Has anyone ever had a child who had an allergic reaction to Hawaiian Punch or Zoo Juice? Our son has had one hospital visit after an allergic reaction to the green Hawaiian Punch. That happened Easter weekend. A couple months later he had an allergic reaction again. We think it was from the fountain red Hawaiian Punch that he had at camp. This past weekend he had a reaction to the Orange Zoo Juice we bought while travelling. Thankfully, I had Benadryl in the car. I've listed the ingredients to all three "juice" drinks and am still trying to figure out what the link is. The red punch is throwing me for a loop. Maybe the foundtain syrup has different ingredients than the gallon container. Any input would be welcomed!
Thanks to everyone for your input! It helped to hear your ideas ad they confirmed our line of thinking. We had already compared ingredients and none of the dyes were the same in all three drinks. There are other common ingredients, but none that are known allergens. We are still looking at getting into an allergist before the end of the year. Does anyone have a recommendation in the Huntsville, AL area?
My niece can't drink Hawaiian punch because of the dye's in the food coloring. Maybe that's the link?
It could be the food dye or food coloring! My daughter was allergic to red food dye but recently outgrew it!
PS- my daughter did all of the allergy testing at age 4, and the tests showed she had no food allergies. But she still broke out in hives from certain foods (peanuts, tomatos, oatmeal, strawberrries, and red food dye). So allergy testing is not 100% effective. We just elimated those all of those foods until she was older and kept benadryl on hand incase she did eat or drink something she was not supposed to. She is now 6 and has outgrown all of these allergies/sensativities.
My son is allergic to Red Dye 40. That is usually in most of those juices. He seems to have worse reactions to liquid forms of Red 40 than when he eats solid forms. Might look into it. His has gotten worse over time. Used to only be occasional reactions but now its about any time he has it.
Good luck
Amy K
I would just eliminate all artificial food colorings/flavors and see how that goes. My son had a very difficult time with things artificial (he would act crazy, temperamental and ADHD) so we got rid of it and he is very calm and balanced now. From my research, reactions to artificial colors / flavors can cause different symptoms in different kids. It's not real, your body is. So basically, I'd just read labels and be strict about it for about 3 months and see what happens.
my kids do not have allergic reactions that require benadryl but they do have a reaction to the red hawaiian punch! They become very, very, very hyper! So that being said I would compare the dye in the products that is probably what is causing the reactions and avaoid any products that have the dye...good luck!
I have a friend who's son couldn't use red dye #40. He would go off and be totally violent sometimes. She found it is in nearly EVERY food. Another friend found that gluten was the culprit. She took her kids off bread, wheat, everything that had that in.
So, my point is that you never know what everything they put into products are. It could be one of the preservatives.... I would call the companies and ask to speak to someone that can talk about the chemicals.
I agree with Natalie. My first thought was the dye. I would take him to an allergist & see what they think. Possibly get him tested for it and other food allergies.
I hope you figure it out!
I'm certainly no expert, but the first thing that comes to mind would be the dye in the products. Your son probably consumes other products with red dye, etc., but I bet these products have a very high concentration of the dyes. Just a thought. I hope you get it figured out!
When my daughter was young, she would projectile vomit every time she drank anything with artificial red coloring in it. Back then, Hawaiian Punch didn't come in green, but I'm betting that what you're seeing is from the dye. I started giving her nothing but real juice, milk, and water to drink, and the vomiting stopped.
I'm just going to reiterate what the others have already suggested.... it's probably the dye or some artificial preservative in the drinks. I think they are basically artificial coloring and sugar. Switching to real juice and water is probably a very good place to start. We eat mostly whole foods, etc., anyway, but we discovered early on that anything with red food coloring in sent our already very energetic and strong-willed daughter over the edge. It seems to be a very common allergen/irritant. Best of luck to you and your family.
