Controlling ADHD With Food
May 27, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may benefit from eliminating food additives from their diet, new evidence suggests.
A recent study revealed a mixture of food colorings and the preservative sodium benzoate increased the hyperactivity level of normal children. In response to this and other evidence, Andrew Kemp, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Sydney, proposes that this should be considered when treating children for ADHD.
Dr. Kemp believes removing food additives should become part of the standard treatment for ADHD children, which currently includes drugs, behavioral therapy and dietary modification. He argues that lack of evidence for the treatment is no reason to treat it as alternative medicine, especially since behavioral therapy -- currently a part of standard treatment -- has no scientific foundation.
Dr. Kemp proposes since the removal of food coloring and preservatives from a child’s diet is a relatively harmless method of treatment, “an appropriately supervised and evaluated trial of eliminating colorings and preservatives should be part of standard treatment for individual children.”
Source: British Medical Journal, 2008;336:1144
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