Many parents of children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have insisted for years that the behavior of their children is caused or exaggerated by certain food preservatives and food coloring. The issue has been a source of debate between the science and medical community and parents of children with behavior disorders.
Until recently, parents have based their conclusion on perception and personal trial and error. Similarly, The Feingold Diet, formed on the theories and work of Dr. Ben F. Feingold, has been helping people with food sensitivities since 1976 to improve behavior and health by eliminating certain foods and synthetic additives. But the science has not been there to help prove the theories until recently.
Study Proving Food Additives Influence Hyperactivity
In 2007, a research team at the University of Southampton in England tested the effects of hyperactivity in 297 children (ages 3 to 9). During the test, the children were put on additive-free diets and then given a mixture to drink that either contained a placebo of plain fruit juice or a juice drink that contained juice and sodium benzoate, sunset yellow, carmoisine, ponceau 4R, tartrazine, quinoline yellow and allura red. The drinks looked and tasted exactly the same.
The children were analyzed based on behavior reports from parents and teachers. Older children were also given computerized attention tests. All the data was comprised into a GHA (global hyperactivity aggregate), the higher the GHA number, the more hyperactivity is present.
The study showed that the children who drank the juice with the additives had a GHA score that was almost twice as high as the children who drank plain juice.
Study of Additives in Children with ADHD
In January 2009, Dr. L.M. Pessler and associates at the ADHD Research Centre in the Netherlands conducted a study to test the effectiveness of diet elimination to reduce ADHD and ADD symptoms. The researchers concluded that a strict elimination diet was a valuable tool that could be used in testing children for ADHD and also beneficial as treatment for behavior. The study yielded a 50 to 70 percent reduction in symptoms after 9 weeks on the diet.
Food Additives Study During Fetal Development (in Vitro)
In 2006, a study on the effects of four non-nutritional food additives on neurotoxicity was conducted by Dr. Karen Lau and her colleagues at the University of Liverpool. Neurotoxicity happens when the nervous system is exposed to natural or artificial toxic substances, called neurotoxins. Neurotoxicity causes the nervous tissue to become damaged. The study was based on the implication that using additives can cause and affect behavior disorders like ADHD, which are neurologically based.
The four additives studied included combinations of Brilliant Blue, Quinoline Yellow , L-glutamic acid and aspartame. The research on a cellular level showed neurotoxicity to be a result of the additives and concluded that ingesting chemical additives could cause neurological developmental problems.
Parents Already Knew What Science is Starting to Show about ADHD and Food Additives
The saying that "Mother is always right" is being proven again as more studies continue to be done and show that preservatives and food coloring are amplifying and possibly causing the behavior of ADD and ADHD.
Source:
The Lancet: Volume 370 Issue 9598: Food additives and hyperactive behavior in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial
Elizabeth Richards - Elizabeth Richards has published almost 200 articles for Suite101 since 2007 as a Contributing and Feature Writer.
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