Dr Linda Helps - AD/HD isn't caused by:

· Aspartame

· Food sensitivity

· Food additives/coloring

· Lack of vitamins

· Television

· Fluorescent lighting

· Video games

· Allergies

· Bad parenting/severe family problems

· Stress

· Eating too much or too little sugar. Here's the logic for this myth as described by Russell Barkley, Ph.D., leading researcher in AD/HD. "Sugar is a necessary food compound for providing essential nutrients for normal brain cell functioning. Brain functioning, in fact, can be assessed by radioactively tagging blood glucose (sugar) and monitoring its rate of consumption by various brain regions. Both of these assertions are reasonably accepted scientific findings.

Given the essential role of blood sugar in brain functioning, dietary sugar must play a role in behavioral problems believed to reflect altered brain functioning, such as symptoms of AD/HD.

The flaw here, of course, is that dietary sugar is not immediately or directly converted to blood glucose and disproportionately shipped into the brain without control nor directly consumed by brain cells regardless of their glucose needs."* That's why controlling sugar in a child's diet doesn't control AD/HD symptoms. Now sugar may enhance problems and it is always wise to monitor your child's nutrition, but we have no scientific evidence that reducing sugar stops AD/HD.

I know I'm stepping on a lot of toes here but I have to be true to what has been scientifically proven so far. There are noted people who will disagree with what I am saying.

Currently there are alternative treatments on the market based on unproven causes of AD/HD. In making your decision about how to treat the disorder, you need to know that most of these causes are unsubstantiated even though they have a following. Claims are not based on published work. Often conclusions are published in obscure, uncritical sources- frequently pop magazines. Let me remind you of a rather crass bathroom graffiti slogan that speaks to this point, "Eat dung, a thousand flies can't be wrong."

I am not saying that what young children eat and drink doesn't affect them. I'm also not telling you to stop doing something if you notice an improvement. We do have studies that show for a small number of children under the age of five, what they eat and drink can affect their behavior. So providing good diet and nutrition for children is always wise. Furthermore, some children do experience behavior difficulties related to eating certain foods with dyes and aspartame. But there is no evidence to support the claim that making a number of dietary changes cures AD/HD. That doesn't mean a good diet won't help your children and won't eliminate the possibility of certain foods enhancing behavior problems. Your goal should be to provide your children with sound nutrition regardless.

Parents of AD/HD children want to do everything possible to help their children. That's the appeal of many of these approaches-you are doing something. But before you invest time and money in a so-called "cures" for AD/HD, find out if there is published data in credible scientific journals, subject to peer review that support the claims made. Just because everyone is trying it, doesn’t mean it works!  

*Quote taken from the ADHD report, Volume 1, No. 6, December 1993, published by the Guildford Press.