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Psychological Problems in Children: Surprising Cause

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diet and behavioral problems in children
Photo courtesy of http://www.freeimages.com/profile/pixaio

There are few things as important to us parents as our children’s brains.  So why do we treat our children’s brains so poorly?

Our brains are very susceptible to the foods we eat, the chemicals we are exposed to and the stresses we experience.  That means that every molecule of food you eat can have a direct effect on the way your brain functions.  And this, of course, includes your child’s brain as well.

I cannot understand how a parent who has a child with a behavioral problem can feed his or her child Cheetos and yet think that there is no real help for his or her son or daughter.  These decisions absolutely affect the way brain cells function, from sending messages between cells to NOT sending messages between cells that are not supposed to fire.

Top of the list of nutrients that are essential for brain health are the fats.  Good fats like the omega 3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats help to make up a more stable cells membrane in the neuron.  Poor quality fats, on the other hand, destabilize the brain cell membrane.  As you can imagine, destabilized brain cells are not something we want to support on the inside of our skull.

This particular study supports the relationship between our children’s behaviors and the foods that they eat.  While the term “junk food” may be subject to interpretation, I think we can all agree that, in this study, defining junk food as a high energy, low nutrient content just seems to cover it all.  In this study, it means sweets, sweetened beverages, fast foods and salty snacks.

13,486 children, aged 8-18 were evaluated for psychiatric distress (worry, depression, confusion, insomnia, anxiety, aggression and worthless) and violent behaviors (physical fight, victim and bully) and the presence of these factors was weighed against how much junk foods were regularly consumed.  Here’s what they found:

  • There was a relationship between violent behaviors and the intake of junk foods.
  • Daily consumption of sweetened beverages and snacks increased self-reported psychiatric distress.
  • Daily consumption of salty snacks increased the risk of violent behavior (physical fight 39%, victim 19% and bully 55%).

If you’ve ever tried to deny that the foods you are feeding your child will not have an impact on his or her behaviors, this study should put this notion to rest.  If you are a parent of a child with anything other than a perfectly psychologically and behavioraly normal child, and you child’s diet has  daily exposures to the foods listed in this study, it’s time to wake up.  There is not any other way to look at it.

 

Aberrant Immune Response Seen in Autism – (05-07-01)

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Aberrant Immune Response Seen in Autism

I have seen many children diagnosed with conditions like autism, ADD and ADHD that begin the morning with enough sugar to stagger the mind. Many of these patients do not think for one instant that what a child eats can have an effect on the mental performance. I think this article illustrates nicely that there are alterations in some autistic children that can be either addressed or made worse by lifestyle choices.

Experimental Biology 2001 Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) produce higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines than children without autism, researchers announced Monday at the Experimental Biology 2001 meeting in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Harumi Jyonouchi of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and colleagues analyzed the immune responses of 83 children with ASD, between 2 and 17 years old, compared with a group of healthy matched controls. The researchers measured the levels of TNF-alpha, IL-4, IL-5 and IL-10 in the subjects before and after exposure to low doses of endotoxin. “More than three-quarters of the ASD children produced higher levels of at least one of the pro-inflammatory cytokines compared with controls,” Dr. Jyonouchi told Reuters Health. These differences were evident both with and without endotoxin exposure, she added. The researchers also found that “75% to 80% of these children have T-cell reactivity to dietary proteins including soy, milk, and wheat,” Dr. Jyonouchi said. “If their response to endotoxins is dysregulated, children with ASD may be predisposed to other adverse reactions to foods, bacteria, and vaccines, and may have an increased risk for autoimmune reactions,” Dr. Jyonouchi explained. She noted that these children may also require a longer time to recover from such exposures. “This is scientific data supporting parents’ claims that autistic children may get sicker from colds and flu and are more sensitive to dietary proteins,” Dr. Jyonouchi said.

 

Increased leukotriene production by food additives in atopic dermatitis – (03-26-01)

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Increased leukotriene production by food additives in atopic dermatitis

Think the dermatologists are talking to the gastroenterologists on this one? Or would that be the allergists? In reality–neither group believes very heavily in food allergies causing seemingly unrelated systemic symptoms. Nonetheless, this is an excellent article stressing the importance of a food coloring/preservative free diet in the management of many diseases. Dr. Feingold many years back had proposed and had good results in the use of a non-processed diet for children with ADD/ADHD type disorders.

Synergy : Clinical & Experimental Allergy 31 (2), 265-273

Read entire article here

‘Safe’ Blood Lead Levels Can Cause Cognitive Deficits – (05-28-01)

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‘Safe’ Blood Lead Levels Can Cause Cognitive Deficits

I’ve mentioned before that heavy metals are a seldom-sought after component of many of today’s chronic diseases. This article suggests that, even at dosages generally considered “safe,” that IQ suffers in suseptable children. Think of todays’ “disordered” children with ADD and ADHD–could lead be a contributing factor? Vit C is known to reduce the absorption of lead from the GI tract–could todays’ kids be absorbing more lead because the intake of Vit C from fresh fruits and veggies is at an all time low? Personally, the concept of having a “safe” level of most heavy metals is beyond me. “Safe”, when it comes to the US Government, means that no obvious disease state occurs at that level of exposure.

Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting in Baltimore Lead can cause cognitive deficits in children even when blood levels are well below the officially sanctioned 10 µg/dL mark, according to study results presented Monday at the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting in Baltimore. The concentration for defining lead intoxication has been lowered progressively from 60 µg/dL to 10 µg/dL over the past three decades, explained Dr. Bruce Lanphear from Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. But he described the choice of 10 µg as arbitrary, saying that it remains unclear whether lower levels are actually harmless. Dr. Lanphear and his associates measured blood lead levels during the first 5 years of life and IQ at 60 months in 276 children and adjusted their comparisons for factors with a recognized influence on child IQ (sex, birthweight, maternal IQ, in utero tobacco exposure, and so on). Dr. Lanphear reported that the mean blood lead level at 60 months was 6.1 µg/dL and the mean IQ was 90. The mean blood lead level rose from 1.9 µg/dL at 6 months of age to peak at 9.3 µg/dL at 24 months, when 33.8% of children had levels above the 10 µg/dL “safe” cutoff, Dr. Lanphear said. “There was a consistent inverse association between blood lead level and IQ,” Dr. Lanphear noted, “which proved statistically significant beginning at 36 months of age.” Overall, Dr. Lanphear said, there was a 5.7-point drop in IQ for each 10-µg/dL increase in blood lead level. But among children with lower lead levels, the effect of rising lead levels was more striking: an 11.5-point drop for those whose levels were initially below 10 µg/dL and more than a 15-point drop for children whose lead levels were initially below 5 µg/dL.

Pay Attention: Ritalin Acts Much Like Cocaine – (08-27-01)

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Pay Attention: Ritalin Acts Much Like Cocaine

Geez..do I really need to comment on this one? Just to reiterate…the numbers of kids diagnosed with ADD or ADHD has sky-rocketed, and the quick answer to these cases has been the use of psychoactive substances such as Ritalin. There are no long term studies to verify the safety of long term use. NONE. Myself and many others out there are not entirely convinced that this is even a problem. Sure, I would agree that many of the diagnosis given are accurate, but I would have to guess they are a minority. Programs such as the Feingold diet, which removes all added chemicals such as food additives, colourings and preservatives, have had good results in bringing the focus back in these children. And, as with many other natural therapies, there are no side effects, unless you consider overall improved health as a side effect.

Read entire article here

Childhood ADHD / Behavioral Problems? This Might Be a Cause

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Some days your child seems fine. Other days a truckload of Valium couldn’t calm him or her down. You hate the label of ADHD. Could something else be wrong?

I was recently in a situation around a bunch a 1st graders.  One of the children seemed particularly zoned out and someone mentioned that he must be medicated today.  I don’t think it gets much sadder than that.  I’m sure that there are children who may truly be classified as uncontrollable and disruptive, but this number cannot possibly be as high as the number of children we are medicating.

I personally believe that there are two aspects to childhood behaviors as they relate to ADHD and anxiety.  The first aspect is exposures in the womb.  There is mounting evidence on how much exposures in the womb play a role in the risk of a child being diagnosed with anxiety disorder or ADHD later on in childhood.  Some of these exposures include:

  1. Iodine deficiency in the mother leading to thyroid imbalance in the child.
  2. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from rapidly grilled foods during pregnancy have been linked to ADHD and anxiety.

The second aspect has to do with the child’s lifestyle and family environment once he or she is born.  The first aspect, exposures in the womb, no one can go back and change.  This aspect, however, is readily under a parent’s control.

While I’m sure there are many other aspects to helping your child’s brain, these are a few I have covered in past blog posts:

  1. Higher intakes of unsaturated fats (olive oil, avacodos, nuts, wild caught fish).
  2. Iron supplementation was found to help ADHD symptoms in this case study.
  3. Omega 3 fatty acid supplementation.

This is a brain we are talking about.  And a developing one at that.  This developing brain needs EVERY ounce of nutrition we can give it, while at the same time not abusing the brain with unneeded chemicals, pesticides and stress (including parental stress).

Stress, of course, can relate to sleep.

This particular study demonstrates just how massively important sleep is to your child’s delicate brain.  Researchers looked at a group of 7-11 year old children and set up two scenarios.  One hour of sleep restriction (using normal weekday sleep duration as a baseline) and one hour of sleep extension.  The teachers then rated the children on their behavior the next day.  Here’s what they found:

  1. A mere 27 minutes of extra sleep was associated with improvement emotional ability and restless-impulsive behavior scores as well as a reduction in daytime sleepiness. (Tweet this)
  2. On the flip side, 54 minutes of sleep restriction showed deterioration on these same measures.

Consider these facts when deciding on your child’s bedtime and wake time.  Do they wake up later on the weekends then they do during the week?  It is possible they are not getting the extra sleep his or her brain really needs.  So maybe your child does not need meds.  Maybe just 27 minutes more of sleep could work miracles.

Do you use “catch up” sleep on the weekends for yourself or your children to make up for less sleep time during the week?

INCREASED OXIDATIVE STRESS IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM – (12-15-04)

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METABOLIC BIOMARKERS OF INCREASED OXIDATIVE STRESS AND IMPAIRED METHYLATION CAPACITY IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Ditto to above, with the addition that increased antibiotic use will destroy normal bacterial flora in the gut, and this bacteria can be a strong source of Vit B12. So, could destruction of normal flora with antibiotics be a contributing factor to the increase in autism? Overall, the sad thing is that many of these kids have horrendous diets. My wife had done in-home daycare for awhile. One of the kids she used to watch had a long list of psychological diagnosis, of which ADD was on the list. This same child used to come to the house in the morning eating candy bars for breakfast…

Read entire article here

IODINE DEFICIENCY LEADS TO DEFICIT AND HYPERACTIVITY IN OFFSPRING – (12-15-04)

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ATTENTION DEFICIT AND HYPERACTIVITY DISORDERS IN THE OFFSPRING OF MOTHERS EXPOSED TO MILD-MODERATE IODINE DEFICIENCY: A POSSIBLE NOVEL IODINE DEFICIENCY DISORDER IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

The answer to the origin of ADD/ADHD as well as autism will most likely result in a multi-factorial equation. One thing is for sure–we are doing something different to our kids that is negatively affecting their health and increasing their risk for chronic diseases.

In this study, the concept that kids with ADD/ADHD may have developed a resistance to thyroid hormone as a result of iodine deficiency in the mom is proposed. Iron deficiency, vaccines, antibiotic overuse, poor nutritional quality diets and toxin exposure are all on the list as well. Most likely the answer lies in a mixture of all of these factors.

Read entire article here