Food Colorings and Hyperactivity

Here's some of the current rationale for why food colorings cause hyperactivity for some children:

Hyperactive children appear to be deficient in an enzyme known as phenolsulphotransferase-P or PST-P.
This enzyme detoxifies various compounds, including a substance called p-cresol that is produced by bacteria in the gut. P-cresol is a phenol.

Phenols can be toxic. Food colorings inhibit this enzyme (make the PST-P enzyme stop working.) When this is the case, some Autistic persons respond well to a low-phenol diet.
This diet eliminates the phenols gallic acid and malvin.

Here is a sample low-phenol diet used by an Autistic person who showed improvment:
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Grains:
millet, buckwheat, oats, rice 100% rye
Meats:
Pork, Rabbit, Duck, Fish (not tuna, salmon or halibut)
Vegetables:
Broccoli, Turnip, Cauliflower, Asparagus, Artichoke, Sweet Potato
Fruit:
Papaya
Oils:
Sesame, Sunflower, Safflower
Crackers:
Sesame (Ryvitas), Rice Cakes, Oat Cakes, Rice Crackers
Tea:
Nettle, Dandelion, Chamomile

--Diet based on the work of Dr. Abram Ber of Phoenix, AZ