Food additives linked to hyperactivity in children

[luluisme]

UK study links hyperactivity to certain class of food dyes and other additives, including sodium benzoate.

* The Lancet: Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial - The study itself (only summary available publicly.

* The Independent

Comments

[el_bastarde]

There have been several studies about the correlation between hyperactivity and diet.

There is a diet called the Feingold diet that tries to address ADD by eliminating salicylates. Some people say the diet is hoo-doo and some people swear by it.

[emboline]

Interesting....

Back in 1993 when I was "teaching" at a pre-school we had one kid who had some kind of weird food allergy to milk or anything with a milk product in it. He became super-hyper spastc boy who could NOT sit still, behave or listen at all. Free from a milk, whey, cheese, or milk solid diet he was an angel. It was actually worse when it was a processed milk-by product.

How do we know this? His dad thought the milk allergy was bullshit, so when he stayed with Dad he got milk and acted like a shit. When he stayed with mom who fed No milk he was fine.

Then it was confirmed that it wasn't just staying with dad that caused this behavior when dad observed his good behavior at the school after no milk and started restricting his diet when he was with his dad.

Did any of that make sense?

Later, they found out he had an allergy to Wheat as well. He got off ADHD drugs and was a super well behaved kid.

[luluisme]

Yeah, that makes sense. There's definitely tons of anecdotal evidence suggesting some kids' (well, adults too) behaviors are affected by their diet. Lord knows, large quantities of sugar certainly make _me_ feel high.

The downside is that anecdotal evidence, as highly useful it can be in a tailored individual way, isn't so helpful for anticipating the needs of people at large.

But here we've got a study of a decent size (hundreds), and using the keywords double blind, that found significant and repeatable results, in a relatively narrowed down (sodium benzoate, plus a mix of some of the other food dyes) list of compounds that appear to be in a _wide_ range of products. The European food peeps aren't ready to outlaw them, but this could (probably will) have a significant effect on the food industry.

[skyethebard]

But lulu, haven't you heard? They did a study that proved that sugar does not affect children (people) in that way.

Yeah. Right.

[luluisme]

Devil's Advocate: If the sugar effects you've noticed are in the same products as these additives, it might _not_ be the sugar.

[skyethebard]

Thank you for posting this. It's all of the additives and preservatives that have caused me to stop purchasing many prepared foods. You know our household...if you don't like raisins, organic granola or whole-grain crackers, you're SOL when it's snack time. Poor G :-( *lol*

Recently we have moved more toward organic products and I've been trying to find info on humane meat sources. Anyone who knows us knows we like to eat (not a thin family by any stretch of the imagination) so I find it irritating when people claim that they HAVE TO feed their kids what's bad for them because THERE JUST ISN'T ANY WAY AROUND IT. Obviously we aren't starving *lol*

Best organic and humane meat source of all...

[turkchief]

Personally harvested game.

TC

Re: Best organic and humane meat source of all...

[luluisme]

>> mebbe it's a quicker death
I think it depends on who's shooting

Re: Best organic and humane meat source of all...

[turkchief]

2 words. Shot Placement. If you're competent with a hunting rifle, (And believe me, there are far too many who are not) You can turn off a Buck like a light switch. Same goes for alot of other game....I've never been a trophy hunter myself. If I'm out in the woods with a rifle, it's because the freezer needs filling...or...ya know, the Zombies have come.....

TC

[grendelgongon]

There have been quite a number of studies on this with a variety of results, and a meta analysis that indicated a very modes affect size of z~0.2, which agrees with this study. Think of it this way: For the general population, z=0. For a hyperactive kid, z=2. As the authors point out in the discussion, correctly, their average effect size is about 10% of the difference between a non-hyperactive kid and a hyperactive kid in activity difference

[luluisme]

>> though I would trust it more with a cohort about twice the current size

Absolutely. The length of time spent also seems on the decent but not impressive side, scope-wise.