Theories of what causes ADHD seem to grow with each day. There are a variety of biological and environmental theories that tend to get most of the press and truthfully have the most credibility. However, nutrition research has made a link between some food additives and ADHD. Specifically, some additives found in popular soft drinks may play a role.
One of the additives, sodium benzoate, has been linked to cell damage in a previous study, and to an increased for cancer. Sodium benzoate is found in Coca-Cola, Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi, and in many fruit drinks.
Other additives assessed in the study include a number of colorings - sunset yellow (E110), found in fruity drinks; carmoisine (E122), a red coloring often added to jams; ponceau 4R (E124), a red food coloring; tartrazine (E102), found in lollipops and carbonated drinks; quinoline yellow (E104), a food coloring; and allura red AC (E129), and orange-red food dye.
The researchers cautioned against belief that additives alone could cause ADHD, but noted that this finding was important. I would also encourage come caution against viewing that as a large factor, but hopefully it can be another reason for parents to limit unhealthy foods from their child’s diet.
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Links to This Article
Nutrition » Food Additives & ADHD (9/30/2007)
Food Additives & ADHD by diet.MEDtrials.info (9/30/2007)
University Update - ADHD - Food Additives & ADHD (10/1/2007)
7 Comments to
“Food Additives & ADHD”
I saw a change in diet to foods with no preservatives, sugars, dyes, etc work for “ADHD” over 30 years ago. I have been telling parents this for years. Forget the medications, feed your children the proper foods.
Give me a BREAK!! I don’t eat any sugar, preservatives, etc. and I have severe ADHD. I am 34 yrs old and the only thing that has saved me from a life of car accidents and unemployment was Adderall. I tried life w/out it and after being fired 4x and countless car accidents I decided to accept that ADHD is real and I need medication. I have been fine ever since. ADHD is a brain condition, I had a PET scan, I saw the difference between my brain and a “non ADHD” brain. What do you know about it
I agree that there is a link with diet and children, as for adults, perhaps the damage is done in the early years and the brian wiring is permanently changed. Since there is no true medical test for ADHD and the label is so vague, I believe that it is a blanket diagnosis that covers a variety of disorders along a spectrum. To dismiss one theroy because it does not agree with your own experience is shortsighted. I have seen first hand the effects of red dye on hyperactive children. If drugs (chemicals), such as adderal, can effect the innerworkings of your brain, surely the chemicals in artificial food additives can also effect brain activity.
I would have to say that I strongly agree with the link between junk and sweet food causing ADHD to be worse and maybe even the original cause of our youth suffering from it.
Being a mother of someone with ADHD it is very up lifting to know that I do have more control of the effects of ADHD on my son. I wouldn’t say that diet alone will change it or even stop ADHD totally from our society but I do believe that it is a very huge factor.
I agree entirely with Nicole R!! I am 26 and have struggled with ADHD my entire life. I am sick to death of people deciding that it is some behavioural problem, our parents didn’t bring us up right, food preservatives cause it etc etc. I don’t understand how people are still talking about this as if we know nothing. It has been shown that people with ADHD have a mutated dopamine transporter, and many also have mutated receptor. As well as this, the brain anatomy is different.
The other thing is that people have absolutely no idea what it is like not to be able to choose what to think about/ listen to. You should try attending a physics lecture and not being able to listen to the lecture because your thoughts happen to be louder at the time.
Food additives are not a cause of ADHD, they may exaggerate it, and they may make non-ADHD sufferers exhibit some symptoms.
Thanks bout all
ADD is contagious.add can be transferred to childrens from adults suffering from add. add
is satanic in nature.i came to know about my
add in 2003. i accidentally contaminated a child with add, when i was in depression.god help these world from psychological problems
I have seen the direct effects of red 40 on my daughter. They also say that it can effect other kids as well. Around the age of 3 or 4 is when it is prevalent. My oldest daughter can have it now but when she was 4 - no way.
My youngest has adhd along with other things and i do not believe that the additives caused any of it but I do believe that kids with adhd are more sensitive to these additives. I wish there was a way to tell exactly which ones effect her without having to eliminate everything. The colorings and preservatives in our foods are crazy. High fructose corn syrup and aspartame are really bad as well for the brain. I “heard”. I am just a parent and not a medical professional.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Sep 2007
