The Connection Between ADD and Diet

It has long been known that consumption of certain foods and beverages can have a noticeable and particularly bad effect on ADD children, causing severe problems. These children, for example, often become extremely hyperactive after having coloured cordials or fruit syrup drinks, hot dogs, various junk foods and cola drinks. ADD, ADHD and related conditions are ones for which conventional medicine offers mainly drug treatments; stimulants which suppress symptoms but do not remove causes and which may have undesirable side effects. Other management techniques on offer - such as psychological intervention, educational and behavioural management techniques - commonly do not produce the desired results. Hertha Hafer's research explains why this is so.

Hafer has been studying the dietary connection to ADD/ADHD for twenty and more years. While it has long been known that some foods can make symptoms worse, why was not known. Hafer's genius lies in her close analytical investigation of the ingredients of the foods we consume, which led her to the discovery that there is a common component in the foods which affect ADD children.

That component is phosphate. This major discovery led Hertha to write down her findings and publish them in her book The Hidden Drug - Dietary Phosphate (Cause of Behaviour Problems, Learning Difficulties and Juvenile Delinquency).

It is well known that from the time of Feingold onwards there has been much research into the connection between ADD/ADHD and certain foods. Some studies have suggested remarkable results for a certain diet; others have proved inconclusive. Generally the results obtained from attempts at dietary management of ADD/ADHD have been so muddled and conflicting that many have understandably given up on this approach in despair.

Why then would the Hafer-diet work wonders where other diets have failed to produce consistent results?

Hafer argues that because the problem constituent - phosphates - which trigger ADD symptoms in children was not recognized in earlier studies. Many experimental diets eliminated some of the sources of excess phosphate but permitted other problem foods to continue to be consumed. Thus it comes as no surprise that such diets and experiments yielded very variable and conflicting results. Hafer's approach lies in her identification of the rogue constituent in modern, processed diets. Her claim is that a reduced phosphate diet does yield consistent results. The experience of thousands of families in Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe provides very strong support for her claim.

Phosphate is a very common ingredient in our modern diet of processed foods. It is a highly versatile food-additive which is of great interest to food manufacturers. It is used in the preservatives, emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickeners, it is added to the flour aerators in self-raising flours, it is put into soda and cola drinks in the form of phosphoric acid and so on. One German factory produces twenty to twenty-five tons of this versatile substance a day, which naturally finds its way into innumerable convenience foods.

There are also a number of natural foods that have elevated phosphate levels. These natural foods are designed to nourish fast growing animals and plants. Whilst they do not present as big a problem as the manufactured foods, we nevertheless need to be aware of their presence.

It is important to note in this context that ADD is not a condition with a long history, unlike a wide range of other health problems which have been recorded regularly for hundreds or thousands of years. It is not reported today in countries where people continue to eat a traditional diet of unprocessed foods. But in countries in which there has been progressively a big shift to processed and convenience foods during the last century and in which natural foods high in phosphate have become available throughout the year, ADD has become a major problem.

These two developments have proceeded in parallel: the greater the intake of processed, convenience phosphate-rich food, the higher the incidence of ADD. This alone does not prove a cause and effect connection between these two developments but it does suggest the possibility of a relationship between them which deserves to be investigated.

It is also important to be aware that phosphorus/phosphate is a mineral, an essential nutrient, which is vital for many life processes in our bodies. Traditional, pre-industrial diets provided the exact quantities needed for the correct functioning of the human organism. Modern diets provide very much more than the amount needed. Because we need this element for healthy development and because it is such a useful and versatile additive, food chemists and food manufacturers have probably assumed that it is a totally harmless and beneficial substance in the human diet. We all know the saying "you can't get too much of a good thing".

The Hafer-diet is not a phosphate-free diet. To eliminate the phosphates completely from our diet would ultimately be dangerous, because the body cannot function properly without this essential mineral. There are, however, few if any known records of health problems caused by insufficient phosphorus in the diet, mainly because this mineral is found in a wide range of foods. The phosphates exist in abundance.

According to Hafer, if we remove the excess phosphates from our diets, ADD children will benefit enormously. She therefore proposes a phosphate-reduced diet, which actually is a 'normal-phosphate' diet. The World Health Organisation recommends that an acceptable daily intake of phosphorus is 70 mg/kg body weight. The aim is not to exceed this acceptable daily intake.

One German study revealed that people were on average consuming between two and three times the recommended maximum amount. Not everyone's metabolism is identical, so it is possible that the precise amount which is optimal to our bodies varies from individual to individual.

In essence, Hafer's research shows that there are some people who have sensitivities to the high intake of phosphate minerals. The result is an upset in the delicate mineral balance, leading to other mineral deficiencies affecting the nervous system and resulting in all the symptoms, which are typical of the problem behaviour of the ADD child. Other people do not have this sensitivity and can consume relatively high amounts of phosphate in their diet without observable adverse effects. The tendency to the sensitivity is hereditary; for this reason it is strongly recommended that in families with an ADD child the whole family should go onto the phosphate-reduced diet, since it is highly probable that other family members will also benefit.


ADD and Related Conditions

Our human body consists of millions of highly specialised cells, which need a controlled environment to enable them to carry out their life processes. Minerals control the chemical equilibrium needed for cells. Mineral imbalance and mineral defiencies caused by excess phosphate intake affects the entire metabolism, resulting in a myriad of other conditions: asthma, hay fever, allergic eczema, migraine headaches, gastro-intestinal disorders, osteoporosis and possibly autism.

Hafer also strongly suspects as a result of her observations and years of experience in scientific research that it is very probable that there is a link between phosphate sensitivity and a range of other afflictions of modern society. These include: alcoholism and more serious drug addictions, depression, juvenile delinquency, adult criminality and accidental deaths (e.g. the high incidence of deaths of young males in road accidents) and the epidemic of teenage and young adult suicides.

Hafer has provided a diet-based management therapy which helps most affected children to some extent, many benefit enormously. Change can be achieved in very many cases without recourse to medication; it can be achieved by any family without significant expense.

Although research in these areas has been slow to proceed, Hafer's theories are gradually appearing more and more convincing in the light of recent studies. For examples, read the articles published on the Supportive Evidence link. Hafer's own investigations have uncovered considerable amounts of evidence which do point in these directions and there is an urgent need for more specific research to be done. The potential implications for the health of our society and the reduction of the burden of human suffering are enormous.

The research suggests that there is no cure for phosphate sensitivity. There no way of de-sensitising a child to an excessive intake of phosphorus. For a child, or an adult for that matter, who is afflicted with this sensitivity and is found to benefit from the diet proposed, this diet may need to become a lifelong habit. Any consumption of 'danger' foods will cause an immediate relapse and it may take three to four days for the body to eliminate the 'poison' from its system.

However, the good news is that the diet is not unduly restrictive; it is a very basic, healthy diet; children who benefit from it experience such positive changes in their own sense of well-being that they soon become only too happy to comply with it and - since what we eat is what we come more and more to like to eat - following the diet soon becomes a way of life. In some ways a comparison with diabetes is an apt one. A diabetic has a condition which is irreversible and which requires dietary modification for life. The management of phosphate sensitivity requires a parallel approach.

Our introduction to the low-phosphate diet on our recipe pages will help you gain a better understanding of the issue and help you get started with the diet.
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