The number of children diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder (ADD) rose more than 30 percent in the past decade.  This post outlines two commonly overlooked dietary changes that may have a big impact in the rise of attention-deficit disorder this past decade.

The world’s population has continued to rise drastically, which has caused an increased demand for the world’s food.  Farmers have reacted to these demands extremely well by doubling, and in some cases, tripling their yield per acre production.  They accomplished this through the use of synthetic-fertilizers.  Farmers use synthetic fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) to provide artificial nutrients into the soil allowing them to instantly grow more food.  Unfortunately, the land never has time to rest and restore the nutrients that the previous harvest possessed.  By using artificial fertilizer, corps cannot absorb the soil’s nutrients, which lowers the foods nutritional value. To put this in perspective, it would take 25 apples today to equal the same amount of iron that one apple provided around 50 years ago.


Donald Davis compared the nutritional value of 43 common fruits and vegetables over a 50 to 70 year period.  His research concluded that there has been a decline of 5 to 40 percent of vitamins, minerals, and protein in today’s food.  Today, it is widely believed that a normal person cannot gain all the vitamins and nutrients they need from their diet alone. To combat this, you can switch to an organic diet, which lets the soil rest so foods contain their full nutritional value or you can take supplements.  When switching to an organic diet or supplements, it is important to make sure that you properly identify food as organic or you pick a supplement that fully absorbs into your system.  Without proper nutrition, your body is unable to produce enough neurotransmitters, which send signals throughout your body to help it properly regulate itself. 

The connection between ADD and dieting began in the 1970’s when Dr. Benjamin Feingold published Why Your Child is Hyperactive.  Dr. Feingold, a pediatrician and allergist, noticed behavioral changes in his patients when placed on special diets.  As a result, he created his own diet called the Feingold diet which is based on the premise that allergic reactions to certain types of food cause or contribute to ADD/ADHD symptoms.  The primary purpose of the Feingold diet is to avoid additives, dyes, and flavoring which tend to boost ADHD symptoms.  In 9 studies looking at children with ADHD, 8 of these studies noticed a child’s behavior worsening after consuming foods high in additives and behavior improving after beginning an additive-free diet. 
 
Currently, processed foods make up two-thirds of the United States’ total agricultural imports and are the fastest growing sector of U.S agricultural exports.  The rise in processed foods is alarming because these foods contain much higher levels of additives, dyes, and flavoring to help preserve the food and enhance the food’s appearance and taste.  To highlight the impact of processed foods a study, published in the Lancet Medical Journal, followed children between the ages of 4 and 8 that possessed ADHD.  The children were placed on a restrictive diet for weeks that eliminated processed foods.  78 percent of the children saw reduced symptoms of ADHD and two-thirds of the children noticed ADHD symptoms returned after process foods returned to their diet.