• Question: Why do blue smarties make you hyper?

    Asked by 462pnug33 to Huma, Jack, Lucy, Miranda, Peter on 17 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Miranda Bane

      Miranda Bane answered on 17 Nov 2016:

      Blue smarties used to be make with chemical colouirings called E numbers that can make people feel hyper. They don’t use them any more because of the effect of the chemicals so they now use natural colour. Interestingly these come from beetle shells!

    • Photo: Peter Boorman

      Peter Boorman answered on 18 Nov 2016:

      Hi 462pnug33,

      Blue smarties used to contain something called ‘E-numbers’, which are a man-made chemical responsible for making people hyper if you consume too many of them. However, recently blue smarties were coloured blue using a natural colour, with no E-numbers in. This means they should have less of an effect of making people hyper who eat them! However, the sugar inside them could probably still make the person eating them hyper!

      Peter

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