Home Health & Personal Care

Should you buye dye-free medicines & medications?

How do you dye is becoming an increasingly common occurrence in kids. Unfortunately many medications targeted to kids that are flavored, are also colored with food dye. This means if you are buying bubblegum medicine, it will be dyed to make it pink in color. Likewise, grape flavored is often purple, blueberry is often blue, etc. etc.

Fortunately, as more kids are being diagnosed with food dye allergies and sensitivities, many of the main drug manufacturers are coming out with Donnie free versions of their most popular medications. This means your child's common medications such as Tylenol and Benadryl can also be purchased in a dye free version. And if you are an adult with dye allergies, you have many options for dye free medications as well.

You can even purchase vitamins, for both children and adults, in it dye free forms as well.
If your child is getting a prescription medication, be sure to the pharmacist that your child has a dye allergy, and then your pharmacist can flavor it with one of their dye-free options. If you are having trouble finding a specific medication in dye free, a compounding pharmacist should be able to assist you by making up a version for you without the dye. Do be aware though that this sometimes costs more money, depending on the medication.

Many parents prefer to buy dye free versions of various medications regardless of undiagnosed allergy. This is because colors can lead to hyperactivity in children, even if it's not your reaction, and some parents feel it is better for their child to have the least amount of food dye in any form as possible.