Can Changes in Diet Help Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? (ADHD)
By Doug Bremner MD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects the ability of children to attention in class. Kids with ADHD are easily distracted, tend to be in constant motion, and do poorly in school. Some scientists think that ADHD is related to alterations in the dopamine brain chemical, which modulates attention. Prescriptions for Ritalin, the popular drug for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), rose three-fold from in a four year period from 1991 to 1995. Ten per cent of boys in America are prescribed some kind of stimulant for the treatment of ADHD or other mental conditions.

There has been some research in the area of children with ADHD and nutrition, which is promising. For example English researchers at the University of Southampton studied more than 1800 three-year-old children, some with and some without ADHD and some with and some without allergies. The results were published in the June 2004 Archives of Diseases in Childhood. Removing artificial colors and preservatives from the diet was dramatically effective at reducing hyperactivity - somewhere between the effectiveness of clonidine and Ritalin.

After initial behavioral testing and diagnosis, all of the children were fed a diet of whole, fresh feeds, with no artificial food colorings and or chemical preservatives. Their behavior improved significantly during this week. The next week the researchers continued the whole food diet but also gave the children capsules containing a mixture of artificial colorings, the preservative benzoate, or nothing. The behavior of children who consumed the artificial colors or the chemicals was substantially worse than when they were eating a whole food diet. This behavior was across the board and was seen in the children who had ADHD, allergies, and those with neither of those diagnoses.

Learn more about alternatives to medications and hidden risks of prescription medications in 'Before You Take That Pill: Why the Drug Industry May be Bad for Your Health: Risks and Side Effects You Won't Find on the Label of Commonly Prescribed Drugs, Vitamins and Supplements,' by researcher and physician J. Douglas Bremner, MD.