American Academy of Pediatrics Changes Stance on Diet For ADHD

American Academy of Pediatrics Changes Stance on Diet For ADHD

Early this year the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a report supporting the use of preservative-free, food coloring-free diets as an intervention for many children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This comes after decades of skepticism and even hostility to the idea that food additives could play a role in behavior disorders.

The report was published in the AAP Grand Rounds and came after the landmark conclusions from a study published by Jim Stevenson, Donnna McCann and colleagues which appeared in The Lancet. We previously reported on this study, but as a refresher, it was a large scale study that concluded additives caused symptoms of hyperactivity in both young and older children. Interestingly these symptoms not only occurred in those diagnosed with ADHD but also in those with no significant behavior problems.

Editors of the AAP’s article note that the study in The Lancet “was a carefully conducted study in which the investigators went to great lengths to eliminate bias and to rigorously measure outcomes.” They conclude, “[T]he overall findings of the study are clear and require that even we skeptics, who have long doubted parental claims of the effects of various foods on the behavior of their children, admit we might have been wrong.”

It is wonderful to see such an organization honor good scientific work despite years of rejection. Now it is up to us to demand our pediatricians accept this information and reject psychotropic drugs as first line therapies. Hopefully soon they will recognize other dietary interventions for other disease processes, autism being one example!

References:

“ADHD and food additives revisited,” AAP Grand Rounds, February 2008, online publications. Full article is available at http://aapgrandrounds.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/19/2/17.