Earlier in the week, an interesting discussion popped up in a quickie post about the FDA examining the impact of food dyes on hyperactive behavior. I was swamped this week and didn't have a chance to foster the discussion, so I thought we could return to it today.
In the special ed community, there is a huge debate about whether or not kids are over medicated and whether or not special diets can change behavior.
I have one group of friends who refuse to put their kids on ADHD drugs. They say that kids are over-medicated today, these drugs all cause terrible side effects, and that schools push the drug solution, so they don't have to do the hard work of teaching kids to learn to focus or to control their bodies. This group often believe in holistic solutions, including gluten-free diets and vitamin supplements.
The other side says that Ritalin and its cousins really help kids. They are able to sit in their chairs and take their tests. These drugs enable the kid to function in a normal world and gives their brains a chance to catch up with their peers. They point out that there is no scientific evidence that gluten-free diets make any changes in behavior or attention. And removing pasta from a picky child's diet is traumatic from everyone.
For me, a life without proper pasta isn't worth living.
I'm open minded on this topic. I'm curious what you think.
Apt. 11d 
I really don’t understand the growth in gluten problems. If that the whole evolution thing is right, you’d expect that the vast majority of people living in the U.S. today had many generations of ancestors who lived on wheat. Even in the northern areas where barley and oats were the common grains until recently, you’d think having troubles with wheat bread would have been a big handicap.
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Probably both sides are right here.
1) Some people have gluten intolerances or other dietary issues. Symptoms of these can include ADHD and autistic behaviors. Solving the dietary problems solves the behavior problems.
2) Other people hear about this and jump on the bandwagon and try it. They might see improvement because of the Hawthorne effect or because people generally do better if they have good diets. Or they might not.
3) Some kids and families find drugs useful in getting through the day. Sometimes these are kids who are truly miserable without the drugs.
4) Sometimes, the drugs are only necessary because schools or parents have certain expectations they are unwilling to reconsider. Often a different environment would allow a kid to thrive in his/her own way even if s/he is more “difficult.”
5) There are probably a small number of kids with unidentified dietary issues who are on drugs which mask the symptoms. If there’s any reason to suspect dietary issues, unwillingness to try the diet for a month just in case that’s the problem is pretty lame. (And putting your kid on stimulants because not eating pasta is hard is even lamer.)
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I have a good friend whose daughter has Celiac disease. She can’t digest gluten. It gives her the runs and destroys her colon. It’s a genetic disorder, but it has only been recently understood. Lots of members of my friend’s family are tiny and super thin. They probably have Celiac also. So, recent diagnosis is part of the reason why gluten problems are talked about more.
There’s also arguments that gluten creates problems for kids with autism or ADHD. Jenny McCarthy has helped publicize these theories.
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I know Celiac disease exists. I’m just having trouble thinking the recent spike in interest is all celiac disease.
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Ritalin has made a huge positive difference for my #2, who went from ‘sent to principal three times for fighting’ in the month before treatment started to a solid year and a half without discipline problems, better ability to do his schoolwork, etc.
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a life without proper pasta isn’t worth living
The truest words spoken today, and I say that as someone who hardly ever gets proper pasta.
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The timing of all this in the media is funny for us, because we took Damian off gluten nearly two weeks ago and removed dairy on Sunday. The dark circles under his eyes (which he’s had for YEARS) have been visibly fading. I’m seeing some surprising changes in behavior, affect, and processing ability, and he describes changes he feels that match what I’m seeing. Interestingly, he’s feeling some clear withdrawal symptoms (as am I).
I hate the way Jenny McCarthy touts the GFCF diet as a cure, and I’ve always been suspicious about DAN! doctors and their intense focus on alternative biomed interventions above all else when I’ve seen the difference good sensory integration work, etc. can effect. Nevertheless, I’m starting to think that everyone with ADHD or autism should at least give this dietary intervention a trial run for a few months. Just to see if it is a factor, because it truly might be.
As I said to another friend a few days ago, I believe that the human body in its healthy state can largely digest wheat. Though it does cause some inflammation, we can handle it. But we’re assaulted by toxins on so many fronts — everything from carpeting to clothing to shampoo to shower curtains to the freaking water we drink, not to mention the prevalence of highly processed simple carbs in our diet, or the toxic load that non-organic, non-free-range animals pass on to us — that our bodies are already inflamed and struggling. Thus the prevalence of food intolerance, especially for gluten, dairy, soy, and corn.
BTW, Bionature GF pasta isn’t half bad. And the GF bread I made a few days ago is truly tasty, with a lovely crust and crumb. (I’m still surprised by that!)
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Dr. Frank sounds a bit like the modern sequel to Sylvester Graham.
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“I’m just having trouble thinking the recent spike in interest is all celiac disease.”
1. I don’t know about celiac specifically, but a lot of people believe that they have food allergies that they do not actually have.
“Surveys have found that as many as 30 percent of respondents believe they have a food allergy of some kind; the actual prevalence is 4 to 8 percent for kids and 1 to 2 percent for adults.”
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2455/are-peanut-allergies-for-real
2. On the other hand (and here I’m making a dangerous appeal to the literary record), when reading 19th century sources (fiction and also probably non-fiction), you do run into a lot of characters or real people who are chronically ill for no obvious reason. Wan, sickly children are ubiquitous in books of a certain era. While it could be hypochondria both then and now, celiac might explain some of the cases.
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I doubt most of it is hypochondria. People mostly eat crap. At least I do. Almost any restricted diet will be an improvement, so long as you can actually do it.
Back in the day, I think lack of vitamins and minerals, parasites, and disease were more than sufficient to explain most of the sickly children (leaving aside the ones that simply didn’t get enough food).
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As far as I’m concerned they’re all chemicals, and they could all have an effect (the “natural” ones, and the manufactured ones). There is a different between the two, since evolutionary pressure has only operated on the natural food stuffs. But, that’s an argument for ingesting gluten, as well as against eating yellow dye number 5 (in the beautiful lemon drops I just gave my son).
I think giving up pasta or gluten *is* a big deal, just as big a deal as deciding to take Ritalin. I guess if you live in a country where the main starch is rice, and your diet generally consists of rice/vegetables/meat, it might not be big deal (or if that’s your cultural bias). But altering your diet substantially to eliminate all the foods you and your family normally eat? That’s a big decision. It has cost, just like using Ritalin may have costs. I’m perfectly comfortable with parents being able to make the decision for each of whether the benefits outweigh the costs. I think people should be applying the same rigorous standards for the benefits they see (I’m a big fan of diaries/videos/other contemporaneous methods of measuring behavior after an intervention).
I do think it would be easier to give up yellow dye #5 than gluten, and might make a stab of at least reducing our dosage of artificial dyes. I think I can eat blah colored lemon drops and am willing to pay more for them, even if I don’t see a noticeable improvement in anyone’s behavior.
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I have a gluten-free lunch/dye-free lunch. French fries.
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And now I’m really sleepy.
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I also have no gluten today. Coffee for breakfast, Trader Joe’s frozen Indian food for lunch. I’m just as foggy as always.
I also think that there’s a middle way approach for most kids (not the celiac kids). Healthy food and exercise keeps their brains working. After my kids go to soccer or swimming practice, they do their homework in half the usual time. Sometimes, I’m make Jonah do three laps around the house before he sits down for homework. So, there are non-drug solutions for minor problems.
But, really, drugs do have a bigger impact. It’s the side effects that are problematic. Just can’t talk about it on the blog.
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But, really, drugs do have a bigger impact.
I’ve never looked specifically at meds for children, but that is certainly true for adults with certain diagnoses.
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I just can’t figure out how the miracle cure of a gluten-free diet is supposed to work. Sure, you can fight cancer without understanding what causes it, but understanding causes makes a huge difference in the effectiveness (just on that part of The Emperor of All Maladies).
The only mechanism that makes sense to me is how nutrition and a general lack of pain affects behavior and cognition–and I can attest to that, as how fixing my spine problem made a huge difference to what I could do in terms of concentration, etc.–but that still stops way short of the miracle cures the rabid advocates assert. I’m just perplexed.
(And knee-jerk against anyone who goes on too loudly about Natural and health. People like that remind me of why I was a outspoken member of People for the Eating of Tasty Animals in college.)
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Orthodox Jews eat neither ham nor shellfish. Millions of people around the world are vegetarians. We seem to be omnivores, and we’ve done well enough on various diets.
If the people who adopt gluten-free diets feel they benefit from the change, I’m not inclined to debate the point with them, just as I wouldn’t debate the virtues of mixing meat and dairy with a Jew who keeps kosher.
A friend removed wheat, corn and eggs from her daughter’s diet, when the girl wasn’t gaining weight, primarily due to vomiting. Over time, her daughter grew out of many of her sensitivities. It’s an enormous amount of work to avoid common food ingredients. It’s not something anyone would volunteer to take on, unless the advantages outweighed the benefits. Interestingly, both sides of the daughter’s family tree had relatives who did suffer from celiac sprue, although as far as I know, she did not test positive for it.
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“We seem to be omnivores, and we’ve done well enough on various diets.”
It may wind up being the case that different ethnic groups have very different results on different diets. We already know that lactose intolerance, ability to deal with alcohol, and susceptibility to diabetes have an ethnic dimension. There may be a lot more to discover in this area. For instance, white rice is nutritionally dreadful, and yet East Asians seem to get away with eating large quantities of it and have excellent longevity. How do they do it? Likewise, the traditional Inuit diet essentially reverses the federal food pyramid, at least with regard to carbohydrates and meats. It may be that there have been developments in metabolism in different ethnic groups that mean that diet will have to be more closely tailored to individual need, rather than a one-size fits all approach.
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I feel torn on this issue. I am, by nature, pretty anti-medication. But I have been working as a special ed assistant for 1st and 2nd grade students with emotional, social and behavioral issues since January and I can understand the appeal of medication on the part of teachers. The job is nearly impossible without medication if the students are to be mainstreamed for any part of the school day. I definitely notice when one of my students forgets to take his/her meds. I work mainly with two 2nd grade students (very different needs) and I cannot imagine a day when both miss their meds. The job is incredibly stressful with the students medicated most of the time. Since January I’ve had a student hit his head repeatedly on a desk and say he wanted to die, another tell me he hates me, another tell me she wanted me dead and another pat me on the butt and pull down his pants. All in a day’s work and I love all these kids dearly, but I would not last a week in this job if the students were all med-free.
On the other hand, as a mom, I would be one of those pain-in the-ass parents who would try everything else first and really resist the pressure to medicate. I think for some kids (not all) more exercise and a less crappy diet might go a long way. The results might not be immediate (it might take time to detox), but why not give it a go? Not sure if gluten free is the way to go, but I certainly think removing artificial dyes and from the diet might make a difference, if only in terms of overall health. The question is how long are you willing, as a parent, to try alternative therapies? Over time, if they do not make a difference, the school will pressure you to medicate your kid.
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I don’t know a whole lot about these particular disorders. I do know for myself I react to some things in food and I avoid really strongly dyed food; I get headaches.
I did want to muse though that whenever my family has made a big dietary change, it’s temporarily made us very mindful of nutrition. I think it’s because we get knocked out of our bad food habits at least for a bit.
I know I saw benefits in concentration and energy even on Weight Watchers, when I ate *more* processed food from time to time to get my one little WW-brand chocolate cake piece in – but I was also taking more care to pack snacks and eat regularly and things like that.
So I wonder a bit if as you eliminate something as common as gluten, it’s more that what you substitute in has whatever benefits impact on these things.
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Like JennG wonders, it may be other factors that go along with eliminating gluten that result in the benefits. Similar to that study that shows positive academic/behavioural outcomes for kids of families who eat more meals together. Perhaps it’s not just the meals but the executive functioning/commitment to do the meals that has the impact.
Are some kids overmedicated? Probably. Could we all benefit from at least minimizing processed foods from our diets plus increasing our level of activity? Definitely.
And I do know that not having a kid with issues severe enough to consider medication, that I cannot judge those who go there.
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