Attention needed syndrome: ADD/ADHD

Attention needed syndrome: ADD/ADHD

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  Ritalin and other amphetamines used to “treat” ADD/ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) carry substantial side effects, ranging from decreased appetite, dizziness, gastrointestinal problems, headaches, heart problems, insomnia, nervousness, skin rashes and suppressed growth to depressed, lethargic, robotic behavior. Usage for months at a time may result in permanent malfunctions of the child’s brain, and even a smaller brain size as an adult (“Pay Attention” Taste for Life, August 2004 pgs. 34, 35). Especially damaging side effects may be suffered by very young children.
  
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  Diet can play a huge role in ADD/ADHD. ADD/ADHD may in part be responses to allergenic substances. Allergenic foods aggravate these and many other disorders, foods including wheat and all those addictive dairy products. Susceptible children, and probably all people, could well benefit greatly by eliminating possibly allergenic and toxic food additives, preservatives, artificial colors, perfume, antacid tablets, cough drops, throat lozenges and commercial toothpaste. Many toxins and allergens are found in junk food. (Please see “Alleviating allergies”.) Allergic reactions have also been reported to baker’s yeast.
  
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  Aspartame, MSG, soy sauce, “natural” flavorings, and the hydrolyzed vegetable protein or hydrolyzed soy protein found in many meat tenderizers and seasoned salts are considered to act as neurotoxins (Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills By Russell L.Blaylock ISBN 0-929173-25-2), harmful to everyone.
  
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  Children who are unable to sit still may be suffering from an excess of dairy protein and/or wheat protein (gluten). Despite the name, the opioid (morphine-like) peptides in these foods result in such movement.
  
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  Salicylates, substances found in aspirin and ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) can inhibit an enzyme that helps fight many ailments. Salicylates occur in certain foods including margarine, chocolate, luncheon meat, all pork including bacon, salami, mustard, sausage, tea, carbonated drinks, chili sauce, wheat, prunes, cloves, mint, wintergreen, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce (due to wheat), corn, almonds, pickles, raisins, and tomatoes.
  
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  Eliminating refined sugars, even those refined sugars mixed into processed foods, and minimizing or better eliminating addictive chocolate (Breaking the Food Seduction by Neil D. Barnard, MD, ISBN 0-312-31493-0) could relieve symptoms. Instead of refined carbohydrates jerking the body around, the complex carbohydrates found in whole plant foods break down more slowly, providing nourishment in a more even flow over a longer period.
  
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  Although it may take significant effort to redirect the diet from addictive sugary foods and dairy, to the more deeply and fully satisfying whole foods such as veggies and fruits (along with a small amount of nuts and seeds, plus the few supplements mentioned in this book), the reward can be breaking free of the downward spiral of pharmaceuticals with their disabling side effects. (Please see “Pharmaceuticals: better living through chemistry?”)
  
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  Herbal teas such as chamomile can have a calming effect. Lemon balm calms during the day and aids sleep at night. Hawthorne tea supports the heart and nervous system at any age.
  
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  Taking Omega-3s and low-dosage vitamin B complex may ameliorate many mental challenges. (Please see “Outstanding Omegas”.)
  
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  TV viewing and prolonged usage of video and computer games have been correlated with ADD/ADHD.
  
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  For some children, difficulty sitting still and paying attention appears rooted in developmental delays that can be avoided if the young child spends enough time crawling and developing a clear right-to-left identification. Such delays don’t reflect on the child’s intelligence or potential to learn.
  
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  Several relaxation methods are described in the chapter “Centering during crises.”
  

Toxins: buyer be very wary

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  Mercury compounds have been linked to cancer, atherosclerosis, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, diminished immune response, and heart, kidney disorders. Mercury compounds are cumulative, concentrating the poison in fatty tissue. Mercury in the blood of a fetus is 30% higher than in that of the mother.
  
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  Amalgam dental fillings contain 50% mercury, dangerous due to long-term mobility of the mercury. Removal of the fillings also can prove hazardous.
  
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  If mercury-resistant bacteria have infested one’s intestines, they free chelated mercury that gets secreted in the bile fluid. That free mercury can then get reabsorbed into the blood stream. The algin in seaweed can intervene by re-chelating the freed mercury in the intestines. If the mercury has been chelated, then the fecal test for mercury may well be more accurate than the hair or blood analyses.
  
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  Oceanic and farm-raised fish contain mercury compounds. Farm-raised fish get fed meal made from oceanic fish. Even wild fresh water fish and land animals may contain high levels of mercury due to human activities such as coal-burning, which have caused a two to four-fold increase in mercury concentration in air and surface waters since the pre-industrial era, with higher concentrations downstream from coal burning facilities. The mercury contents of many varieties of fish are reported at the site (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.html).
  
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  Since large numbers of fish swim in ponds densely concentrated with their feces, antibiotics get mixed into the water, worsening the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
  
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  Lice flourish in fish farm ponds, requiring large quantities of pesticides. Nevertheless the lice persist, opening the skin of fish, so that more antibiotics get mixed into the water. The lice escape the farms, contaminating wild fish.
  
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  Poison gets used on the nets to keep them clear of algae.
  
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  Pink dye gets added to feed given to farmed salmon, since they don’t get to eat the shrimp that turns wild salmon pink. This dye damages human eyesight by accumulating in the retina.
  
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  No natural source of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) is known, so that industry has thrown nature a curveball that it’s never dealt with before. PCBs are listed by the EPA as carcinogenic. They reduce animal fertility. Since PCBs are slightly volatile and therefore eventually evaporate then return to the surface in precipitation, they’ve been found world-wide in every biological species, in all the waters, and on all the soils sampled. Before production by Monsanto was stopped in 1977, as industrial chemicals PCBs offered characteristics of non-flammability, high heat capacity, chemical stability (they take a very long time to degrade) and electrical insulation. PCBs were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications including electrical, heat transfer and hydraulic fluids, and lubricants. PCBs also were used as plasticizers in paints, plastics and rubber products, in pigments, dyes and carbonless copy paper. About half of all PCBs produced are still in service, mainly in closed systems such as transformers. Due to their lipophilic solubility in fats, PCBs get concentrated in both freshwater and marine organisms, as well as in land animals. However, a major concern is PCBs’ impact on the bottom of the food chain. They can diminish the productivity of phytoplankton, the primary food source directly or indirectly of all sea organisms. Phytoplankton also provide a major source of oxygen in the atmosphere.
  
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  Pesticides: As in the case of mercury, most pesticide residues are lipophilic, which means they accumulate in the fat tissues of animals including humans. Toxins get concentrated more than 10,000 times the original water density as they move up the food chain. Pesticides are either carcinogenic or can cause birth defects, or both. Pesticide levels in animal products such as meat, poultry, fish, milk, cheese and butter greatly exceed levels in conventional fruit and vegetables.
  
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  However, some fruits and vegetables do get sprayed 10 to 15 times. Cereal crops receive an average of eight applications of chemicals between the times when they are planted and eaten. Although animal products are in general worse due to the cumulative toxins, riskier plant foods when conventional (non-organic) are: apples, apricots, bell peppers, celery, cherries, cucumbers, dates, green beans, grapes, lemons, cantaloupe, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, raisins, red raspberries, spinach, squash and worst of all, strawberries. Cleaner conventional foods: asparagus, avocados, bananas, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, corn, figs, garlic, grapes (domestic only), kiwis, mangos, green onions, onions, papaya, pecans, pineapples, peas, watermelon. Broccoli is marginal. (A much more extensive listing of riskier and cleaner foods is available in Conscious Eating by Gabriel Cousens ISBN 1-55643-285-2.) Foods of a similar species may be considered to fit in the same category. For example, spinach as well as most leafy greens are risky when conventional.
  
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  To remove some of the pesticides from conventional produce (non-organic), the skin needs to get washed with soap or peeled, especially if the skin’s covered with wax.
  
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  Any peanuts may contain a toxic mold-carcinogen called aflotoxin.
  
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  Yellow dye 14 used in processed food contains a sunlight-activated pesticide. Farmers use this dye to kill flies on refuse. All conventional foods likely contain toxins, so it’s safer to consume organic. Organic foods offer far more nutritional value than conventional, since they generally contain multiples of the nutrients due to having been grown in richer soil.
  
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  Pesticides get washed into waterways, contaminating farms’ wells and municipal reservoirs.
  
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  If one wants animal sources of beneficial fatty acids, sardines contain the most beneficial fatty acids per total calorie content with smaller percentages of cumulative toxic mercury compounds and other poisons. Sardines eat algae, whereas tuna eat smaller fish. Tuna and other carnivores contain far higher percentages of toxins in their fats, toxins that get filtered from sea water first by algae and plants, then by the fish that eat them, then by the tuna that eat those fish, concentrating the toxins. To avoid cumulative toxic compounds in sardines, beneficial DHA like that found in sardines also can be derived from vat-cultured nutritional micro-algae. DHA is available as a vegan supplement from health stores or in a vegan form freeze-dried for freshness, sold from the site www.DrFuhrman.com.
  
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  Many magazines and Sunday newspaper supplements emit a solvent that may cause allergic reactions, even the National Geographic. The solvent is used to transfer the inks to paper during the printing process. Most of the solvent evaporates from the pages before the magazines leave the printing plant, but some residue is retained. “Fanning” the pages a few times outdoors allows the trace amounts of solvent to evaporate.
  
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  Isinglass is an animal gelatin used to clarify wines and beers.