Thursday, January 17, 2008

What are we feeding our kids?

Michael Olson, host of Food Chain Radio says "The anti-depressant drug Prozac is now available in a mint-flavored liquid to better serve the 8,000,000,000 U.S. school children that now take psychiatric drugs. This leads us to ask, “What are we feeding our children?”

Dr Karl Hoffower discussess this subject on Food Chain radio. Listen here

Friday, October 19, 2007

Multiple studies confirm overactive symptoms linked to food colors and preservatives

The Food Standards Agency in Britain, issued a warning to parents on September 28 2007. Their news section states "...research, carried out by Southampton University, suggests that eating or drinking certain mixes of some artificial food colours, together with the preservative sodium benzoate, could be linked to hyperactivity in some children.

American medical news source Med Page Today.com tried to downplay the significance of this new warning by telling doctors the overactive symptoms observed were small.

But this American website either is ignoring or just lame by not reporting what the BBC has reported multiple times. The research looking at a link between food colors, preservatives and poor behavior in children has been ongoing for several years in the UK.

This latest study was one of the most tightly controlled ever completed. The changes observed were still significant and should not be glossed over.

For the American medical website to lessen the significance of this study is poor judgement. One should not forget that studies on SSRI antidepressants were approved with showing a 2 point improvement (out of 26) of change on a questionnaire the researching psychiatrist filled out regarding his opinion of the patient's behavior.

The FDA has issued major label changes for ADHD drugs so parents can be warned about those drugs causing psychiatric mania, stroke, heart attacks and sudden death

If you have your child on drugs for overactive behavior. You might want to try an elimination diet and avoid preservatives and food colorings. You should go see your doctor or a competent physician who conduct a comprehensive evaluation. If your child needs to be withdrawn from his prescriptions, it must be medically supervised and conducted over time to minimize any adverse withdrawal effects.

Never go off any psychiatric drug "cold turkey" and without medical supervision. It could be life-threatening.

A news article appeared in the BBC on 5 May, 2004, 00:05 GMT 01:05 UK


Image of Thai food
Artificial colourings
increased hyperactivity
levels
Artificial food colourings should be banned in the interest of public health, say UK experts.

A team of researchers from Southampton University said removing these substances from foods could cut hyperactivity rates in young children.

They are extending their research to see whether additive-free diets have a positive effect in older children too.

The research on 300 three-year-olds appears in the journal Archives of Diseases in Childhood.

Food coloring and preservative linked to hyeractivity

In September 2007 over in the U.K. a study was released based on a grant from their Food Standards Agency. Experts issued a warning to parents about the links between tantrums and food colorings.

The Food Standards agency eventually jumped in to make parents aware that food colorings and preservatives have been shown to create overactive behavior in children.

The September study was the 3rd in 4 years completed to compare the effects of food colors and preservatives on a child's behavior.

In the U.S. the medical media writers attempted to downplay the significance of this report by misreporting the significance of these findings.

Anyone who is around young children enough has seen the misbehavior that arises after sweet foods have been ingested. So why does psychiatry scoff at a parent's suggestion that sugary food brings on hyper behavior?

There have been many studies looking at the effects of glucose sugar on children's behavior. Those studies have not been able to show a strong relationship between misbehavior and ingestion of common sugar.

This series of British studies seem to show that we Americans missed the true ingredients that were the true cause of the hyperactivity, namely food colors and preservatives.

This may explain why parents saw misbehavior which was blamed on sugar that Science could not prove a link to. I find it fascinating that the geniuses who spent time looking at the relationship of sugar to behavior did not further their investigation into all components of what constitutes the major ingredients of foods marketed to children.

Read your food labels and you are sure to find Blue # 7, Yellow #5, Red#6, etc, etc in a number of things. But remember, a low dose to us may still be a massive dose to a child.

The Food & Drug Administration does not require ingredients be tested on children. They just want to make sure your preservative doesn't kill you.

Take a look at Taylor's mice experiment. He found that mice given a small dose of yellow food coloring caused them to take 5 times longer to complete a maze then before getting the dye.

This is an incredible way to look at the cognitive "thinking" effects of a substance. I was amazed by Taylor's genius in creating this study.

So if you are having problems with behavior or concentration, try an elimination diet to see if the problems can be reduce or "cured" by staying away from potential bad foods.

Good luck.

ADHD front group terminiates coordinator for disclosing nutrition can help calm hyperactivity

Children and Adults with ADD or "ChADD" is a front group for the pharmaceutical industry to help ensure drugs are pushed as the only "scientific" treatment for overactive children.

Steve Plog was a chapter coordinator for ChADD in Las Vegas, NV. He was fired by ChADD for disclosing that real physical deficiencies could account for behaviors labeled as ADHD.

Click on the link above to read how he found that 20 years of ADHD drugs did not cure him.

Steve claims it was only when he was seen by a competent physician who completed a searching physical exam that he was given a course of treatment that resolved his complaints.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Study proves food dyes and preservatives cause Hyperactivity

This month a study was published in the respected medical journal, The Lancet.

The study was commissioned by British Food Standards Agency after several other studies showed that food colorings and other additives caused children to exhibit hyperactive behavior.

Tests on more than 300 children showed significant changes in their behavior after they drank fruit drinks tainted with a mixture of food colorings and preservatives.

Researchers said. "These findings show that adverse effects are not just seen in children with extreme hyperactivity.

The link and brief text are below. You have to have a subscription to read the whole study. But the news was heard around the world.

However, did we really need another study to confirm what parents and other care givers already know?

The question now is: How do we help the millions of children falsely labeled with ADHD who have been taking mind-altering drugs?

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Food additives linked to increased hyperactivity in children
Artificial food colour and additives commonly found in children's food exacerbate hyperactive behaviours in children, at least up to middle childhood, according to a research article. Importantly, these adverse effects are reported in children in the general population and across a wide range of severities of hyperactivity, and not just in those with extreme hyperactivity as established in previous studies.