 on the Feingold diet have shown consistent behavioral improvement when these food dyes were eliminated. However, reduction of processed foods that contain artificial dyes and substitution of healthy foods may in general promote better long-term health. Moreover, the behavior management strategies that parents must use to change a child’s eating behavior from frequent use of candies and processed foods to healthy choices are the same techniques that are used to improve concentration and increase work production.
Diets Eliminating Sensitizing Food Substances
In the decades since the Feingold Diet was introduced, studies of the impact of diet on behavioral disorders have become more sophisticated and reliable. Newer research has shown that behavioral improvement using elimination diets is more likely in children who have inhaled and food allergies, a family history of migraines, and food reactivity. Younger children seem to be the most responsive. Whole foods like milk, nuts, wheat, fish, and soy have been implicated in addition to additives. Elimination diets can sometimes influence sleep and mood disturbances as well as ADHD symptoms. Sensitivities to substances in the environment—in medicines, clothes, water, our homes, the air, and so on—have also been studied as they relate to children’s health and behavior. The results have shown a link between sensitizing foods and some health and behavior problems in a small percentage of children with ADHD. In most cases, these children experience a variety of coexisting health and behavioral difficulties in addition to ADHD—particularly sleep-related and neurologic problems. They are also likely to have a family history of food sensitivities or migraine headaches.
Because this link has been established, if food or additive sensitivities are highly suspected in your child, he may be tested for them by first eliminating an entire range of common foods (typically milk, soy, wheat, corn, citrus, and peanuts) for 2 to 4 weeks. If his symptoms improve—signaling the possible presence of a food sensitivity—the range of foods can be restored to his diet, then one food at a time can be removed for a short period, with the results being monitored. This process can continue until the correct substance has been identified or all likely possibilities have been exhausted. This procedure may be difficult to carry out, and it is advised that if you are interested you should do this along with a physician or certified dietician. It is extremely important to pick countable targets (such as “2 or fewer tantrums per day”) rather than general impressions (“will demonstrate better behavior”).
Meanwhile, it is important to understand that for most children with ADHD who do not have food sensitivities (and for some who do), elimination diets are not effective treatments for ADHD itself. If your child is on a special diet, you will need to make sure it is not replacing a more effective treatment for ADHD symptoms. In most cases, stimulant medication,behavior therapy, and the other measures described in previous chapters will have a much clearer positive effect on your child’s ADHD-related behaviors, while a well-balanced diet with few processed foods may improve his general health and attitude.
Humans are naturally attracted to sugar because it tastes good and because our bodies rely on glucose—the form of sugar found in natural foods—for metabolic processes. Like many other children, children with ADHD often have strong sugar cravings, and this has contributed to the belief that sugar and candy consumption can cause hyperactive behavior. A great deal of objective evidence, however, has shown that this assumption is untrue for most children with or without ADHD. While one early study did reveal a link between high sugar consumption and hyperactive behavior, there was no evidence that one caused the other or that the behavior problems were not due to different parenting styles or other factors. A number of subsequent scientifically rigorous studies could not demonstrate any adverse effects of sugar on the 