I am interested to know if any of you have had success in diminishing anxieties and inattentiveness with a diet change. My 8 year old daughter, I believe has the inattentive type of ADD, she is not hyperactive at all and is quiet for the most part in class, but “severely” distracted according to her teacher. She has social problems and doesn’t have any real friends, the couple of friends she had last year don’t seem interested in her anymore. K
Re: DIET
Good nutrition is important to good health in general and a whole foods, additive-free nutrition approach (three well-balanced meals a day, the US government’s Food Pyramid Chart) can help there - for good health. Classic ADHD is not considered to be a nutritional deficiency disease at all. There is no real connection of classic ADHD to diet at all to my knowledge.
There are a few cases where a very small number of persons are believed to be extremely chemically sensitive to a very small number of ingredients/food additives - but that is an extreme chemical sensitivity to chemicals and not classic ADHD at all.
There are children and adults who have allergies - but allergies are not the cause of classic ADHD at all.
The only reliable report I recall about the idea of hidden food additives being linked to changes to paying attention - ADHD - is a paperback book with an unusual title called How to Cure Hyperactivity (1981) by C. Thomas Wild and Anita Uhl Brothers, M.D. Apparently several hidden food additives (FD&C Food Color Yellow No. 5 - tartrazine) and the artificial sweetener, sodium saccharin, acted like undisclosed drugs (vs inert ingredients). Wild and Dr. Brothers, M.D. called for full ingredient disclosure labeling so that those persons who were extremely chemically sensitive to some ingredients/food additives would be better informed and could make better choices. Neither Wild nor Dr. Brothers, M.D. believed that food additives were the cause of all ADHD/all epilepsy etc. at all. They did however identify the need for full disclosure ingredient labeling as well as reaffirm the known observation that the central nervous system stimulants/alerting agents can temporarily reduce ADHD symptoms in some people (not all people). Coffee/caffeine compounds perhaps is the weakest stimulant/alerting agent; Adderall is perhaps the strongest stimulant/alerting agent. Ritalin is perhaps the single drug name most often associated with ADHD. The ADHD meds (stimulants/alerting agents) do not work for everyone. That’s just the real world.
Re: DIET
PGD,
The NIMH ADHD study of two years ago indicated that further research was needed to determine whether dietary approaches might be helpful in the treatment of ADHD. As I recall, the study noted that there were some studies suggesting (but not strongly or conclusively) that dietary treatment might be useful for some ADHD patients. There are also some studies supporting the use of essential fatty acid supplements to treat ADHD in some people, but they are either not double blind or do not have an adequate sample size. Most of what I’ve read is to the effect that diet is not likely to be a major factor is most cases of ADHD but it might be in a few.
Andrea
Kathy - My son is combined ADHD. We have been on the Feingold diet for two years. It has done wonders along with OT brushing at reducing his hyperactivity. However, now that his hyperactivity is under control his inattentiveness really does stand out. We believed in the beginning that if we got his hyperactivity under control we could work on attention. Not a chance. Now I can really see his attention problems.-really for the first time. Because before his hyperactivity was under control, he couldn’t even sit in a chair for two minutes. Now he can sit but cannot stay on task for longer than two to five minutes. My child is just a second grader and we do not med. We are looking into an ADHD coach among other things. There is no end to this. Good luck!!!! Sharon