- "...up to 90 per cent of hyperactive children benefit
from eliminating from their diet processed food and foods that contain
artificial colours, flavours and preservatives."
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- How To Tame Your Little Devil
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- Thousands of hyperactive and disruptive children are
prescribed drugs to improve their behaviour. Yet according to nutritionists,
a simple change of diet may be all that's needed.
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- The tiny curls crawl haphazardly across the page, finally
exploding in an angry black scribble halfway down. The writer, Reece De'Allie,
has given up, apparently no longer interested in completing the assignment
to write a story. Compare this aborted attempt with the next sample of
neat, carefully crafted letters that are uniform in size and consistent
in the way they form short words that fill the page.
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- It's almost as if they've been written by two different
people. Perhaps the second writer is older, more advanced in their learning.
In fact, both samples belong to Reece and the difference in their quality
is not down to his age or ability - it's because of what he eats. The first
was written on a diet of flavoured crisps and tinned spaghetti; the second
produced after breakfasts of cereal topped with seeds and evening meals
with lots of fresh vegetables washed down with fruit juice with added vitamins.
With added sugar and additives removed from his diet, Reece's handwriting
undergoes a profound improvement. And it's not just his written skills
that transform when blue ice lollies and other "goodies" are
banned; his reading, concentration and general behaviour change for the
better too.
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- Reece's mum, Joanne De'Allie, explains: "The best
way to describe him before was like a Yorkshire terrier. If the doorbell
went, he'd go mad, running around like crazy. After we changed his diet
he was a lot calmer and wasn't even bothered if someone came to the door."
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- Reece was one of 30 children aged six to seven from a
London primary school to be selected for an experiment by Patrick Holford,
a leading nutrition expert, to identify how diet affects behaviour. Twelve
of the children, including Reece, were identified as being disruptive,
hyperactive or as having learning difficulties. For seven days, the children
and their parents were asked to stay away from food and drinks containing
added sugar or additives and to increase their intake of essential fats
found in fish and seeds and in fish oil supplements important for brain
function. After a week, four of the 12 children showed a dramatic improvement
in their learning and behaviour.
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- "Reece became much more interested in his school
work; he'd go to bed when he was asked to and would even ask 'can I read
to you tonight, Mummy?' which he never did before," explains Joanna.
She didn't believe the experiment would work, but the change in Reece was
so profound during the new regime that she couldn't ignore it. "The
change in him when he ate a packet of prawn cocktail crisps or had a blue
ice pop was so dramatic it was like an allergic reaction," she says.
"When we took out the sugars and additives, people commented on how
much better behaved he was. He's still full of mischief but he's a lot
calmer. I would recommend any other parents to consider what their hyperactive
child eats before they take them to the doctor for tablets."
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- The transformation in Reece is remarkable, but can hyperactivity
really be tackled by something as simple as stopping your children from
eating crisps? Patrick Holford, who conducted the experiment for the launch
issue of A: Allergy Magazine, says that up to 90 per cent of hyperactive
children benefit from eliminating from their diet processed food and foods
that contain artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. It's not just
the presence of the actual chemicals themselves, but also the fact that
certain chemicals, so-called "anti-nutrients", can rob children
of the preferred levels of minerals such as magnesium and zinc, and that
deficiencies in these minerals are linked with ADHD (attention deficit
and hyperactive disorder). But he adds that chemicals aren't solely to
blame.
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- He believes that any child who is showing behavioural
difficulties should be tested for food intolerances and allergies. "E
numbers in foods are causing significant problems for children, but they
aren't the full story. Children aren't just reacting to chemicals; they're
reacting to certain foods themselves. I estimate that broadly half of all
children have intolerances to some food or have some chemical insensitivity.
Of those, one third is reacting to chemicals and two thirds are reacting
to foods."
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- Hyperactive children are often intolerant of wheat, chocolate,
eggs, milk and other dairy products and some fruits and vegetables such
as oranges, blackcurrants and tomatoes. In a study of 78 children, The
Institute of Child Health found that 70 per cent reacted to food additives,
64 per cent showed a reaction to chocolate and cow's milk and 57 per cent
reacted to orange, while 45 per cent reacted to cow's milk, cheese and
wheat.
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- According to Mr Holford, the figures are even higher
for children with autism - up to 90 per cent are sensitive to gluten grains
or dairy food. Allergies may begin even before a child is born, with some
infants predisposed to hyperactivity because of poor nutrition, severe
stress, allergy or illness during pregnancy. For example, many women follow
the generally accepted good advice of drinking lots of milk during pregnancy
but if the mother has an undiagnosed intolerance to dairy foods she may
be doing her baby more harm than good. In one study, 72 per cent of hyperactive
children were hyperactive in the womb. But while a child's own history
may be damaging their mental health, cultural history may be preventing
us from doing anything about it. Mr Holford points to a refusal by society
to recognise that diet has a direct effect on behaviour. "There is
cultural resistance to the idea that what you eat has an effect on the
condition of our mental health. Logically, that's a strange stance to take
since we know and accept that alcohol, for instance, affects our behaviour."
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- Many parents are reluctant to remove milk from their
children's diets simply because children have for generations been given
milk - and with many hyperactive youngsters, it's the only thing they will
drink. While mental health problems in society increase - one in four people
will suffer some level of problems at some time in their lives - the connection
between food and mood still isn't made and children are given drugs instead.
This year, up to a quarter of million prescriptions for Ritalin, the most
common drug prescribed for hyperactive children in the UK, will be handed
out.
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- A high percentage of parents who contact HACSG (The Hyperactive
Children's Support Group) already have hyperactive children on medication.
"Parents come to us because they're looking for an alternative,"
says Sally Bunday, who founded the group 26 years ago. It offers advice
and support to families whose lives have been made a misery because of
a child's behaviour and a lack of understanding over how to deal with it.
"There's not enough 'official' information and most GPs aren't aware
or don't accept the link between nutrition and diet and mood, behaviour
and learning. The message just isn't sinking in; the whole situation is
a mess. I don't know how much research will have to be done before it's
accepted." Medical professionals instead turn to other potential causes
such as poor parenting, the family situation, problems at school, parental
behaviour and emotional triggers based around the home.
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- "The cause of hyperactivity is, to all intents and
purposes, hidden. One dad we have helped has a 12-year-old son who was
ruining family life. We suggested he got him tested for food intolerances
and since the danger foods have been taken away he's a different boy. But
that family shouldn't have had to suffer for 12 years. After all this time
we should be much further on than we are. Parents should be getting proper
support but it's just not happening."
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- © 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=484868
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