of Southampton (press release).

In total 153 three-year-olds and 144 eight-year-olds living from Southampton were involved in the study, hailed by the New York Times as “the first time researchers have conclusively and scientifically confirmed a link that has long been suspected by many parents”. There is some disagreement in Reuters’s coverage though.

We’re all “the unwitting subjects of a vast, ongoing scientific experiment” according to Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser’s Guardian opinion piece. “The best advice is probably caveat emptor. We simply don’t know what effect these things are having on us.” Except that now, thanks to some sound research, we do know a little more.

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