Nutrition and ADHD

This afternoon, I listened to a lecture given by Dr. Michael Lyons, director of Functional Medicine. He is both a traditional, as well as an allopathic doctor. One of his primary interests is ADHD and the video I listened to is called "Is Your Child's Brain Starving?" It's quite a long video, 79 minutes, so I'll summarize a few points.

First he points out that the brain requires a great deal of calories and, and minerals to function properly generate neuro-transmitters. In children with suspected ADHD disorder, their brains appear to be suffering from inadequate nutrition, as well as neurotoxins from pesticides contaminating the food supply. The reasons for this "starvation" may be due to the wrong type of diet, "leaky gut" (the child's intestine is not absorbing nutrients) secondly, Dr. Lyon's group found that ADHD children had a higher percentage of intestinal parasites, and lastly, the child may be suffering from some type of food allergy.

As far as the diet is concerned, the American Junk food, high sugar diet are the most likely culprits. The video I have attached here is a short interview by Arnold, who owns a Raw food store with one of his customers who gave up his Ritalin for a raw food diet.

Dr. Lyons describes the lateral prefrontal cortex as being the executive center of the brain and this has also been corroborated by Hajime Mushiake of Tohoku University School of Medicine. If this portion of the brain is underfed, then the child may act chaotically, impulsively. Additionally, Dr.Kiki Chang, of Stanford Univ., an advocate of "preventative" bipolar medication, cites the amygdala as being the area of the brain that is underdeveloped in so-called bipolar children. There's even a new group, BrainMatters, Inc. that will do an MRI and advise you if your child is bipolar or has ADHD.

Even if that is the case, I might ask, what is the treatment? Dr Lyons and Arnold seem to feel that the cure is in the diet. Remember, with any of these medications, there are significant side-effects, like stunted growth and tics. I have also posted Dr. Lyons lecture (remember it's 79 minutes.)

I also wanted to mention another authority Dr. Scott Saunders who also concludes that calcium rich foods, like milk, beans and leafy green vegetables and omega 3 fatty acid oils found in walnuts, flaxseeds, avocados, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds can return your child to a healthy neurological state.