Food Additives

During the 1980's it was widely accepted that food additives were having a very definite negative impact on Autistic Spectrum conditions.  Doctors recommended to parents that removing key additives would improve concentration and behaviour in the children.  It however did not provide a cure, however was and still is an extremely effective way to help both children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Conditions.  It was however removed during the 1990's from advice and recommendation by the medical professionals due to the fact it was not an outright cure. Doctors favoured medication as the way forward stating that this was a proven cure for the conditions.  Medications however have been shown not to be a cure, however are probably promoted as they are pushed by large pharmaceutical companies from which the government earns significant taxes from.  Otherwise they would probably also be excluded from current advice to parents.  We are actively campaigning to get medical professionals to tell parents of the benefits of removing specific food additives from diets to help parents.

BBC Panorama
In 2000 BBC Panorama made a program telling everyone of this change of the medical profession and questioned whether Ritalin (being used at that time) and other medication was as effective as doctors were claiming.  They selected a child to specifically look at what problems he faced and how the medication helped him in his day to day life.  The program concluded, with support from key scientists and doctors, that the medication showed clear benefits however questioned whether this would provide a long term solution.  In 2007 Panorama returned to the child and produced a new program looking again at the claims that were made and the benefit the medication had had on the child in question.  The conclusion of the program, with support from scientists and doctors, showed that the medication had limited ability to aid those with ADHD and other autistic conditions and that the benefits were short lived on a day to day basis as well as over many years.

Where does this leave parents?
What we need to explain is that medical professionals do not know the true causes of Autistic Spectrum conditions, however today there are many working to find the answers.  The simple answer is that parents have a number of options available to them and their children, most of which need to be used in combination with no single treatment offering a cure.

Food Additives
We recommend to parents that looking at the full diet of your children is beneficial.  This includes ensuring that the children are not suffering from vitamin or mineral deficiencies (which may be caused by a medical conditions, rather than a bad diet), as well as the food additives they consume.  The FSA (Food Standards Agency) in 2007 on the BBC News defended food additives for use with the majority of the public, however added that their was clear evidence that those with Autistic Spectrum Conditions were detrimentally affected. It was their advice that those with such conditions should avoid the chemicals concerned.  They unfortunately provided no advice on how this choice can occur when such significant proportions of food have them in, with seemingly no choice available.  They however have provided a website (website Link) which confirms their acceptance of the effect of hyperactivity caused by specific food additives.

Not a quick solution, however very beneficial.
It must be remember by parents who chose to remove additives, which are known to negatively affect autistic spectrum conditions, that you may not start to notice a benefit in their behaviour or concentration for over two weeks.  Unfortunately many of these chemicals are stored in the body, and build up their presence over many years, and therefore can take up to 2 years to effectively be removed.  This is why we recommend keeping children on medication, that they have already been prescribed.  It is our hope that long term once the chemicals are removed from the body that they may be able to cope without the medications during the continuation of the diet.

Parents must also understand that if these known chemicals are consumed that the negative effect can take minutes (even if they've been on the diet for over 2 years) and that effect can last up to 2 weeks.  It is therefore important that children are taught to link the additives with the effect they suffer from their consumption, so that the child can chose for themselves to avoid these additives.  Without that education children believe that their parents are being wilfully nasty to them, by preventing them from eating food that tastes nice.

Children who maintain a good additive free diet have been shown to be able to cope with school and perform well in studies.  Our worker Stephen's two eldest daughters have been on an additive free diet following the presentation of  ADHD symptoms.  Their teachers almost can't believe they have the condition however the children still show many of the signs of ADHD which are often not recognised by the teaching profession.  These include regular accidents, perfectionism, learning difficulties & difficulties in maintaining concentration (especially in tests/exams, and tests where questions are read out).  Stephen confirms that the additive free diet effectively allows the children to control their behaviour during the school day.  As with all ADHD children, when they get tired they struggle with their behaviour and concentration.  He would stipulate that it is not a cure, however is proving to be as effective if not more effective than medication.  His children so far have not had to use medication to help control their symptoms.

Practical Pictorial Explanations
It is often helpful to explain to people what is occurring using pictorial forms to explain the concepts, however obviously holes can always be picked in them when used too literally.  We have two such explanations below to try and help explain what is happening.

Picture 1 - Barrel of Sand and Water
Imagine a a barrel with a very small hole at the bottom, as representing an individual.  From the time they are born they eat food with additives in (e.g. via the placenta in the womb, via breast milk, baby formula, etc.) we can represent this as water a coarse sand being poured into the barrel.  As stated before additives which cause problems are both artificial and even natural.  The barrel half files with water on each occasion, and a small amount of course sand.  The water runs away faster however the sand has to dry before it can leave the barrel through the hole.  As the sand builds up the water takes longer to run away.  When individual is about 5 years old the barrel is third full of coarse sand.  When the barrel is 50% full you begin to see ADHD symptoms, and when it is 75% full the symptoms are more extreme.  If the barrel over flows the symptoms are in control.  Taking medication is like the water being pumped out of the barrel, however never quite managing to remove or dry out the sand.  Each time additives are consumed they raise the level in the barrel above the point of the symptom line, and as they get older more and more time is spent above this point.  Removing the additives from the diet stops this process, however the water takes two weeks to run out of the barrel and the sand then starts to empty.  The barrel however is unable to empty of the sand for another two years.  As time passes the effect of each time an additive is taken reduces.

Picture 2 - Sports Car
An individual is like a high end sports car whose manufacturer has stated that you must use unleaded petrol (which pure of unwanted minerals etc., "food without additives").  When this is done the engine ("the brain") works well and provides good performance.  However Diesel (a dirty fuel with unwanted minerals, "food with additives") is used.  The engine begins to clog and splutter.  It reduces efficiency and no longer provides performance.  Unlike this example the engine is not destroyed however unleaded petrol must be used to flush out the diesel and allow the engine to return to it's correct performance levels.

If you find these pictorial examples helpful, or especially if you don't, please let us know at steve@adhdsupport.org.uk.