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The Dietary Connection
Can Sugars and Food Additives Contribute to Learning and Behavior Disorders?
By Kelly Burgess
There was no doubt that some children showed improvements on the Feingold diet. According to consumer advocate Dr. Stephen Barrett, founder of Quackwatch.com, a nonprofit organization designed to protect consumers from health-related scams, however, the diet may have been the reason in only some of the cases. While he acknowledges that there definitely are people who are sensitive to these substances, he says they have been blamed far beyond proportion to what studies show are reasonable numbers. His theory is that most of these children are finally receiving something they weren't getting enough of: attention.
"Adherence to the Feingold diet requires a change in family lifestyle and eating patterns, because Feingold recommended that the hyperactive child help prepare the special foods and encouraged the entire family to participate in the dietary program," says Dr. Barrett. "The parents are now paying more attention to the children and actively engaging in productive activities with them. This is probably as good a reason for behavioral improvement as the diet."
Furthermore, Dr. Barrett worries about the message kids get when we blame behavior on diet, thus removing the element of personal responsibility. He notes that the benefits of the diet need to be weighed against potentially harmful results, such as teaching children that their behavior and school performance are related to what they eat rather than what they feel. This could implant notions that they are unhealthy and fragile, creating situations in which their eating behavior is regarded as peculiar by other children and ignoring the fact that they may need appropriate professional help such as medication or psychotherapy.
