Good diets for ADHD start in the home

Good diets for ADHD start in the home
Diet and ADHD symptoms are linked and research throughout the years has shown this to be the case over and over again. Food is over processed today and much of the value in terms of nutrition is sadly missing by the time it reaches the plate on the table in front of the child. What this means is that the basic building blocks for healthy living for your child are also missing and one of the areas of health where your child will be able to communicate this imbalance is through their behaviour.

When the nervous system is affected, then it produces conditions like ADHD and recent advances in brain scans show this to the case in children who have a diagnosis of ADHD.
Dietary support for ADHD is most effective when it looks at removing certain food additives to which the child may be sensitive. Other people may also be sensitive but show their reaction in different ways for examples headaches etc. Then we look at adding good nutritional supplements and the quality of health supplements vary considerable. At one end of the scale we can look at the cheap end of the vitamin market available from most stores on the High Street. Unfortunately many of these contain the very additives that create problems for children with ADHD in the first place such as artificial sweeteners like Aspartame and colourings which are also know to have a hyperactive reaction with some children.

Nutritional products are best purchased from companies who have a reputation for their quality assurance this means each of their products carry a label on the ingredients which reads ‘minimum standard assay’ which is term that means that every bottle is tested to ensure it contains the right amount of ingredients that do the job. The source of their vitamins should also be food and the food needs to be organic and cold extracted which means the food is not heated to extract the vitamins. If this happens it loses its effectiveness to deliver what is needed. This production method from the cheaper high street brands which are often synthetically made from chemicals in the laboratory.

Take for example Vitamin C, known to support the immune system and protect from colds and flu etc. This can be produced form oranges that are grown in the right conditions, allowed to ripen in the sun and free from pesticides and processed into vitamin tablets shortly after they are picked to preserve the natural goodness. The other choice is to take the chemical vitamin C which is prepared in laboratories by mixing ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbate. You can see why the price of these products varies so much and why taking a programme of the cheaper vitamins will have little effect on your child’s condition.

The whole process of sourcing your food for the family to eat is also important as much of the natural goodness in food is destroyed through modern food processing techniques sourcing high quality food form local producers is extremely important.


ADHD and Diet are not the whole picture for this condition in children but it does fit a few pieces of the jig saw puzzle into place. More information on my research into nutrition please visit my website.