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Nutritional Aspects of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

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"Candy corn is not a vegetable."
(Author unknown)

When my brothers and I were cranky, Mom used to tell us that "There are good boys and tired boys, and tired boys cry." She meant there are no "bad" boys (or girls) by nature. If we were fussy, we must therefore need a nap. As a former teacher, Mom knew that you seek to change the behavior, not condemn the person.

I have taught every grade there is. My students have ranged from primary school, long ago, all the way to the doctoral level. This experience has helped me to understand the essential role that nutrition plays in the education process. May you never have a class full of sugared up, chemically fed, vitamin deficient students. Regardless of age, they are too poisoned to pay attention.

Many, perhaps most, of the "difficult" pupils in schools today are not "bad" but nutritionally impaired. School lunch programs attempt to provide calories and a full belly, and they are clearly better than nothing. It would be much better to approve and fund only menu items free of artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and added sugar. The addition of a good multiple vitamin and extra Vitamin C to each meal would do even more. Over and over again, large research studies confirm that American kids are NOT getting even the modest US RDA of many vitamins and minerals. This has to affect their school performance. What would be surprising would be if it did not.

For some reason, though, "natural foods" and vitamin supplements are taboo in most nurse-and-dietitian circles. "Just eat a balanced diet" still rules nutritional politics. How bad is it?

Well, did you know that Food Stamps cannot be used to buy vitamins? But you CAN use Food Stamps to buy "Trix" and "Fruit Loops" cereals, which are loaded with sugar and chemical colors. What do you expect, when nutrition textbooks say, in the same chapter, that 1) Vitamin C is quickly destroyed by heat AND 2) French fries are a good source of Vitamin C?

Did you know that children are not allowed to take vitamin tablets in school without a doctor's written permission? Yet they can be fed cupcakes and candy right in class or the lunchroom.

Even Rodney Dangerfield might agree that vitamins and natural food "don't get no respect." Does comedy show food awareness? "My wife: I won't say she's a bad cook, but how come the flies chipped in to fix the screen door? Hey, should meat loaf really glow in the dark? But seriously..."

There is reason to suspect that Attention Deficit Disorder is really Vitamin Deficit Disorder. What is so difficult about giving schoolchildren a multivitamin supplement to make up their deficit?

Don't tell me that vitamins would be too dangerous, expensive or impractical to administer in school. They give kids the prescription drug methylphenidate (Ritalin) in schools everywhere. Look at Ritalin's dangers, contraindications and side effects, listed in the Physician's Desk Reference (Medical Economics Co., Oradell, NJ). Such information covers over three columns of fine print and you might not enjoy reading it. Now compare this to non-prescription vitamins taken safely by nearly 100 million Americans every day. Let's get food supplements into kids whose parents cannot afford them. Isn't that the logic behind school meals?

Schools can easily avoid artificial chemicals in their menus. You want to see for yourself? Visit the kitchen of your local public or private school and read the labels on the boxes they get from their food distributors. Yet a school district has only to specify a standard and the suppliers will jump to keep their business. Cars have seatbelts and airbags now. How about putting a little pressure on your Board of Education to go chemical-free in their served meals?

The behavior benefits of subtracting food chemicals and adding vitamin supplements are elementary. Many children respond promptly to a chemical-free diet. Benjamin Feingold, M.D., an allergist, wrote Why Your Child is Hyperactive to help parents get behavior improvement through foods without drugs. It works for many, and it's safer than "speed." Ritalin, after all, has "a potency between the amphetamines and caffeine... it is now estimated that over 750,000 public school children are currently receiving such treatment in the United States." (Ray and Ksir, Drugs, Society and Human Behavior, 5th ed., 1990, page 121) As of today (2000), that number is probably nearer to two million. Like the amphetamines, Ritalin reduces a child's growth rate by up to 20%. Kids as young as age six line up daily, in school, for this drug. Let's line them up for vitamins instead.

You can create behavioral-social problems in an animal with a vitamin deficient diet. Many major symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are very similar to those of niacin deficiency.

Natural diet need not work for every child to still help thousands of them. It is safe to try it for all. There are no harmful side effects whatsoever from avoiding added sugar and artificial food additives. Drug dependency isn't encouraged with good nutrition. Neither are all those adverse reactions (I counted over 30 just for Ritalin alone) listed in the Physicians' Desk Reference. There is a copy of the PDR for you to look at behind any pharmacy counter.

I know, of case after case, where a kid stops getting food additives and starts taking vitamins, especially C and the B-complex, and is off Ritalin in two weeks or less. It is most effective to give vitamins in divided doses with food. Breaking a common B-complex tablet in thirds can cover all three meals. Frederick R. Klenner, M.D. recommended giving children their age in grams of Vitamin C (a gram being 1,000 milligrams). We found that half of that was enough to keep our kids well; that is 4,000 mg daily for an eight-year-old, divided over three meals and snacks.

To paraphrase my mother: There are good kids and there are misbehaving kids, and misbehaving kids are probably malnourished.

For more information, I highly recommend that you read Dr. Hoffer's ABC of Natural Nutrition for Children, by Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D (Quarry Press, Kingston, Ontario 1999) ISBN 1-55082-185-7 (Softcover, 280 pages plus tables and bibliography)

Andrew Saul is the author of the books FIRE YOUR DOCTOR! How to be Independently Healthy (reader reviews at http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html ) and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works. (reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html )

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Andrew W. Saul

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