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Treatments
and Medications
for Attention Deficit Disorder
Diet
The subject of diet modification in the
treatment of ADHD continues to be controversial. Many parents insist that
eliminating certain foods from a child's diet leads to a significant reduction
in ADD symptoms. As we have stated elsewhere, removing sugar from diet
does appear to help some children particularly younger children. Also, the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry believes that the removal of
certain dyes and other substances may be beneficial to some children (again very
young children). Our viewpoint is that removal of sugar and other
substances thought to be harmful to children may help and this action will not
cause any harm.
The most widely followed diet for the
treatment of ADHD is the Feingold Diet. While it does have it's
supporters, generally, the scientific and medical communities do not recommend
this diet. There are certainly a large number of parents who feel this
diet has been extremely beneficial to their children. We do not recommend
the diet but we also would not discourage any parent from giving it a try.
We have provided several links which provide useful information about the
Feingold Diet. They provide both pro and con discussions of this approach
to treating ADD.
The
Feingold Association of The United States
Quack
Watch
National
Network for Child Care
University
of Virginia: Information and Links About the Effects of Sugar and Diet on
Children's Behavior
References
Practice Parameters for the Assessment and Treatment of
Children, Adolescents and Adults With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
36:10 Supplement, October 1997
Taylor, M Evaluation and Management of Attention-Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder. American Family Physician 1997: 55 (3);
887-894
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