Reader Responses on Elimination Diets and ADHD from the "ADD ADHD Information Library"

Elimination Diets and ADD ADHD

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Reader's Responses...

Doug,

(I) Personal experiences are posted to some of the lists I read, notably the CELIAC (gluten-free) list and the NO-MILK list. Both of these lists have very nice searchable archives. Here are the URLs: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/celiac.html http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/no-milk.html There is a help button. I'd check how to force the search to match capital letters only. Searches can also be done via e-mail.

(II) Ron Hoggan has written an article on this, and also an article on Ritalin. You can find both off his menu (and his e-mail address) at: http://www.panix.com/~donwiss/hoggan/

(3) From Gluten Intolerance Group of North America, (Box 23053, Seattle, WA 98102 206-325-6980) - "Gluten-Sensitive Enteropathy: Up-Date for Health Care Professionals" May, 1992: "Behavioral changes - such as irritability and inability to concentrate, may be reported in undiagnosed children. Adults often relate difficulties in short-term memory and concentration...."

(4) From Coeliac Disease, by Dr. Michael Marsh, Blackwell Scientific Publications, November 1992. - Chapter 2 (by Jacques Schmitz) - p.30 - "The effects of the gluten-free diet are most often spectacular, particularly in toddlers. Behavioural disorders are the first to subside..."

(5) Marsh's book again - Chapter 3 - on CD in adults, written by Peter Howdle and Monty S. Losowsky. p. 55 - "Psychological changes have also been widely investigated, but are difficult to quantify. Many patients appear to be depressed, while others are irritable, morose or difficult to relate to... Nevertheless, in some case reports, treatment with a gluten-free diet has resulted in spectacular improvements in mental function."

(6) From a speech by Ivor D. Hill, MD. Professor of Pediatrics, Duke University [I think he's now at another school] entitled "Clinical Presentation of Celiac Disease in Children" given on July 14, 1995: Behavioral Disturbance: Emotional symptoms are common in children with celiac disease, although they are not often the initial mode of presentation of this condition. Children with celiac disease have been described as "extremely irritable, fretful, capricious or peevish. Nothing seems to please them and although they are quite unlike themself". They often exhibit features of extreme emotional dependence on their mothers, frequently clinging to them and showing marked irritability and fretfulness when separated. In addition, they are often emotionally withdrawn from their environment, and this withdrawal may even resemble autism. The association between celiac disease and autism is still a matter of considerable debate in some circles.

(7) The Feingold Diet is at http://www.feingold.org/ It is "a dietary connection to better behavior, learning, and health."

(8) Karyn A. Seroussi has written an easy to read FAQ about Dietary Intervention for the Treatment of Autism. (23K in length) Send GET CELIAC AUTGFFAQ in a message body to mailto:LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU

(9) Lisa Lewis, PhD, mailto:Lisas156@aol.com, has put up an excellent web page on diet and autism. Explains what is happening with intestinal permeability, etc. It is 46K of info and I or she can e-mail if one doesn't have web access. http://www.princeton.edu/~serge/ll/gfpak.html

(10) Dr. Kalle Reichelt mailto:K.L.Reichelt@rh.uio.no , of the Pediatric Research Institute in Oslo, Norway has been researching the impact of gluten and casein intolerance on certain individuals with developmental delays. A collected set of his articles for the Net has been put up at: http://www.panix.com/~donwiss/reichelt.html The articles include: 1. Intolerance to food proteins 2. Diet and mental disease 3. Diet 4. Gluten, autism and schizophrenia 5. Autism and coeliac disease. 6. Intestinal permeability in schizophrenia 7. Trace amount of protein in milk. 8. Diet and mental disease. 9. ADDHA. --- ** 10. Schizophrenia and diet 11. Gluten, casein and behaviour 12. Ear infections, allergy, autism & gluten 13. Behaviour and Gluten 14. Downs syndrome and gut permeability 15. dietary proteins in mothers milk 16. Copious stools. 17. Soy intolerance 18. Concentrated carbohydrates and Hyperkinesia 19. 4 year follow up 20. Food and mental problems 21. Autoimmune states. 22. More On Autism-Gluten relationship 23. Food allergy vs. intolerance, soy and autism. 24. Down. 25. Reintroduction of milk. 26. c/f and g/f diets. 27. Pruning They are very enlightening, somewhat technical and include many references to published studies. It is 80K of info and I can easily e-mail it if one doesn't have web access. Don.

 

Dr.Cowan,,yes I do have some helpfull suggestions about diet. First of all; My cousin found that her son acted up more after eating apples so she aliminated them from his diet except once in a while, but she says she always gives them to him early in the day, that way there are no problems at bed time. My son does not do well on ritalin so we have taken him off .He is on resperdol half a mg three times a day to help controll his aggressive disorder. Like my cousin's boy two of my sons are ADHD. We placed them both on grape seed . I thought it was worth a try because the ritalin was making them irritable. They are calmer and seem happier. we also give them a light snack at bed time usually crackers and milk. they are doing better now than ever .We just keep trying things when one fails to work you can't just give up there has to be something that will work and each child is different , what works for one doesn't allways work for the next. Good luck with your resurch and let us know what you find or any hints that you might be able to pass on. Sincerely K M ---------

 

My PERSONAL experience... I think, PARTICULARLY for children and addults who are prone to allergies, asthma, etc... that there are immune system connections that are quite important, and in my case, and in quite a few others... it's been a connection to candida/leaky gut syndrome problems... which fuel a host of different problems... here's an article about Leaky Gut Syndrome that may be helpful: --------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Doug, Here is an abstract that may have other references. I copied this from http://mentalhealth.com/fr20.html I like your newletter...very useful. Keep up the good work. Good luck. D F, M.Div CMFT

The Provider Network Marriage and Family Therapy Knoxville, TN Carter CM, Urbanowicz M, Hemsley R, Mantilla L, Strobel S, Graham PJ, Taylor E:

EFFECTS OF A FEW FOOD DIET IN ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER. Archives of Disease in Childhood 1993; 69(5):564-8. Summary: Seventy-eight children, referred to a diet clinic because of hyperactive behaviour, were placed on a 'few foods' elimination diet. Fifty nine improved in behaviour during this open trial. For 19 of these children it was possible to disguise foods or additives, or both, that reliably provoked behavioural problems by mixing them with other tolerated foods and to test their effect in a placebo controlled double blind challenge protocol. The results of a crossover trial on these 19 children showed a significant effect for the provoking foods to worsen ratings of behaviour and to impair psychological test performance. This study shows that observations of change in behaviour associated with diet made by parents and other people with a role in the child's care can be reproduced using double blind methodology and objective assessments. Clinicians should give weight to the accounts of parents and consider this treatment in selected children with a suggestive medical history. -----

 

I have a friend who has two children with ADHD. My friend went on the Dr. Adkins Diet (low carb, high protein), and since she didn't chose to fix a different meal for her family, her children went on the Adkins diet too. She noticed a change in her children's behavior immediately. She has modified the Adkins diet somewhat to suit her family. She has also discovered that eliminating food dyes, in particular red, blue, and purple, also help her sons. Eliminating many fruits also helped. Her family has been on this diet for about six months now, and she says her sons are markedly different. Her four year old told her that he really liked the new way they were eating, because he used to feel all "yukky inside" and now he doesn't anymore. She doesn't have to police her children's diet, because they now know which foods make them feel yukky and they want to avoid those foods. Hope this helps. ------------------------------------------------

 

I have a neighbor who, when her boys were young, had them on a strict diet. If I remember right, no red food coloring, no refined sugars, no additives (if possible), no msg. She noticed a big change in behavior. She had a book that helped her with this. If you would like, I could obtain the title for you. CH

 

Hi Doug, I have information on several scientific studies of diet and ADD/ADHD and related conditions:

Egger, J.; Stolla, A., and McEwen, L. Controlled trial of hyposensitization in children with food-induced hyperkinetic syndrome. The Lancet, 339:1150- 53, May 1992. 185 children who showed symptoms of ADD and hyperactivity were put on a restricted diet limiting common allergic foods and additives. 116 children improved significantly, a positive response of 62%. When the suspect foods and additives were returned to the diet, symptoms returned. The study was double-blind and placebo controlled.

Kaplan, B.J.; McNicol, J., Conte, R.A., and H.K. Maghadam. Dietary replacement in preschool-aged hyperactive boys. Pediatrics, Vol. 83 No. 1, Jan. 1989. Canadian researchers worked with 24 pre-school aged boys diagnosed as hyperactive. The researchers removed artificial colors and flavors, chocolate, and m.s.g., and the diet was kept low in simple sugars and dairy-free if the parents thought milk was a problem for their child. 58% of the children improved.

Egger, J.; Carter, C.M.; Graham, P.J.; Gumley, D. and J.F. Soothill. Controlled trial of oligoantegenic treatment in the hyperkinetic syndrome. The Lancet, March 9, 1985. British researchers tested Yellow Dye No. 5, one preservative, and a number of foods on a population of boys designated as hyperactive. When challenged with the dye and the preservative, 79% reacted with hyperactive behavior. They also reacted to a variety of foods, the most common being milk, wheat, soy, chocolate, grapes, oranges, cheese, eggs, peanuts, and corn.

Boris, M. and F.S. Mandel. Foods and additives are common causes of the attention deficit hyperactive disorders in children. Annals of Allergy, Vol. 72, May 1994. This study evaluated 26 children who met the criteria for ADHD. Treatment with a multiple-item elimination diet showed that 19 children (73%) responded favorably. Both open challenges and double blind placebo controlled challenges demonstrated the beneficial effect of eliminating reactive foods and artificial colors in children with ADHD.

Rowe, K.S. and K.J. Rowe. Synthetic food coloring and behavior: A dose response effect in a double-blind, placebo controlled, repeated measured study. J. Pediatrics, Vol 125, No 5, Part 1, 691-697, Nov. 1994. Demonstrated a functional relationship between the ingestion of Yellow Dye No. 5 (tartrazine) and behavioral changes in 24 atopic children (children with allergies, excema, rhinitis, or asthma), aged 2 to 14 years, with marked reactions being observed at all six dosage levels. [The above references appear in "Why Super Blue Green(tm) Algae for Kids with Attention, Learning, and Behavior Problems?" I can supply a copy free to anyone on request.--N.G.] Additional report from the Center for Family Wellness Study, "Children and Algae Report," demonstrates significant improvement with problems of attention, aggression, and withdrawn behavior in a 1992 study of Nicaraguan schoolchildren, with the addition of Super Blue Green(tm) Algae to the diet. A 1994 study of 111 students, documented in "The Nicaragua Report," found that "the number of children in this group who initially showed a hyperactive behavior and were not participating in class (43%) significantly decreased to 13%," with the addition of 1 gram of algae added daily to the diet. I hope this helps you in your search. best wishes, NG Cougar WebWorks the webzine of alternatives http://www.he.net/~cougarww --------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Dr Doug Cowan, I am an carer of a child Aged 8 who has Global Developmental Delay and I also have three other children, a six year old who suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Twins age 3 years, who have just began to be statemented as they are suffering from the same disorders as their older brothers. I have been diagnosed as Epileptic as well as suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder. For the past 18 months I have been researching Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, this since watching `A Mind to crime`, which was screened by Channel 4, 8/10/95. I was startled by the similarity in the behaviour patterns shown by the children portrayed in this documentary and those of my 6 year son, who since that programme and the research which I have undertaken, has been diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Mark, is currently taking Ritalin to `control` the behaviour associated with `ADHD` which is only slightly improved when using Ritalin, as his educational record shows. What I have found is that a diet that contains excess amounts of sugar seems to trigger the behaviour associated with `ADD/ADHD`, also that if the person who suffers with ADD/ADHD is encouraged to drink water, that this will actually help to calm them down. ----------

You might want to check out Dr. William Crook - author of 'The Yeast Connection', 'The Yeast Connection and Women' as well as other books. He is a pediatrician and at one time sent me a collection of articles about ADD, autism and food allergies, full of references. He's always very busy but is a caring and giving man, I feel certain he can help you with what you need. Judy --------------------------------------------------------------------

 

There is evidence that gluten intolerance is responsible for much ADD. I don't have citations handy, but you might visit http://www.panix.com/~donwiss and http://www.celiac.com The first address has many links to articles. There is also someone else on the celiac list who is doing research on this and I will forward your post to him. I have found my son's ADD symptoms much reduced by going gluten-free. (no wheat, oats, barley, rye). I think many other parents have found food allergies generally (like dairy, or food coloring,etc) cause it, or at least exacerbate it. AW --------------------------------------------------------------------

 

At age two our stepson refused to switch from baby meat(jar food)to table food meat. We began a balanced vegatarian diet for no meat. This diet lasted through age 5. At this time we also saw allergy symptoms and he was tested and found not to tolerate sugar,chicklen,rye,msg plus al corn products-corn syrup and flours. A rotation diet for this food was stated mostly rotating the corn and chicken. Elliminating sugar and rye and msg. By age 8 he no longer had allergy testsing postive to anything and we stopped all special diets as he would now ask for corn and meat and lots of Sugar. He tends to be an addictive eater for sugar with time of high cravings and times for wanting little,When sugar substitutes is just as good ie honey and nutrasweet. Too much nutyrasweet has given him headachs. Sometime to much sugar makes him grumpy and irritable. I then try to limit it. Sometimes he has no problems with behavior and he self controls surgar in take.

Over all I think the diet was good for him as we did not have an ADHD diagnosis before age 8. At age 12 it is very hard to get him to stay off some foods and he has not tested allergic for anything(he is very smart and with out a Dr. telling him it is not good for him he will not buy into it from parents. I would not know what to limit or eliminate. Anyway he only gets beef maybe 3 times a week and turkey and chicken most other days now. My daugther whoi is now 22 born in oct 74 developed allergies to wheat and wheat by products. She also was on soy milk. It was a bit ironic about the wheat as we lived in the palouse wheat country of Washington state. Over time we all had airway sensitivities to wheat which have since past as we moved away-it seemed to have lasted for several years and then gradualy dissappeared.She now suppossedly test allergic to some foods unknow to me. She grew up with the diagnosis of Learning disabled(auditory comprehension disfunction) Now as a n adult ADD plus some other problems but on Ritlian for about a year-which it has done wonders for her. I hope this is helpful for your reseach-I once again thankyou for all your help- thanks D and J, anchorage ------

 

I began investigating the impact of food on my son's behavior at age approximately 18 months. I was fortunate in that the food he was being given was already a healthy and junk-food free diet (for sake of clarity I will point out that I considered biscuits and cordials to belong to the "junk" category). However, I took this further and removed all processed (i.e. packaged and canned foods) and also gave him organically grown vegetables and wherever possible, preservative free food, including meats. (I had to search pretty extensively to find butchers who met this requirement, but I was confident I got as close to "totally natural" as was possible). I reduced his diet to very basic foods...e.g., plain boiled vegetables, tap water, and preservative free meats, dairy free breads, and (poor soul) that is about all he was fed. I am fortunate in that my son will react to a food within 15 minutes of eating it.

The things that I noticed initially were that he would react to any food with a chemical or food coloring - while some produced a more severe reaction (reds and yellow/orange food dyes being the worst) we did get reaction to all these things. However, the struggle was that I noticed a severe reaction to all meats - an example, on feeding him plain beef, pan roasted with no salt and only a small amount of water, by the end of the "meal" he was doing sky-dives off the dining table, climbing up, leaping off and yelling and screaming (he seemed quite happy though - needless to say I was not). I continued these observations, and concluded that he reacts severely to all foods which contain protein (however, our pediatrician pointed out that all the foods I mentioned which contained protein, also contain fat). I am confident that he has a reaction to one of these. Therefore, to exclude fat and protein from his diet is impractical and unhealthy.

I have placed my son on a number of "hyperactive" diets over the years, with drastic and unacceptable results. What I have found is that when "trigger" foods are excluded totally, the reaction and impact of a food which slips through which is not allowed is severe and extreme. This makes living with the child a roller-coaster, and is unworkable. Rather, what I have done in the end, is to include all foods into his diet "in moderation", which means he is "hyped" somewhat at all times, however he does not have the extremes which make dealing with him so difficult. I would like to mention that a number of items are totally excluded from his diet. These are Coca-Cola, Raspberry drinks, Chips or snack food which is bright orange, and peanut butter.

Another interesting fact is that I have found ADHD children (and also a number of autistic ones) react to toothpaste. I have noticed also, that these children will 'crave' a food when they are reacting - finding an ADHD child in the bathroom eating the toothpaste, or scooping peanut butter out of the jar with their fingers and eating it is not uncommon in my experience. Also, we have reached a type of trade off, where we accept the least possible reaction to a food. My son will react more severely to butter, than he will to margarine, consequently we use margarine only. --------------------------------------------

 

I don't know of any actual research articles, but I can tell you that without a doubt, if my son has artificial colourings his Ritalin is next to useless! He has been tested and reacts negatively to most colourings. If he has any he can't focus or sit still and now he's 16 years old he's starting to notice this for himself and choosing to avoid such foods except for the odd time when he's not at school or in a situation where he needs to be halfway sensible! I'm sure there are studies that have been done on this. All I know is what I see! Gareth tells me that when he has too much of it he feels like "a stationary car that is jammed in high gear and revving like mad but not going anywhere". Must be horrible! Glynis (New Zealand)

 

I don't know if this will help you or not since my daughter was never officially diagnosed with ADD or ADHD but I will briefly explain our experience. When my daughter (both of my children are adopted) became a toddler she began having terrible tantrums. She would also have nightmares (or night terrors) and was quite temperamental. Her tantrums were violent (throwing things, banging her head, biting, hitting, kicking, screaming). She was virtually uncontrollable unless we physically held her down. When they were over she was extremely sorry for what she had done and sometimes did not remember what had happened.

Most people who observed her general behavior told me she was hyperactive, but anyone who witnessed a tantrum advised us to get psychological help. The fall after she turned three, she was taking Ventolin syrup for breathing problems and her tantrums increased to one hour duration during the day and the nightmares lasted at least that long. I did not know what was wrong and a friend told me to call the pediatrician's office to see if the medicine could have anything to do with it. They advised me that it certainly could and to take her off immediately. I then began searching for possibilities in her diet that could cause a similar reaction and found the following: Red dye (especially No. 40) - severe tantrums; MSG - aggressive behavior; artificial flavoring (especially vanillin) - aggressive behavior. Most people don't believe me so I rarely say anything anymore in public, but we discovered this when she was three and 1/2.

Now she is almost 7, has made straight A's in behavior and in her subjects in school and has not had a tantrum in over a year or possibly two. Every time she has a reaction I find out she has ingested one of the above. Because of the miraculous change in her behavior we have never had to pursue professional help (or a diagnosis for ADD) but I think anyone who observed her as a toddler to 3-4 year old would have thought that we definitely were looking at that in the future. All I can say is she is a pure joy to be around and is extremely mature for her age now. Also, she would have severe headaches after ingesting the above, especially red dye. Our son (age 10 and also adopted) HAS been officially diagnosed with ADHD and is currently taking Ritalin. I have never thought, until recently, about diet and his behavior, but was very interested in your newsletter and information regarding this. I just assumed with my daughter that it was an allergy of sorts, unique to her. As you probably know, the medical community (at least in my city) is EXTREMELY skeptical of any link between diet and behavior problems and I am usually either totally made fun of or at the very least, not taken seriously. I hope this helps. Good Luck! Rebecca

 

Hello, Are you a doctor? I heard you were interested in hearing from people using diet and supplements for ADHD. My son 'had' this, TS, OCD and Bipolar. We have had lots of success and I am wondering what you are doing? Jean --------------------------------------------------------------------

What do you think? You are probably too busy and doing similar work to help him, but I thought I would forward this to you. I told him to visit Don Wiss' page. This guy's newsletter is very interesting. Hope you are well and have taken some time off to recreate! Anne Washburn quaker@vnet.net

Hi Doug, I am currently working on a thesis. I believe I can present a credible case for gluten as a pathogen in many cases of attention deficits. If you will have a look at some of my posts on the topic at: http://www.panix.com/~donwiss/hoggan/ and www.celiac.com and http://www.xs4all.nl/~maxdes/health/gf/nt.html I have provided citations for all my sources. I have English translations of the Kozlowska article, and Paul et. al., but don't have them on disk yet. I hope to find some funding to run a clinical trial, but that may be a bit of a pipe dream. best wishes, Ron Hoggan -----

 

Dr. Cowan wrote: Mary, Thank you for your information. I'm actually being investigated by the State because a parent didn't want to give Ritalin to his child and asked for a diet alternative. I gave him some information, which he felt was too much work, so he never even tried it. Then he got mad at me in the course of a custody battle, in which I was not helpful to him, and he decided to "turn me in" to the State for discussing nutrition as I'm only a Marriage, Family, and Child Therapist and not a nutritionist. Well, he's made several accusations, none of them true. Basically the man is just motivated by revenge. He threatened to "get" me before the court hearing because I was willing to testify against him. This is his way of doing it.

One of the State's questions to me was whether or not there was any evidence of diet helping with ADD. If I can show that there is some evidence, then the State might just go away. I'm just asking all of my friends for some help here, and I really appreciate your helpful information. Thanks again, Doug

Doug, I'm so sorry that this awful person has put you in this position. Some people are so desperate for an outcome in their favor that they'll resort to any underhanded method of achieving it. I, too, was once summoned to court (as a teacher) to tesify on behalf of a child in a custody hearing. I thought the whole thing was terribly heartbreaking. I'll spend some time tonight and in the next few days trying to find more information on the web for you. I also have an extensive personal library on ADD/ADHD. Perhaps I'll be able to find some information in one of those books. I'm pulling for you. We need all of the professionals working to better the opportunities for our ADD children we can get. I hate to see you having to spend your time and energies having to protect your position. Mary

Doug, Is this a bizarre business/profession we're in, or what? The whole flow of this type of confrontation is to reduce/eliminate creativity. If all we do is practice in such a way that the only thing we do is cover our a**, THEN what do we have? I could go on and on. I subscribe to the psycho-pharm e-mail group and a consistent theme is the dynamic tension between using medicines in only the ways the FDA approves and responding to the unique situation each patient offers by being willing to push the envelope. Over and over again I read of really conservative psychiatrists grateful to their patients who convinced them to try a little higher dose, a different drug, etc. outside the protocol and being successful. The key apparently is lots of discussion of the choices and LOTS of documentation of the discussion. Under those conditions the FDA apparently has no problem. Still within "standard of care" , etc. If the FDA operates like this, perhaps the state board has some leeway.

Two other references: Kaplan, B., McNichol, J., et. al., "Dietary Replacement in Preschool-Aged Hyperactive Boys", Pediatrics 83(1989), p. 7- 17.

Egger, J., Carter, C., "Controlled Trial of Oligoantigenic Treatment in the Hyperkinetic Syndrome", Lancet 1(March 9, 1985), p. 540-545. Hopefully these will be chock full of good references. Keep me posted. Good luck. Don

 

 

 

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