Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADHD, diet, and neurofeedback

We met with a neurofeedback provider on Saturday about our eg/pg ADHD DS6.5. She's a brain injury and brain tumor survivor and was quite adamant about diet being an essential component of NFT and possibly reducing/eliminating some ADHD components. Since our DS was born breech with torticollis and severe plagiocephaly, I got the big picture of what she was saying - despite it being a bit of a shock.

The NFT said that any food that could convert to alcohol (ie. most items in a Western diet) is affecting the brain. Well, I'm guessing that we're all familiar with the effects of alcohol from seeing others or how it affects us. I know Dr. Linda Silverman mentions about eliminating foods for treating ADHD in her book, Upside-Down Brilliance, but I haven't seen many other references to it. I know Thom Hartmann (book - Edison Gene) has suggested that the ADHD gene is a highly adaptive gene that can be traced 40,000 years ago and relates to hunting-gathering, but he never mentions the food and how it affects the brain to the extent this NFT said. I know the Paleo Diet is becoming more well known, though I just heard of it today, but it's not extensive as what the NFT recommended.

So now maybe you're wondering what this NFT recommended. I married a Brit and studied history before I had my son so I immediately made connections to Christopher Columbus and other explorers/discovers, 17th-century English sugar/spice trade, colonization, Native Americans and other indigenous peoples, and the history of food (i.e. New World to Old World), agriculture, and industrialization.

I had a BIG dumping of the cupboards yesterday to go cold turkey today since we've got a eg/pg DS 6.5. It's been interesting to say the least. We're meeting the NFT in a 1 1/2 wks for officially starting NFT.

Here's a list of the NO food:
Dairy (i.e. yogurt, cow's milk, cheese, etc. - breaks down into sugar and is the basis for alcohol)....so anything that converts to alcohol, cane sugar, artificial sweetener, maple syrup, honey, apples (hard cider), peaches, plums, pears (mead), dry fruit, grapes (wine), corn (whisky), potatoes (vodka), rice, oats, wheat, barley, rye, flour, soy

Here's a list of the YES food:
almond milk (unsweetened), citrus fruit, melons, berries, cherries, pineapple, bananas, avocado, olive oil, coconut, nuts, quinoa, fish/seafood, meats, eggs, vegetables (nothing that converts to alcohol), yams, sweet potatoes, and dark chocolate (60% or greater).

While I don't necessarily disagree that she's suggesting a desirable diet, the logic behind the specific suggestions is complete BS.

Here's a list of the NO food:
cheese, etc. - breaks down into sugar

Cheese is essentially carb-free, so only "breaks down into sugar" through gluconeogenesis - and if you're worried about that, then you may as well strike all proteins from your diet.

Here's a list of the YES food:
citrus fruit, melons, berries, cherries, pineapple, bananas

You can ferment all of those things on your tabletop. Heck, orange juice and fresh pineapple ferment just fine in the fridge, and contain detectable alcohol even when they don't taste "hard."

yams, sweet potatoes, and dark chocolate (60% or greater).

Sweet potatoes convert to alcohol, too. (In the lab, at least. In the body, unless you've got a massive Candida overgrowth, there's not that much endogenous ethanol production.)

60% dark chocolate is 37% sugar by weight - 16g of sugar per 43g of chocolate.

Bodies (and brains) are weird things, so it's entirely possible that you'll see positive results from that diet. But not because you're avoiding "foods that could convert to alcohol."

If I were trying that diet with my kid, I would be very, very careful to ensure that she got sufficient calories. It has the potential to be low carb (unless you *really* love quinoa), and low carb is great for hunger-free weight loss - which makes it hard for a kid who eats when hungry to eat enough. Really push the fats - no lean meats, oil on the veggies, etc.

I'm with AlexsMom. I saw your post earlier, and was trying to think of a polite way to say that your therapist is utterly full of it when it comes to diet. Food does not convert to alcohol in the body. It can convert to alcohol outside the body before you consume it, but your YES list is full of sugary items that do it just fine, and your NO list has some items that you couldn't ferment with the resources of a brewery.

The diet may well be beneficial, but the way it was explained screams "QUACK" to me.

I am a firm believer in diet being a part of treatment for ADHD and other issues too. I have seen diet work wonders on my household.

But what you need to do is a proper scientific elimination diet, in australia I would recommend the royal prince alfred hospital elimination diet handbook, figure out what YOUR child can and can't tolerate and only eliminate those foods, and only with the support of a skilled dietician.

The most likely culprits are gluten, dairy and salicylates. But it could be amines, fructose, or various other things.

My eldest is: dairy, gluten free, extremely low salicylate, extremely low fructose and moderate amines. This child is a dramatically different child on her diet.

My middle child: just gluten and dairy free, she can gorge on the rest to no effect. This child lost the least foods and also has the least impact from a mistake, she's my most normal child.

Youngest child: is pretty much every thing free, she has a list of what she CAN eat that is shorter than what she can't... This child possibly has a genetic disorder and we are awaiting gene test results.

My husband is most like #2, I am most like #1. We are ALL much healthier and happier than we were 2 years ago.

For a child with a real problem diet alone is rarely enough.

Personally, living on that YES food diet would kill me right quick.

More generally, I would refer to what Mum3 and Alexsmom said, and to quackwatch.com.

None of what your practitioner said makes any sense.

DeeDee

Dr. Silverman recommended a high protein diet for our son; which he was already doing by his own overexcitiabilities with food

I wonder if your therapist was trying to alter the PH levels or some other blood chemistry. For example: Lemon's are acidic but they become alkaline in the body. Otherwise, I do not see the science behind her theory.

The only diet changes I've seen be recommended to help ADHD, that make sense, are things all kids should be doing anyway - less HFCS, less sugar in general, and more Omega-3's and Fish Oil.

ADHD is an issue of part of the brain developing slower/slightly abnormal. Food does not fix this. Medication does not *fix* this. The individual effected has to learn methods to alter their behavior. That's the only fix. Some find that medicine helps them, some find a better diet and exercise helps them, and some persue neurofeedback.

I really hate to see quackery promoted on these boards. Gluten-free diets are only helpful to people that are sensitive/allergic to gluten. Dairy-free diets are only helpful to people that are sensitive/allergic to dairy. These things have NOTHING TO DO WITH ADHD or any other neurological issue.

I second what epoh said above, as far as I know. I do know (from personal experience, parenting a daughter with severe and multiple allergies), that for a child who has food allergies or sensitivies (particularly a young child), exposure to foods that they are reactive to can lead to behavioral symptoms that *look* like ADHD.



In my research for my dd with food allergies, I've read about quite a few special diets, but haven't ever heard of the diet mentioned above. As other posters mentioned, it didn't seem to make sense to me. OTOH, I don't think that the OP posted with the intention of promoting quackery, rather she posted about what one practioner had recommended for her one child. We can all choose to read or not read the post, and choose to ignore or think about or possibly follow the info on the post depending on how we personally feel about it. I do appreciate that someone takes the time to post about their parenting experiences, because the reality is, my dd who has multiple food allergies is much healthier and happier today than she would ever have been if I hadn't had the chance to be exposed to alternative ideas via other parents posting online. Oddly enough, the ideas that have helped my dd most were quite controversial 10 years ago yet within the past five years her very traditional mainstream allergists have started recommending them to their patients (after previously ridiculing me for simply asking what they thought about them when dd was very young).

polarbear

My son is one of those extreme cases where diet has a huge effect on his ADHD-like symptoms. I have a scientific background (PhD in physics) and I have spent years investigating this. My husband and I would do all kinds of experiments on DS when he was 5 or 6. We would sit him down at the table and have have him write a few sentences. While he was writing, we would give him a trial food to munch on. Within a short period of time (10 minutes or so), his handwriting would change dramatically. Letters would suddenly be printed backwards. The spacing between letters would go haywire. And then he would start babbling at ninety miles an hour. You could just see his brain start to spin wildly. He is now older (12) and can feel and articulate when he has eaten something or been exposed to a chemical (like perfume) that makes him feel extremely jittery and impulsive.

However, I would caution that some of what the NFT says sounds a little short on scientific basis. We have tried many things with our son: Feingold diet, low salicylates, etc. Ultimately we took him to a food allergy specialist about four years ago. He was diagnosed as being allergic to corn, wheat (gluten), eggs, dairy, and soy via skin prick testing and elimination diet. He also seems to be very sensitive to salicylates. It doesn't leave him with a whole lot of variety of foods, but the difference between him on the diet and not is huge! As a side note, he is extremely healthy during the school year, and never misses a day due to colds or the flu. It seems like if his diet was completely out of whack, we would see the results in his ability to fend off germs.

My current philosophy is that there are some kids who have "leaky guts" due to either food allergies/intolerances or an imbalance of good/bad bacteria which leads to an inflamed digestive system. When the digestive system is damaged, food is not broken down correctly and pieces of food (proteins) that are unprocessed get absorbed by the damaged digestive track. There is some research that these proteins can act like opiates on the brain. We are taking the approach of trying to heal his digestive system so that it functions better, with the hope that he will tolerate more foods.

Each kids is so very different. My child sounds a lot like MumofThree's eldest but may not resemble your child at all? It is just a question of whether you see any effects of food on his behavior or attention. You might try reading up on several things before your next meeting so that you can ask pointed questions to the NFT about the proposed diet.

Here is a quick link to a recent article on ABC news that might help:
ADHD From Allergy? Study Shows Benefit From Diet

I see that I cross-posted with Polarbear!

Here is another link that I found that is interesting:

SENG article on Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children