Posts Tagged ‘food colourings’

In today’s world we eat much more high-carb foods than ever before. Refined (white) carbohydrates turn quickly into sugar in our body, and sugar gives a boost of energy. For children with symptoms of ADD and ADHD not exactly what they need…

Sugar causes hyperactivity and irritability in many normal healthy adults – if you are on the low carb / no sugar diet now, you will feel the effect when you take a sugary treat of any kind. It makes me restless, I have a kind of unpleasant tingly feeling all over my body, and my concentration definitely goes way down. These are often the symptoms that children with ADHD describe when you ask them! If sugar does that to me, just imagine what it’s effect will be on a child – with a much smaller body and less control over it. Apart from leaving the sugar out (with the exception of 1 day per week) it helps a lot to have a critical look at the pastas, bread and other carbohydrates you serve. Wholegrain bread, crackers, pasta.. they all help to stabilize the blood sugar levels – instead of creating a peak. Have a critical look at breakfast cereals too, most of them are not suitable for any children if you are honest, let alone for children that are as sensitive as ours for symptoms of ADD and ADHD…

I more and more discover the devastating effect of food colorings, preservatives and other additives. We ourselves have opted for a food pattern without any of those, and the whole family feels much more energized and with a more stable mood. So, additives are a big no-no if you ask me! This, by the way, includes artificial sweeteners!

Protein should be an important part of your child’s diet. Fish generally has a good influence on the symptoms of ADD and ADHD – due to it’s content of essential Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids and other vital ingredients. Eat fish once per week – not more often, because the oceans are so polluted that we would get a too high mercury intake.. Which in itself is sad enough.

In addition to the diet, you might try some of the following herbal supplements: St. John’s Wort, Passion Flower, Ginkgo Biloba, Green Tea Extract, Chamomile, Lemon Balm, or American Ginseng. Obviously, you try them out one by one, and see how your child reacts. Some of them might work, while other’s won’t in your specific case. Be careful about the other ingredients of the pills or capsules, read the list of ingredients carefully, and if you have any doubt, don’t do it. I discovered that in the Centrum vitamines for children, which I used to give to my daughter, E-124 is part of the formula – which is exactly the food coloring where most ADHD children are extremely sensitive for. Unbelievable but true. They assured me they were about to take it out, but still… And then they did not talk about the sweeteners in the pills, which are almost as suspected… Even in scientific literature.

Do not forget to include the daily routine of EFT tapping into your day. Alongside the diet this is the powerful bit which makes your child not only behave normally without medication, but which will make him or her thrive – and your family as well!

Just watch this video.
I can see the reactions in the children I treat, and I sometimes don’t know what they react so strong on.
Time to investigate what exactly it is that makes your child go “wild”.

If you think this information is important too, take a moment now to share it on the social bookmarking sites below, so that other parents like you, can find it too! Thank you so much, their children will be so grateful!

Omega 3 fatty acids are a vital building blocks for our brain, and many children suffering from symptoms of ADD and ADHD actually have a shortage of essential building blocks in their body.

Why does the ADD/ADHD brain have an extra need for Omega-3 fatty acids?
The brain has the most active metabolism of all the organs in the body, and it uses enormous amounts of energy; it never is completely at rest. The more active the metabolism, the more free radicals, and the brain thus has one of the highest rates of free radical production. These free radicals destroy the connections between the cells, the cells themselves and the structure of the brain. The brain starts to function less and less effectively, if it has not enough resources to repair itself.

If you are deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids, your brain changes it’s structure already within 2 weeks.

The role of sugar in Omega-3 deficiency
Apart from the role sugar plays in the blood sugar level, it also increases free radical generation. Sugar produces cross linking of the proteins in all cells, which means that the free radicals can do much more damage in a much bigger group of cells. Through the influence of free radicals, your cells age faster; and your braincells are even more prone to this process. Research at the University of Connecticut in 1986 by Dr. Jane Goldman showed that sugar, equal to one Coke, produces a significant decline in mental performance. (Students were making twice as many mistakes on tests.)

Other vitamins and minerals also play a role in the health of our brain, and particularly in children with symptoms of ADD and ADHD, one can often find shortages of essential micro-elements and vitamins. On the other hand, ADHD and ADD symptoms have been linked to an overload of toxic substances suchs as lead in the blood of the affected children. Apart from lead, also aspartame, MSG, pesticides, herbicides in food, aluminum in deodorants, fluoride in the water and mercury in vaccines have been proven to have a major role in brain toxicity and brain function decline.

What does this mean in everyday life?
Make sure your child does not eat refined sugar is the obvious step one, because it is easy to do. Avoid aspartame and other additives, buy and eat organic fruit and vegetables, be very cautious with vaccines and get yourself very well informed about the risks and the benefits of every single vaccination.
Give your kid a healthy balanced diet, and give additional nutrients as needed, but be very aware of food colorings and other additives that hide in vitamin pills and other supplements! They will probably increase the symptoms of ADD and ADHD: the detrimental effect of these substances is manyfold bigger than the beneficial effects of the essential nutrients your child is probably lacking.

If you like this article, please share it on one or more of the social bookmarking sites below; that way you help other parents with children suffering from symptoms of ADD and ADHD, to find this information!
I look forward to read your comments, experiences and questions!

Image by Kriss Szkurlatowski

There have been a lot of studies on the effects of artificial food dyes on children, dating back to the 1970s. The conclusions were mixed, but recently, an analysis of 21 of the most conclusive studies found compelling evidence that artificial dyes could contribute to symptoms of ADD and ADHD, such as restlessness and attention problems. Removing dyes from the diet was shown to be a quarter to half as effective in reducing ADHD and ADD symptoms, as giving the kids Ritalin or other medication. Conclusion: certain kids with ADHD adn ADD symptoms might not need drugs if the artificial dyes were removed from their diets.

In 2007, the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency in 2007 showed that food dyes increase symptoms of ADD and ADHD in children. In the study, three different types of beverages were tested on 3- 8- and 9-year-olds. After drinking the mixtures, their behavior was evaluated by parents and teachers.

The first drink mixture contained artificial food colorings, including , sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), tartrazine (E102) and ponceau 4R (E124), plus sodium benzoate, a commonly used preservative.

The second drink mixture included quinoline yellow (E104), allura red (E129), sunset yellow(E110) and carmoisine (E122), plus sodium benzoate.

The third drink mixture was a placebo and contained no additives.

In the group of 8- and 9-year-olds hyperactive behaviour increased with both the mixtures containing artificial coloring additives. In the group of 3-year-olds, symptoms of ADD and ADHD increased with the first beverage but not significantly with the second.

The conclusion of the study was that consumption of food dyes have an adverse effect on symptoms of ADD and ADHD.

Following the results of this study, the U.K. Food Standards Agency started to advise parents to eliminate food additives from the diet of their children suffering from symptoms of ADD and ADHD . The Agency also stimulated food companies to remove artificial colorings from their products. In the U.S. however, the FDA still maintains that artificial food colors are safe when used in a proper way. The Center for Science in the Public Interest called on the FDA to ban eight of the most common artificial dyes, or at least affix a warning label to products that contain them: “Warning: The artificial coloring in this food causes hyperactivity and behavioral problems in some children.”

Many parents are not aware of the influence food dyes and additives have on their children. There are additives in so many different products, that a normal child with an average diet ingests additives every single day. The effect is constant, and parents will not easily see a difference in behavior, simply because the ingestion is on a daily basis with no or very few exceptions. For some reason, many experts are against experimenting with a healthy additive-free diet. They believe in the theory the family will expect changes when the child is started on an additive free diet, and that just expecting the changes is enough to actually see changes happen. The only way to know in a logic way if your child’s ADHD and ADD symptoms are an effect of food colorings and additives, is to simply take them out of the diet. Warnings that children might become undernourished when on a strict diet, are not based on any evidence nor logic thought. A healthy additive-free natural diet cannot be bad, contrary to the generally accepted diets we are feeding our children, based on ready-made meals and junkfood!

Ben Feingold created a popular elimination diet designed to treat symptoms of ADD and ADHD. The diet simply proposes the elimination of artificial colorings, flavorings, and preservatives in order to decrease ADHD and ADD symptoms. Some studies have disproved Feingold’s theory, it is not clear whether they really took out all the “forbidden” foodstuff, or only part of them. Some studies have been done taking out sugar from the diet, but substituting it by artificial sweeteners, known to provoke ADD and ADHD symtpoms in children! Many parents who have tried Ben Feingold’s diet have reported an improvement in their child’s behavior.

Even children who do not suffer from ADHD and ADD symptoms, should not eat processed sugars. Sugar and sugar-containing foodstuff leads to tooth decay, obesity, and has little nutritional value, just empty calories.

As several of the degradation products of the dyes have been found to be mutagenic or carcinogenic (…)some dyes were no longer permitted as food dyes. (http://www.food-info.net/uk/colour/azo.htm)

The most mentioned food dye in relation to symptom of ADD and ADHD is red food dye #40. In scientific studies, the strongest effects were observed in children receiving azo dyes and benzoic acid combinations. (source: http://www.food-info.net/uk/colour/azo.htm)

A quote form that same website:

Food Yellow 3, CI 15985

Origin:
Synthetic azo dye. (…)

Function & characteristics:
Yellow food colour. Very soluble in water.

Products:
Many products.

Daily intake:
Up to 2.5 mg/kg body weight.

Side effects:
Since it is an azo dye, it may elicit intolerance in people intolerant to salicylates. Additionally, it is a histamine liberator, and may intensify symptoms of asthma. In combination with benzoates, it is also implicated in hyperactivity in children.

Probably you do not need any more proof. And the proof is in the pudding: Try your child for one week on a additive and sugar-free diet, and see if you notice differences in behavior. Make sure to exclude sweeteners as well. According to a recent study you have more than 80% chance, that the ADHD and ADD symptoms are completely gone.

(image by Cheet12ah)

If you want to read about autism and food additives in particular, go to: http://www.usautism.org/food_matters.htm