Pediatric Study: 'Healthy' Diet Best for ADHD Kids
For those of us interested in the sociocultural aspects of modern diseases, ADHD, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, along with a myriad of unexplained increases in previously well-studied diseases, was/is a star puzzle.
About 10 years ago, I was visiting a Head Start programme for 4-year-old children in an Indian Reservation. There were many non-Indian kids in this group of about 48 children. Talking to the very sympathetic administrator, I was told that there were two with definite diagnosis of Autism and one with Asperger’s syndrome and about ten children on medications for ADHD. I was aghast. This was in a relatively poor, food desert, region of the USA, but still about 1/3 having some psycho/behavioural problems? Autism?
I scratched my mind about my medical school/training days in London, Melbourne and Miami and we studied the drug Ritalin (methylphenidate) that was a favourite among the medical students days before the examinations. We vaguely knew it was used in hyperactive children.
Life has changed, food became more and more plasticized, mass produced, well travelled French fries, additives, preservatives and more and more chemicals.
One day soon afterwards I asked myself this question: Could these chemicals cause all these disease of Civilization>
Obesity, Diabetes, Thyroid Cancer, Hypothyroidism, Lower Testosterone, Higher Cholesterol…
Among the Native Indians of Americas, Food is always considered Medicine, can the food has now caused them to take Medicine instead. Food as Disease Producer? They had warned me about it the first week after I met them, The Food made us Sick, which I dismissed in my arrogant frivolity of a just graduated Medical Doctor.
Over the years, the puzzle is solving itself slowly.
This is from a lecture I gave in Phnom Penh at the Annual Diabetes Day in 2008
In another study, just four days of Organic diet was able to lower the chemical burden in ADHD children and show improvement in their behaviour.
So I welcome this new publication.
Fast foods, sodas, and ice cream may be American kids' favorite menu items, but they're also probably the worst for those with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a new literature review suggests.
According to two researchers from Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, a relatively simple diet low in fats and high in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables is one of the best alternatives to drug therapy for ADHD. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid supplements have also been shown to help in some controlled studies, they noted.
Writing online in Pediatrics, J. Gordon Millichap, MD, and Michelle M. Yee, CPNP, reviewed nearly 70 publications on diet-based interventions in ADHD, emphasizing recent research and controlled trials.
According to two researchers from Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, a relatively simple diet low in fats and high in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables is one of the best alternatives to drug therapy for ADHD. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid supplements have also been shown to help in some controlled studies, they noted.
Writing online in Pediatrics, J. Gordon Millichap, MD, and Michelle M. Yee, CPNP, reviewed nearly 70 publications on diet-based interventions in ADHD, emphasizing recent research and controlled trials.
Action Points
§ Explain that a state-of-the-art review suggested dietary interventions for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) if medications were ineffective, parents or children wished to try dietary approaches, or mineral deficiencies were present.
§ Point out that the authors recommended a simple diet low in fat and high in whole grains, vegetables and fruit and possibly omega-3/omega-6 fatty acid supplementation as approaches to try.
They noted that diet is one established contributor to ADHD that parents can modify.
One of the most provocative findings in recent years came from the Australian Raine study, which was a prospective cohort study that followed children from birth to age 14, Millichap and Yee indicated.
It found that development of ADHD was significantly associated with so-called Western diets rich in saturated fats and sugar, compared with a "healthy" diet of proteins derived from low-fat fish and dairy products and with a high proportion of vegetables (including tomatoes), fruits, and whole grains.
Also there is some vindication of Refined Sugar, the white stuff that you put in your coffee to sweeten it.
There is no hard evidence that sugar as in Candy can increase Hyperactivity.
I have been a firm believer in the innocence of White/Brown sugar as part of the diet/aetiology of obesity and Diabetes. You can argue with me if you want…
That reminds me of the day I was introduced to a group of American Indian Elders, This is our new Sugar Doctor. Louis LR always the wit, looks at me, scrutinizes me with his childlike eyes and questions me with a mirth: Are you a White Sugar Doctor or a Brown Sugar Doctor…
Brown of course, I said, pointing out to my skin!
A NEZ PERCE BOY, PHOTO TAKEN OVER A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
THE NEXT PHOTO IS ABOUT ASSIMILATING INDIANS INTO THE MAINSTREAM AMERICAN LIFE. LOUIS LR who was born at least 60 years after these pictures were taken, has remarkable resemblance to the man in the middle picture!
MITAKUYE OYASIN
THE NEXT PHOTO IS ABOUT ASSIMILATING INDIANS INTO THE MAINSTREAM AMERICAN LIFE. LOUIS LR who was born at least 60 years after these pictures were taken, has remarkable resemblance to the man in the middle picture!
