Nutritional Strategies Include The Feingold Program

“How food affects IQ “A diet high in fats, sugars and processed foods at the age of three is associated with a lower IQ at the age of 8.  A diet, high in fats, sugars, and processed foods in early childhood may lower IQ, while a diet packed full of vitamins and nutrients may do the opposite, suggests research just published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The authors base their findings on participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (also known as Children of the 90s), which tracks the long term health and wellbeing of around 14,000 children born in 1991 and 1992.”

In the special needs population, most follow some version of the Feingold diet and try to feed their child as “clean” as possible.  The Feingold diet is a simple nutritional strategy.

Look for foods approved by the Feingold diet!

Any food product that is approved by the Feingold diet will state so on their website, so just do a Google search and check.  Fish oils which are sold by various companies are approved, but most of us in the US use Nordic Naturals (NN) products for purity reasons.  Mainly NNProEFA and NNProEPA (see more here)

 

• As an allergist, he was familiar with the long-established use of the elimination diet for determining allergenic sources – and in the case of food dyes to recognize that this was an immunological response, not an allergic reaction.
• As an allergist, he had already been using the elimination diet developed by Dr. Lockey at the Mayo Clinic for control of hidden allergens across a wide range of foods or food additives – a diet developed for skin allergy such as urticaria (hives) and aspirin-induced asthma, for both children and adults.
• As a pediatrician since the 1920’s, he was aware of the historic change in prevalence of disease and behavioral problems in children during the early 1960s (when food dyes, flavorings, and preservatives proliferated on the supermarket shelves).
• As Chief of Allergy at Kaiser Permanente, he had the power to have colleagues search for specific types of patients to observe, and to implement clinical studies.
• With his world-wide scientific contacts, he was in a position to know what advances had been made in other countries, especially new researches on the cross-reactivity of additives and salicylates.
• Having already published peer reviewed scientific papers on personality changes related to the allergic response, and on the way flea venom works [as haptens, which the low-molecular-weight food dyes do, too] – he had the background to put two and two together.
• As a clinician with empathy, he actually listened to his patients even when their reactions did not match any existing textbook descriptions or treatments.

Dr. Feingold’s clinical findings, often called his “hypothesis:”

Hyperactivity can be triggered by synthetic additives – specifically synthetic colors, synthetic flavors and the preservatives BHA, BHT (and later TBHQ) – and also a group of foods containing a natural salicylate radical. This is an immunological – not an allergic – response.

Dr. Feingold’s favorite saying: “Any compound, natural or synthetic, can induce an adverse reaction if the individual has the appropriate genetic profile, i.e., disposition.”

Other memorable statements by Dr. Feingold:

1. “The absence of persistent neurological deficits in the younger child, following control [by diet] of behaviour, and the greater incidence of persistent neurological deficits as the child grows older suggests that the offending chemicals operate slowly over a period of years to induce neurological damage. The degree of damage will vary from child to child, depending upon the genetic profile of the individual, and inherent toxicity of the compound, and the dosage.”
   ~ The Role of Diet in Behaviour
   Ecology of Disease, Vol. 1, Nos. 2/3 pp. 153-165, 1982.
2. “It must be recognized that except for terminology both categories of compounds, medications and food additives, are identical. They are both low molecular weight compounds. In spite of this identity not one of the thousands of compounds introduced into our food supply as additives has ever been subjected to pharmacological studies as required of compounds licensed for use as drugs.”
   ~ Food Additives in Dentistry
   JASPD, February 1977
3. “If a practitioner rejects dietary intervention for hyperkinesis [early name for ADHD] on the basis of a non-specific effect, he/she must in good conscience abandon a large part of the practice of clinical medicine which is empirical.”
   ~ Hyperkinesis and Learning Disabilities Linked to the
   Ingestion of Artificial Food Colors and Flavors
   presented at American Academy of
   Pediatrics, November 8, 1977

    

4. “We have now managed approximately 600 children with the diet. Initially, our successes for control of observed behavior ranged between 30 and 50 percent; however, since we are emphasizing the elimination of BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and BHA (butylated hyroxyanisole), our successes for control of behavior average between 60 to 70 percent of our samples.”
   ~ Dietary Management of Juvenile Delinquency
   International Journal of Offender Therapy
   and Comparative Criminology, Vol.23, No.1. 1979

    

5. “Children with a history suggesting a possible cause for neurologic damage may experience a complete recovery on the diet, while others with a completely negative history may fail to respond, or may show a partial response, such as improved behavior with deficits in coordination, or cognition, or perception. The history cannot always be precise in disclosing neurotoxic factors. . . . In addition, consideration must be given to less overt factors, such as environmental pollutants of air, soil, and water, which serve as neurobehavioral toxicants during gestation or early childhood.”
   ~ Hyperkinesis and Learning Disabilities Linked
   to the Ingestion of Artificial Food Colors and Flavors
   Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol.9, No.9, November 1976.

    

6. At any age the response is impaired in the presence of true neurological damage. . . . Failure to respond to strict implementation of the diet is an indication to look beyond the diet. Depending upon the biological profile, anything in existence, either natural or synthetic, may be a provoking agent.
   ~ The Role of Diet in Behaviour
   Ecology of Disease, Vol. 1, Nos. 2/3 pp. 153-165, 1982.

 

The Feingold Diet

How can a simple diet help so many different problems?

Scientific Papers

The Oxford-Durham Study: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Dietary Supplementation With Fatty Acids

ADHD-Related Symptoms And Fish Oils

“At 3 months after treatment, only 24 children (23.5%) still had CTRS-L scores that placed them in the clinical range for ADHD. Among those receiving active treatment, 7 of the initial 16 no longer fell into this category; in the placebo group, only 1 of 16 improved in this way.” From the Journal Pediatrics

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• The Pediatrician’s Role in Development and Implementation of an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and/or an Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP)
• Information From Our Group To Help Those With Apraxia, Autism, And Other Special Needs