The Feingold Program

Written by Anthony Kane, MD


The Feingold Program

by Anthony Kane, MD

Before We Proceed

We are about to discuss what is officially labeled as an alternative medicine treatment for ADHD.

You should understand that a synonym for “alternative” is controversial. The officially orthodox medical community does not sanction what we will be discussing. If this gives you goose bumps you had better stop reading now.

If not we can proceed.

Feingold and Food Dyes

Historically, Dr. Benjamin Feingold, wasrepparttar first person to promoterepparttar 115080 idea that dietary items might be responsible for causing ADHD. Feingold focused on food additives, which are essentially anything that nature did not put in your food. Each American consumes 8 to 10 pounds of food additives every year. Feingold also implicated some natural chemicals, such as naturally occurring salicylates.

Feingold maintained that salicylates, artificial colors, and artificial flavorings were responsible for 40 to 50 percent ofrepparttar 115081 hyperactivity found in children. He claimed thatrepparttar 115082 most effective form of treatment for hyperactivity was to prepare and serve children foods that were free of these substances. His ideas received tremendous media attention and Feingold Associations, comprised primarily of parents, developed in almost every state.

The Anti Feingold Position

Initially,repparttar 115083 medical community took Feingold very seriously. His idea was so popular, that it was impossible to ignore. However, after some investigationrepparttar 115084 final verdict was that Feingold was wrong.

The most vocal opposition of Feingold came fromrepparttar 115085 Nutrition Foundation.

In 1980, an expert review team assembled byrepparttar 115086 Nutrition Foundation concluded:

“Based on seven studies involving approximately 190 children, there have been no instances of consistent, dramatic deterioration in behavior in hyperactive children challenged, under double-blind conditions, with artificial food colorings. . . . There are three . . . exceptions to these generally negative conclusions; but, in all three cases,repparttar 115087 deterioration is reported byrepparttar 115088 mother with no other objective, confirming evidence available. . . . Withoutrepparttar 115089 confirming evidence of objective tests and/or outside observers, even these exceptions cannot be considered as definite evidence that there may be an occasional, genetically determined, sensitivity to food colorings. Though one cannot prove that no such children will be found, sufficient numbers of highly selected children have been studied to feel confident that such specific sensitivity, if found,will be rare."

These negative findings stand in sharp contrast torepparttar 115090 32-60 percent of children reported by Dr. Feingold and others to improve dramatically when additives were eliminated from their diets.

Nevertheless, in 1980repparttar 115091 Nutrition Foundation, a well-respected group of scientists dedicated torepparttar 115092 furthering of better health through proper nutrition, strongly rejected Feingold’s hypothesis and concluded thatrepparttar 115093 additives used byrepparttar 115094 food industry are perfectly safe. Just so you should know,repparttar 115095 Nutrition Foundation was established and funded by Coca Cola,repparttar 115096 Life Saver Company, and a number of other food industry giants.

The Pro-Feingold Position

The information supporting Feingold is actually much easier to find. You can view most of it yourself by going torepparttar 115097 Feingold Association web site.

I am not going into allrepparttar 115098 studies presented byrepparttar 115099 Feingold Association to prove that Feingold was right. Nor will I discuss here how they explain awayrepparttar 115100 studies showing that Feingold was wrong. I deal with that inrepparttar 115101 program, How to Helprepparttar 115102 Child You Love. However,repparttar 115103 message of all of their studies quoted byrepparttar 115104 Feingold Association web site is that food additives really do affect behavior in certain children. In other words whatrepparttar 115105 Feingold Association is saying is “See, we really do have a reason to exist.” Surprise.

Why Other Children are Rejecting Your ADHD Child

Written by Anthony Kane MD


Why Other Children are Rejecting Your ADHD Child

by Anthony Kane MD

Introduction

Developing healthy peer relationships is critical forrepparttar normal development of a child. Peer relationships have been found to be an important predictor of positive adult adjustment and behavior. Difficulty in finding friends leads to feelings of low self-esteem and these feelings usually continue into adulthood.

Children with poor social skills are at risk for delinquency, academic underachievement, and school drop out. Even thoughrepparttar 115079 inattentiveness, impulsiveness, and restlessness frequently persist into adult life, these problems are of less importance asrepparttar 115080 child gets older. Rather,repparttar 115081 main difficulty ADHD patients encounter as they reach maturity is their inability to interact appropriately with others.

An ADD ADHD child often lacksrepparttar 115082 social skills that are essential to success in life. These children can be socially inept, and their lack of interpersonal skills may cause them a multitude of difficulties. In addition, positive relationships with friends in childhood provide a critical buffer against stress and help to protect against psychological and psychiatric problems. ADHD children lack these positive interactions and thus are at risk for a number of emotional problems.

Probably 60% of ADHD children suffer from peer rejection. ADHD children are less often chosen by peers to be best friends, partners in activities, or seatmates. Asrepparttar 115083 children grow older, their social problems seem to get worse. Their inappropriate behavior leads to further social rejection and exacerbates their inability to relate to others appropriately. Long term these children are more likely to have difficulty finding and maintaining successful careers. This is not surprising since social aptitude can make or break careers and relationships inrepparttar 115084 adult world.

Causes of Poor Peer Relationships

ADHD children are frequently disliked or neglected by their peers. It is difficult to determine allrepparttar 115085 factors that make a child unpopular, but children who frequently display aggressive or negative behavior tend to be rejected by their peers.

Impulsivity and Aggression

ADHD children tend to be more impulsive and aggressive than other children. Teachers observe thatrepparttar 115086 social interactions of ADHD children more often involve fighting and interrupting others. These children are more intense than others and behave inappropriately in social contexts. For example, ADHD children are more likely to yell, run around and talk at unsuitable times. They also tend to want to dominate play, engage in off task behaviors and engage more in teasing and physical jostling of peers. This sets up a process of peer rejection.

Academic Problems

ADHD children often do not do well in school. Poor school performance by itself does not result in social rejection. However,repparttar 115087 wayrepparttar 115088 child responds to his academic difficulties can contribute to inappropriate social behavior. Children who cannot engage themselves with classroom work assignments often disrupt and irritate their peers.

Inattention

ADHD children have difficulty with sustained attention. Deficit in attention seems to be related to peer rejection independently ofrepparttar 115089 aggressive, impulsive, and hyperactive behaviors of ADHD children. These children become bored more easily than other children. As a result, they are more likely to become disruptive inrepparttar 115090 classroom.

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