ADD and SUGAR

[Jennifer1234]

Today at lunch I overheard a conversation between two ladies sitting behind me. They were discussing various problems with the health industry.



Lady1: "I can’t believe health care these days, all they want to do is pump you full of drugs so the pharmaceutical companies can make money"

Lady2: "I know! Like this whole 'ADD' thing, it's obvious that it's not a real disorder, it's just parents feeding their children too much sugar, and not disciplining them enough. It's all in the diet you know, too many processed foods with Sugar"



I almost laughed out loud when I heard that last comment.



I better stop eating my daily dose of 2 lbs of sugar

[wheresmykeys]

Bullcrap.
Sugar doesn't do anything. Might make you feel a bit wired for a while, but there is no kind of ADHD related effects.
And if it's all sugar, how do you explain inattentive ADD?

So, enjoy that sugar to its fullest!!!

[meadd823]

Originally Posted by wheresmykeys

Bullcrap.

Agreed.

Continueing Education Nursing

Quote***
3. Refined sugar. A more recently popular view is the idea that eating a lot of refined sugar makes children hyperactive. Once again, there are many isolated cases were parents have reported that their child was more active.
Scientific studies, however, have not supported this idea. For example, in several studies children on a low sugar diet have been given drinks that contained either sugar or nutrasweet. Any changes in their activity and/or
attentiveness were then examined by researchers who did not know whether the child had eaten the sugar or not.When the children who were given the sugar were compared to those who were not, no differences in activity level or attentiveness were found (Wolreich et. at., 1994).
***End Quote
~Underlining mine~

[Crazy~Feet]

A healthy diet with limited amounts of sugar is certainly not going to hurt you, but a rotten diet does not cause ADHD. In fact restrictive diets such as the Feingold diet have been proven to














---- do exactly doodly-squat to help ADHD.

[Vhan]

HUH!?

I was put on a restrictive diet...my family had our own little "victory garden" a chicken coop, and lots of deer to hunt, so it was easy to stay on...

is there a article I can read that will tell me more about why the diet doesn't work?

your post made me laughf, the only diffrence I see when I eat shuger is....nothing.

But I do CRAVE! onions, and tomatos sometimes...hehe, last night for dinner I allmost ate half a onion by itself. And Ketchup tastes good on everything!

[Scattered]

I think sugar does make hyperactivity and inattentiveness worse for everybody -- ADDers and non ADDers, but it doesn't create ADD. I like what Dr. Amen (Healing ADD) has to say about it -- he discusses when he gives a lecture to a room full of professionals who just stuffed themselves on doughnuts and pastries it's pretty much useless, because they're so tuned out in an hour or so when their blood sugar crashes they miss a good deal of what he shares unless he is particularly interesting. I don't think the initial jolt of sugar is the problem behavior wise, but the subsequent crash when your body releases a ton of insulin to counterbalance it creates a low blood sugar effect which is not condusive to clear thought for anyone, since the brain doesn't store glucose like the rest of the body and depends on a steady stream from the blood stream.

I think there is a problem sometimes when we ADDers act as if sugar isn't an issue at all. In backlash to those who say it's only sugar, we totally throw out anything else helpful -- like lower sugar diet, exercise, etc. (I refer you to Delivered to Distraction by Hallowell and Ratey for a good discussion of the difference diet and such makes). I quit all sugar and refined foods in high school (which very few people will ever do) and experienced a huge improvement in my grades. I'm sure multiple factors were at play, but diet was certainly one of them. I also see a huge difference in my ADD kids when they've been stuffed with sugar. Studies can be made to say pretty much anything depending on how you tinker with the variables (this from my psychologist who interned at the National Institute of Health doing research -- he said it was very disallusioning). Most parents have noticed the difference lots of sugar makes in their kids, ADD or not.:soapbox:


But no -- it doesn't cause ADD!!! An ADDers will always be inattentive or hyperactive in a low stimulation situation -- sugar or no sugar -- while a non ADDer won't have this problem on a consistent basis. Folks who say otherwise are just plain ignorant in my humble opinion!

Scattered

[Crazy~Feet]

HERE

"While there are single reports of some benefit of a elimination of "toxic" food additives of all kinds of elimination trials more than 10 well-controlled studies have failed to find any benefit of the Feingold Diet. We do not reccomend this approach since the chance of any benefit is low and possible harm for the children cannot be excluded."

HERE

"A report by the National Advisory Commission on Hyperkinesis and Food Additives to the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare agreed that "Feingold's hypothesis was based on clinical findings and not on rigorous clinical trials or experimental research". Furthermore, a series of experiments on the Feingold Diet's effect on hyperactive children produced mixed and inconsistent results. While Feingold's diet has limited success with all hyperactive children, some studies have indicated the diet seems to be more effective with younger children and that further testing of children sensitive to artificial colors show short term effects lasting one hour."

"The Feingold diet has increased a parent's concern about what their child eats and involved the parent more in monitoring their child's diet. I do have some concerns about the Feingold diet because, some of the dietary restrictions may cause a nutritional deficiency. The number of fruits and vegetables eliminated in the Feingold diet may prevent an adequate vitamin C intake. I have no problem with parents omitting artificial food colors and artificial food flavors because I do encourage diets using as few sugar and salted snacks foods as possible. A complete artificial color and flavor-free diet may be too time consuming or too expensive for most families to follow. Also, what about foods hyperactive children eat at schools, friend's or grandparent's houses? I would rather teach a child about a nutritious diet and encourage children to make appropriate food choices."

http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quackery.../feingold.html

"...the potential benefits should be weighed against the potential harm of:

• Teaching children that their behavior and school performance are related to what they eat rather than what they feel
• Undermining their self esteem by implanting notions that they are unhealthy and fragile
• Creating situations in which their eating behavior or fear of chemicals are regarded as peculiar by other children [14]
• Depriving them of the opportunity to receive appropriate professional help (medication, psychotherapy, or both)"

There is more, naturally, these are just the first few I could grab. The problem with Feingold seems to be that it does not provide long-lasting effects, does not provide a properly healthy diet for growing children (or adults for that matter) and that it creates a potential situation for children to be made fun of due to a learned fear of certain foods.

[Vhan]

Thanks crazy, big help.

And another note on the shurger thing, I haven't looked at alot of studies on shurger, but there was one day I was riding hom on the bus, and I started paying attition to the kid who was sitting next to me.

At first I thought he was impared, mentally. He was energetic, his hand gestures were rapid, but sloppy, he was ingoreing anything said to him by the kid sitting next to him,telling him to stop picking through his folder. He didn't seem aware of the kid next to him at all, except a few words while he over looked the binder, none of witch really had good sentence structure.

I thought this kid was clearley severeley ADD, or impared in some way, then he noticed me watching him, and he said "you must think im crazy huh?" in a jokeingley kind of way, then his friend spoke up and said that he had 5 Monster energy drinks, in tha last half hour...

this kid must have been 110lbs...5 energy drinks contain a total of 260g of sugar!
and thats not adding the caffine, or carbs,

Nutrition Facts: serving size 8 fl oz; servings per container 2; calories 100; total carbs 26g; sugars 26g; vitamin c 60mg; riboflavin 1.7mg; niacin 20mg; vitamin b6 2mg; vitamin b12 6mcg; sodium 180mg; taurine 1000mg; panax-ginseng 200mg; energy blend 2500mg

[meadd823]

Okay I guess I should make one clarify statement here is having a NORMAL serving of processed sugar doesn't cause ADD symptoms.

Please note if one drinks gregarious amounts of water in a short period of time they will act drunk. This means the body is reacting to the chemical imbalance caused by the over dose of water it doesn't mean water will make ya a drunk.

The sugar issue here that is the most likely culprit is eating too much refined sugar especially in the absence of any thing nutritional affects the blood sugar.

Eating large amounts of sugar will shoot the body's insulin production to the moon. . . when the sugar is burned up it goes so quickly that the insulin production doesn't have time to adjust so you go from having a higher blood sugar to having a lower one rapidly. . . this will cause behavior changes weather the child has ADD or not.

he discusses when he gives a lecture to a room full of professionals who just stuffed themselves on doughnuts and pastries it's pretty much useless, because they're so tuned out in an hour or so when their blood sugar crashes they miss a good deal of what he shares unless he is particularly interesting. I don't think the initial jolt of sugar is the problem behavior wise, but the subsequent crash when your body releases a ton of insulin to counterbalance it creates a low blood sugar effect which is not conducive to clear thought for anyone, since the brain doesn't store glucose like the rest of the body and depends on a steady stream from the blood stream.

As some one who has hypoglycemia I know firsthand it isn't just how high or low the blood sugar it self that causes mental changes it is how rapidly the change takes place. Eating refined sugar is a lot like setting a news paper on fire it will burn hot and fast but leave no coals when the flames die. Where eating healthy proteins, or complex carbohydrates is more like burning wood, it takes longer to catch on fire but it burns longer and leaves a lot more heat producing coals when the flames are gone.

I also see a huge difference in my ADD kids when they've been stuffed with sugar. Studies can be made to say pretty much anything depending on how you tinker with the variables (this from my psychologist who interned at the National Institute of Health doing research -- he said it was very disallusioning). Most parents have noticed the difference lots of sugar makes in their kids, ADD or not.

Because it will affect every child's blood sugar the same. Hyperactive children tend to have fast metabolisms so they may be affected quicker and the effects may appear more sever because they started out having hyper/impulsive behavior to begin with so the quick changes in blood sugar will be adding the chemical effects of the blood sugar changes in addition to the ADHD. In other words they are getting a double “whammy”

I quit all sugar and refined foods in high school (which very few people will ever do) and experienced a huge improvement in my grades. I'm sure multiple factors were at play, but diet was certainly one of them.

I bet diet had a lot to do with the feeling better. I also Agree improved over all health will increase any ones ability to focus and learn.

I wanted to back up on your point scattered. I understand some eat out of boredom but really why do most people eat? Because we are hungry (duh? I know but stay with me a little longer) we get hungry because our body needs nutrients. . . .When we fill that hunger with empty sugars and junk food we are cheating our body out of nutrients. The filling of the stomach will relieve the hunger but it will not leave any heat producing coals or energy producing nutrients so we increases our chances of being malnourished Not to mention in an hour or so we will be hungry again because our body didn’t get what it needed, it got a lie.


The body will keep this cycle going until it gets what it needs.It will sore the unused calories as fat but it will also send out another hunger signal even though it has all the calories it need but it doesn't have the nutrients it must have to survive.

So what happens is the more we fill up on junk instead of good food the more often we become hungry because we never give the body what it needs so it keeps sending out these hunger signals. . . .ya keep filling it with junk jacking blood sugar up then down like a bloomin roller caser while starving our body so we feel bad. Really who exercises when they feel tried and listless? Even a hyper active ADDer like me doesn’t bounce around when I am tired and listless. Does this help claraify how poor nutrition leads to problems with increased weight? Malnutrition is also listed in medical stuff as a frequent cause of obesity.

Like sleep deprivation will cause ADD like symptom in every one including non-ADDers well malnutrition will do the same thing. By giving up junk food and eating healthy as you describe you quit cheating your body out of the nutrients it was craving when it signaled you to become hungry. Eating healthy food not only decreases the number of times you experience hunger eating healthy will increase mental clarity because the brain has the stuff it needs to work right.

As ADDers the more we eliminate hunger with empty calories the more we increase our chances of becoming nutritionally deficient and over weight.We also make the already present ADD worse because having ADD and mal-nutrition is a "double wammy".

Many of today’s processed food are made of fillers, fats, flat out empty calories . . . . just read the list of ingredience and see how much “real food” some of that stuff contains. The list begins with the largest quantity ingredient and ends with the least ingredient. . . .Like Coke first listing Carbonated water – it has more carbonated water than any thing else it ends with caffeine it has less caffeine than it does any of the other stuff listed. All eat-ables are required by law to have nutritional information in plain site on the label. Even my can of Soda has this information listed on the side of the can. What to get an eye opener??? Read how much (or how little) vit A, B vit, or protein some of this processed meal or cheese stuff has. . . .(or doesn’t)

A healthy diet with limited amounts of sugar is certainly not going to hurt you, but a rotten diet does not cause ADHD. In fact restrictive diets such as the Feingold diet have been proven to do exactly doodly-squat to help ADHD

Another good point.


Eliminating entire food groups the Adkins diet also comes to mind here also will not only prove expensive it can be dangerous. It is NOT a good idea to entirely eliminate any food group EXCEPT JUNK FOOD without consulting a doctor and some one licensed in nutrition especially when we are talking about children.

Hope this helps sort out the facts from the fiction and expalin why poor nutrition doesn't cause ADD but can cause ADD like symptoms and make already present ADD symptoms worse. . . kind of makes me want to runout and get health food. . . . . .reminds me I need to get green tea at the Wal-Mart . Our hotel room has a frig. Hmmm but it is 29 degrees think I will take a night nap first so when I wake up it will be warmer.

Thanks for reading nite folks

[~boots~]

I eat NO sugar...yet look at me..a complete ADHD'er :-)

suger..yuk..I eat good wholesome natural food, yet I am still an ADHD'er...go figure!!

[Vhan]

Yea, a little side note on eating real food, my dad is a zelot on cooking our own meals.
I can tell the diffrence when I eat something that wasnt a powder before water was added.

A diced tomato, or a quick egg goes a LONG way.
The blender is you best friend! (I mean, take anything you find in the frige that you think would taste good togeather, and let the blender do the rest!)

(haveing gum-on-hand also helps!) just a random thought!

[QueensU_girl]

re: Sorta off-topic of ADHD; More about Franken-sugar in our foods

There is some evidence that the sugar we ingest in juice and pop and candy is "different".

The sugar used is this thing called "High Fructose Corn Syrup" (or, HFCS).

http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/annotate/node/132

[Skully]

Those women are probably just pi***d because the cost of their "back pain" and "tooth ache" pills increased! If sugar causes ADHD then eating jalapenos must put hair on the chest of both males and females! For crying out loud!!!! Idiots.

[Crazy~Feet]

Originally Posted by msam76

Those women are probably just pi***d because the cost of their "back pain" and "tooth ache" pills increased! If sugar causes ADHD then eating jalapenos must put hair on the chest of both males and females! For crying out loud!!!! Idiots.

LMAO! I remember being told as a child that all manner of yukky foods would "put hair on my chest" and I am female! My poor brother...and I still refuse to eat lima beans! I make up for it with other legumes that I can stand the texture of, tyvm.

[meadd823]

Annotate = source one quotes.

Originally Posted by Source one

The response from the industry is twofold. Smaller beverage companies like IZZE Sparkling Juice are offering healthier options. That is, they are providing fruit juice as an alternative to sodas (BusinessWire, 14 February 2006). Denial is the other response. The American Beverage Association, the industry’s lobby, maintains that the soft drinks are not the main or significant contributing factor in rising childhood obesity rates.

Soda's ARE NOT the cause of increasing obesity LACK of exercise is! I live with living proof. . . . .my hyper active male partner drinks a lot of soda real soda and he probably has less than 9% body fat!

Why or how?

He is my male ADD hyperactive partner . . . . .he WIGGLES, BOUNCES, and EXERCISES 8, 10, 12 hour a day. It is still calories in calories out / metabolism. Hyperactive people stay thinner as we tend to burn more calories because we can't sit still. . . . Maybe we are a step up in evolution breaking the sit down shut up get fat and die early system.


btw what is NOT mentioned in the initial presentation about type two diabetics. . . . it is genetic. Diet and exercise do help these people control their weight but eliminating the condition is as simple and putting them back into time says about 150 years ago. . . . Where it took all day to secure a meal . . . periods of starvation were a routine event.

Medical science source

It was an easy find along with several others. . . .My ex-husband is a direct descendant of the pimu tribe and he is a type two diabetic. . . . .

If the food supply got cut off tomorrow and stayed cut off type two diabetics would have a gift of survival not a disease. Our society is the disease fructose and obesity are only the symptoms just as being ADHD being considered "disordered" simply because we can’t sit still is a symptom of a dysfunctional society that is screwed to the core.

In a society where over weight is seen to be a major health problem seems like being hyperactive may be a gift after all.

Originally Posted by source one

Fast-food restaurants: $133.7 billion
Medical treatments re obesity: $124.7 billion
Diet books: $1.8 billion
Carbonated beverages: $37 billion
Cookies: $3.9 billion
Potato chips: $6.2 billion.

Hmmm is it me or is every one seeing Fast Food $133.7 billion, carbonated beverages $37 billion, health care 124.7 billion, carbonated beverages 37 billion. . . .Okay I see fast food as the main one profiting second only by heath care. . . . . . .they are the culprit. . . .Why are these people not suing thee fast food people?

I have no doubt that the fructose causes people to keep on a few extra pounds but blaming diabetes and the obesity problem squarely upon the feet of soda companies is “plant food” .

Encourage wiggling and maybe make healthy food alterative affordable for the average family of four, in a form that is easy to store and prepare then we are talking real solutions instead of crap.


~End analysis - half truths are bull fortified fertilizer!~