ADHD Diet

Written by Melanie Haiken

Some people believe ADHD and other psychiatric disorders are linked to diet and by eliminating certain foods or adding others, it may reduce or eliminate ADHD, depression or other symptoms.

ED. NOTE: You should never stop, add, or change any medication or any treatment without first talking with your child's doctor.

The day my daughter refused to eat even her favorite food—peanut butter and honey on toast—was the day I lost it. Bursting into tears, I pulled open the medicine cabinet and swept all three of the medications she was taking into the trash.

Linnea, then seven, had spent the previous year on three different powerful psychotropic drugs, one after the other, as we waged a desperate battle to control her stuttering and the facial tics that went with it. Not only did the medications (a tranquilizer, a blood pressure drug prescribed off-label, and an antidepressant) leave her tics as rampant as ever, they caused a host of side effects including depression, lethargy, and an almost complete loss of appetite.

Always a skinny girl, Linnea had become thinner and thinner, at one point dropping below 50 pounds. And I had become a drill sergeant, standing over her while she tried to eat, alternately commanding and cajoling as I measured the circumference of her tiny arms with my eyes. Instead of the medications controlling her tics, it seemed that her tics were controlling us.

So into the wastebasket went the bottles of clonazepam and clonidine and desipramine, and off I went into full research mode. There must be something out there, I thought, that can help my daughter without wreaking such havoc on her young body.

Searching for Nutritional Therapies

Here is a truth about the parents of a child with a disability: We are relentless. Nothing fuels determination like listening to your child cry herself to sleep at night, or hearing her ask, yet again, if she'll ever be able to talk like other kids. Doctors and schools characterize us as demanding and difficult—yep, it's true. We will do anything—anything—to help our suffering children lead a normal, happy life. And yes, this dedication makes us easy targets for all the hucksters and charlatans out there touting the latest miracle in a bottle. But it also makes us powerful advocates, unshakable in our pursuit of the breakthrough that might make all the difference to the child we love.

It had been a long road up to this point. Linnea first started stuttering when she was just three, and the problem has become progressively more severe, characterized by what are called complete blocks—when her throat closes up and she gets trapped in a tense, tight-throated silence. As she struggles to get her words out, she goes into a multitude of tics—grimacing, blinking, throwing her head to one side. It is disconcerting and disturbing; even those who love Linnea dearly sometimes have to avert their eyes when she is trying hard to talk.

Shortly after the peanut butter incident, I sat down at my computer, cruised some email newsgroups, and discovered a vast and hugely knowledgeable resource: my fellow parents of kids with behavioral disabilities. I quickly learned from these dedicated people that there are nondrug treatments that can make a real difference for children with disorders like Linnea's. It was a vast relief to hear from parents who'd watched their kids fail in school, fail to make friends, even suffer from violent outbursts, and then find some measure of peace.

A number of the most helpful strategies focus on dietary changes and nutritional therapy. Many alternative-minded experts in the field of brain-related disorders believe nutrition offers a promising avenue of treatment that's all too often been overlooked.

"The more we learn about the brain, the more we understand how nutrition and supplements can affect its functioning, including moods, attention, and cognition," says Lewis Mehl-Madrona, a psychiatrist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. What a child eats, he says, can profoundly affect the way her brain works. And this is true not just in the case of stuttering and tics, but for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism and its related disorders, and many other behavioral and learning problems.

"All of these conditions are caused by a deficiency in neurotransmitters," says Billie Sahley, a behavioral therapist who directs the Pain and Stress Center in San Antonio, Texas. "That's what it all boils down to."

In the case of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD, many parents report great success with a gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) diet that cuts out milk and wheat. Another common starting point for hyperactive kids is the Feingold diet, which bans artificial flavors, colors, and some preservatives.

Though therapies like these are largely under the radar of conventional medicine—neither my daughter's pediatrician nor her neurologist ever mentioned them—many have been shown, in well-documented research, to be quite effective. At least two wide-ranging reviews of existing research, one conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the other published in the Journal of Paediatric Child Health, have found that diet and nutritional therapy can noticeably affect some children's behavior. More specifically, a study of 20 children with ADHD published in the Alternative Medicine Review found a regimen of supplements to be as effective as Ritalin. And research among a group of 26 kids (also with ADHD) at Cornell Medical Center in New York found that three quarters responded well to a diet that eliminated several problem foods.

The connection between allergies and behavioral disorders can be confusing to parents; how could a sensitivity to dairy products cause a child to be hyper, spacey, or subject to tics? But the chemical released when we have an allergic reaction acts like a neurotransmitter, says Mary Ann Block, author of No More ADHD and an osteopathic doctor practicing in Dallas. "One neurotransmitter out of balance sets off a chain reaction that can cause all sorts of changes in behavior."

In addition to allergic reactions and sensitivities, many kids with ADHD, autism, Tourette's syndrome, and other disorders have been found to suffer from dramatic deficiencies in certain nutrients, including magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, and B vitamins. Studies often document the deficiencies without looking at the treatment, but researchers have recently begun following up to see if replacing these missing nutrients can correct behavior problems. In one recent study of 400 ADHD children, for instance, zinc supplements beat placebos in treating certain aspects of the disorder, including hyperactivity and impulsivity.