ADHD and Food Allergies

Introduction

There are a number of controversial areas in medicine when it comes to ADHD. Food allergy is certainly one of them.

The classic allergic reaction, which is classified as the type-1 hypersensitivity reaction, can be elicited by food, but this is fairly uncommon. When we discuss food sensitivities in ADHD we are discussing a different, not well-defined, mechanism.

One of the main progenitors of the food allergy/ADHD connection is Dr. Doris Rapp. Dr. Rapp was a pediatric allergist who noticed that many children in her practice had significant physical and behavioral changes when exposed to certain foods. They may have red ear lobes, dark circles under their eyes, or glazed eyes after eating certain foods. These children could have tremendous swings in behavior. They can be calm one minute and wildly hyperactive a few minutes later.

To make it more interesting, children with food allergies usually crave the food that affects them negatively. That means a child who is allergic to peanuts will demand peanut butter and jelly for lunch everyday, and for the rest of the afternoon you have to peel him off of the ceiling.

What is Food Allergy?

The classic allergic reaction operates through a very specific mechanism. The reaction is caused when a specific type of antibody, called IgE, reacts with a specific provoking substance called an allergen. The result of this interaction is an allergic response and the person is deemed allergic to that allergen.

The specific type of antibody involved in classic allergy is called IgE. The proposed antibody mechanism for this type of food allergy does not involve IgE, but a different antibody called IgG. This is significant because standard allergy testing tests only for IgE antibodies. If your child has IgG mediated sensitivity, his allergy test is going to miss it. That means that your child may have a severe allergy to a specific food, but your allergist will tell you he is not allergic to it.

Why the Controversy?

Reason 1: Diagnosis

I said this was a very controversial area of medicine and here is one of the reasons why. Food allergies are very difficult to diagnose. One reason is that the symptoms wax and wane. When a child has a classic allergy, for example to bee stings, then every time a bee stings him, he will have a reaction. Food allergies don�t work that way. There seems to be a threshold that must be exceeded before there are any symptoms. In addition, this threshold seems to vary from day to day. On some days a food will affect the child, and on other days it won�t. Dr. Rapp explains this phenomenon using the analogy of a barrel.

We can view each allergic child as if he has a barrel. As long as the barrel is empty or only partially full, your child will have no problems. Your child won�t become hyperactive until his barrel is overflowing.

Various things will fill your child�s barrel. Let�s say your child is sensitive to chocolate, cats, and peanut butter. Each of these things all can partially fill his barrel. As long as he only has peanut butter or only plays with the cat, his barrel is only partially full. That means that there are no symptoms and that his behavior is fine. Then, one day he has a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, has chocolate ice cream for dessert and plays with the cat all afternoon. These things in combination make his barrel overflow, and by evening he is out of control. Your child has food allergies, but sometimes they affect him and sometimes they don�t.

The barrel can change sizes. If your child has a cold or is upset his barrel gets smaller. It takes less to make it overflow. If he is happy his barrel is bigger. It takes more to make it overflow. If he isn�t eating well and that day he is low on certain nutrients his barrel gets smaller.

Many traditional allergists find this barrel concept ludicrous. It doesn�t fit into the pattern of how other allergies work.

Reason 2: Method of Diagnosis

The next problem is the way in which you test for food allergies. Dr. Rapp describes a technique called provocation-neutralization testing. This method works as follows: Say that a child frequently has headaches after eating eggs. The practitioner will give an intradermal injection of egg extract. If this elicits the child�s headache, then the child tests positive for egg allergy. Other signs of a positive test include an increase in pulse rate of 20 points, a large skin reaction (this indicates a classic IgE reaction), a change in the child�s handwriting, or some other physical or emotional complaint. This last criterion �some other physical or emotional complaint� is problematic. It is too vague. The result is that when studies compared how several physicians evaluated the same group of patients, their results didn�t agree. For each patient if there were twenty different doctors with twenty different sets of findings. None of their diagnoses matched.

Reason 3: The Mechanism

As I mentioned before, the proposed mechanism is an IgG mediated response. Some food allergists diagnose specific food allergies by measuring IgG levels. This runs counter to all of modern allergy practice.

Allergists give allergy shots to treat allergy. The way this works is they give a low level of allergen, which is not enough to elicit an IgE reaction. The dose is slowly increased until eventually the patient can tolerate a significant exposure to the allergen.

This is how it works. The repeated low-level exposure to the allergen induces the body to make a different antibody to the substance. This antibody attaches to the allergen and deactivates it before IgE can cause the allergy reaction. What is this antibody that allergists try to induce to cure their patients of their allergies? You guessed it, IgG. So the very antibody the traditional allergists have been inducing for decades to successfully treat allergies, the food allergy people claim is the antibody guilty of causing allergies.

For a traditional allergist this is nothing short of heresy. IgG has been used for decades to treat allergies successfully. Comes along Rapp and her friends and they claim that IgG causes allergy? This is a little hard for some people to accept.

Just how strongly do allergists reject this idea? I once tried to contact an Israeli physician who was a food allergy specialist to discuss with him provocation-neutralization testing. I called the hospital where he is on staff and asked to speak with him. For some reason the operator instead put me through to the head of the Department of Allergy.

I began discussing with him the theory of food allergies, provocation-neutralization testing and IgG testing. He told me that he was the head of a committee of allergists who were in the process of testifying before the Israeli Knesset to get legislation passed to make IgG testing illegal in Israel.

Can you imagine? You visit a prison in Israel. In one cell there is car thief. In the next cell there is a mass murderer. And in the next cell there is a guy who tested someone for food allergies. Now that�s pretty strong opposition!

Do Food Allergies Really Exist?

The formal medical societies like the AMA claim there is no such thing as food allergies. Rapp and her friends have been screaming for decades that they do exist. So, what is the bottom line? Does it really make sense that what a child eats can affect him so strongly that experts will diagnose him as having ADHD?

We know that the brain is a highly complicated and sensitive organ. We know that many foods have a physiological effect on the body without inducing a classic allergic response. For example, people who are sensitive to monosodium glutamate can have a severe reaction to eating it. The chemicals in red wine affect certain people. We also know that ingesting certain foods alters brain function. Diet has been proven to influence neurotransmitter function. Components of foods can also be used as drugs. For example, tryptophan, tyrosine, and choline have been used in the treatment of sleep disorders, pain, depression, mania, hypertension, shock, or dyskinesias.

The logic of Rapp�s argument is so strong and there is enough circumstantial evidence, that I feel that the question is really the other way around. We know that the brain is intricate and has tremendous metabolic requirements. We know that some people have very strong reactions, including behavioral changes, to certain foods. These things are undisputed. If it turns out that foods do not elicit significant problems in sensitive children, in my opinion, we would need to explain why not!

Are we really seeing an allergy mechanism to food? I prefer to stay out of that debate. Rather than be ostracized by the doctors who specialize in allergy, I feel it is safer to call them food sensitivities. There are no doctors who specialize in sensitivity.

Does Your Child Have Food Sensitivities?

A large number of ADHD children may be having a negative response to food, and this response may be the primary cause of their ADHD. In what type of child should you suspect food allergies?

The following is a list of symptoms that resulted from food allergies in certain

children:

• Hyperactivity

• Changes in mood

• Halitosis

• Sleep disturbances

• Delay in sleep onset

• Migraines

• Other headaches

• Abdominal pain

• Bedwetting

• Tantrums

• Eczema

• Asthma

• Seizures

Research shows that by treating the food allergies all of these symptoms can be relieved.

If you see your child�s symptoms in this list it is possible that food allergies may be contributing to his problem. If your child also has other allergic problems, such as allergy or asthma, then food allergies are almost certainly contributing to his problems.

What Should You Do?

As I wrote in How to Help the Child You Love, there are a number of approaches to diagnosing food allergies. None of them are well substantiated and all of them have difficulties. Yet, many people find that these diagnostic techniques worked for them. Therefore, I�d suggest you could use them provided you have it on good authority that the person administering them has a strong record of success. In my experience, these techniques are more of an art than a science. They really depend upon the talent of the diagnostician.

As I said last time, the best approach to finding food allergies in your child is an elimination diet. It doesn�t really matter which one you choose. I prefer the three thatI outline in How to Help the Child You Love. s

Conclusion

Researchers claim that the percentage of ADHD children whose behavioral symptoms are affected by foods ranges from 60% to 75%. This, however, is probably not an accurate number. Parents who consent to have their children participate in diet studies usually believe they have observed food-induced problems in their children. Therefore, children who participate in these studies are more likely to respond to foods than the general population. The truth is we do not know what percentage of ADHD children will respond to dietary changes, but it seems that the number is significant.

Treating the food sensitivities in ADHD children has a number of advantages over using medication. One major advantage all the current methods of treatment can be used to treat pre-school children. Most clinicians do not use medication on pre-school children. A more significant advantage of treating food allergy is that when it works, it works all day. In contrast, Ritalin wears off in about 4 hours.

All this, of course, is providing that food allergies really do exist.

The main thing to remember is that if you think your child has food allergies, then the biggest mistake you can make is to go to an allergist. They don�t believe in food allergies. And whatever you do, do not go to an allergist and ask to have your child provocation-neutralization tested for food allergies. He is going to laugh at you.

Food allergy is an alternative medicine diagnosis. Still, there are physicians who specialize in diagnosing and treating these sensitivities, but they no longer call themselves allergists. Rapp and her group were so ostracized by the formal allergy societies that they eventually broke off and formed a new field called Environmental Medicine.

Therefore, if you want a physician to treat your child you need to find an Environmental Medicine specialist. They are not so common, but they are around.

As I mentioned before, there are a number of approaches to treating food sensitivities. The one you can do yourself is to use an elimination diet. I devoted a large section of How to Help the Child You Love describing exactly how to use elimination diets to diagnose and treat food sensitivities.

In the final analysis, I feel it is fair to say that many ADHD children have sensitivities to the foods they eat. These sensitivities may exacerbate their ADHD symptoms. I won�t go so far as to say that food allergies cause ADHD. That means that if your ADHD child has severe food sensitivity, treating that sensitivity may not get rid of his ADHD. However, until you treat his food allergy, nothing else you do will really help your child�s ADHD, either.

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5 Steps You Can Take Today to Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is not something to be taken lightly. It is a serious disease the cause of which is unknown. One fact health care professionals do know is that left untreated, high blood pressure over time can lead to serious heart disease and other vascular troubles, even death.

Blood pressure medications come in a wide range of formulas and dosages; each aimed at reducing the pressure going through the blood vessels either as the heart pumps blood or relaxes. Some medications strengthen the blood vessels while others thin the blood in an effort to reduce the strain. Trial and error is usually a doctor�s only course of action when determining which combination of drugs and treatments will benefit a specific patient.

There is however some good news about hypertension! There are steps you can take today that will begin to lower your blood pressure almost immediately. Overtime, the result is a sustained healthy blood pressure reading that supports your blood vessels and heart for years to come.

Start with these 5 easy lifestyle changes. Always consult with your doctor before trying anything new with your health regime, and never go off of any medication without the advice of your doctor. Here is a list that any doctor can approve of:

1. Drink Water. Yes, water is a way to cleanse and refresh every part of the body, even your blood vessels. Drink 8-10 glasses each day to flush out excess salt and toxins that make their way into the blood stream. You can use water to replace some drinks containing caffeine that temporarily raise blood pressure.

2. Stop Smoking. If you are a long time smoker, you know how it affects your breathing. What you may not realize is its impact on your blood pressure. If you can�t quit completely, then cut down. Even a 50% reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked each week can help.

3. Exercise. A cardiovascular workout strengthens the heart. This is important because high blood pressure over time puts added strain on the heart. Just 20 minutes, 3 times per week of a sustained increase in heart rate will aid in lowering blood pressure.

4. Eat Right. If you are eating better and exercising, a nice by-product will be

weight loss. By reducing your weight by 10%, you can significantly lower blood pressure. A diet that includes the freshest fruits and vegetables will support healthy blood pressure. Reduce or eliminate salt intake, and especially beware of �hidden� sodium found abundantly in pre-packaged convenience foods.

5. Relax. Many people have a temporary raise in blood pressure when they are under stress. If you have high blood pressure because of you are over weight or have a family history of hypertension, then stress raises it that much more. Try taking a walk, meditating or listening to relaxing music to take the edge off a stressful day. Make time for decompressing each and every day.

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Turn Fat Into Muscle - Learn How Tweaking the Diet Can Get Rid of Fat

My ethos is this, if you are not getting any results with your diet you drastically need to change something quick. 

From the many years trying to get the look I wanted I overlooked my eating habits, this doesn't mean to say I didn't know what good foods were and ate unhealthily. The opposite was true. The problem I had was that I didn't know how to eat for my body. I ignored the way I responded to the foods I was eating. After a long battle with my fat levels it finally dawned on me that the type of foods and how I was eating them played the major role in acquiring a toned fat free physique. 

You can eat a diet full of mainstream healthy foods and still get fat. This can be down to: 

Food intolerance 

This leads to poor digestion and bloating. Grains, dairy and processed foods to name a few can be responsible for this. 

Too many calories 

Over eating is particularly bad for your fat levels if you eat infrequent meals and the wrong kind of calories. 

Not balancing the ratio between the carbohydrates and protein 

This habit provokes the fat storing mechanism and will keep you piling on the pounds regardless of your energy expenditure. 

Eating nutritionally poor foods 

If you eat processed food your body doesn't get the nutrients from the food you eat therefore you will keep eating until you are satisfied because your body is looking for the nutrients

. 

Eating too soon after a meal 

Not allowing ample time between meals is one way to stress the digestive system, good digestion is essential for fat loss. 

My research took me to a place I would never have dreamed. The wholemeal bread, milk, low fat foods, anything processed, wheat and all the carbohydrates eaten without protein had to stop. These foods were causing havoc with my hormones and contributing to fat storage and poor digestion. 

I didn't change everything overnight because if I am completely honest I was a little sceptical. The information I was researching was new to me, so I decided to change a little at a time and couldn't believe the response that followed. 

I quickly developed more energy, tighter looking skin and a lot less overall body fat. I soon acquired the taste for other foods I hadn't eaten for years and the variety of foods I included in a typical week sharply began to rise. This made me enthusiastic about eating and got rid of any fear I once held about certain foods. 

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Moringa Leaf Powder - The World's Greatest Unknown Supplement

There is no doubt that the pure Moringa Tree leaf is the source of incredible health benefits. It's the ultimate, natural, organic, energy and endurance health supplement. There are plenty of studies that describe these benefits and the pure, powdered, moringa leaf is the most potent part of the plant.

India's ancient tradition of ayurveda medicine sites 300 diseases that are treated with the leaves of the Moringa tree. Gram for gram, Moringa leaves contain:

7 times the vitamin C in oranges

4 times the calcium in milk

4 times the vitamin A in carrots

2 times the protein in milk

3 times the potassium in bananas

Moringa Tree Leaf is organic and absolutely safe. There are no known side effects. It's gentle enough to be given to babies in Africa to overcome malnourishment. It's one of the most secret performance enhancing products taken by athletes today who ingest mega-doses that help them physically and mentally. It's great for people of all ages, especially oldsters who are losing their alertness.

Although there have been references to the Moringa Tree that go back a couple thousand years, and the World Health Organization has been studying and using the plant for the last forty years as a low cost health enhancer in the poorest countries around the world, there is a reason why the moringa leaf is still relatively unknown.

The sale of all forms of vitamins, minerals, and health supplements is a big business. If you were a company selling hundreds of nutritional products, why would you sell one product that could potentially wipe out all your other products! This would be true for the pharmaceutical industry as well. These industries, with huge marketing budgets, would rather the general public remains ignorant about the moringa leaf.

Soothing Moringa helps lower blood pressure and is a sleep aid. Its detoxifying effect may come from Moringa's ability to purify water. Moringa acts as a coagulant attaching itself to harmful material and bacteria. It is believed that this process takes place in the body as well.

The result is long-lasting energy without hyperactivity, a nerve system at rest, a blood system not under pressure, and a gland and hormone system in balance. Here are some of the uses around the world for the fantastic Moringa Leaf: Detoxification - Studies have shown Moringa's ability to remove hazardous materials from water.

Antibiotic - Moringa is used as a topical treatment for minor infections. Its antibiotic property is identified as Pterygospermin, a bacterial and fungicidal compound. Studies have shown an agueous extract made from seeds was equally effective against the skin infecting bacteria Staphylococcus aureus as the antibiotic Neomycin.

Skin Treatment - Moringa has great healing benefits for the skin, curing cuts, scrapes, sores, and rashes as well as cracking and other signs of aging.

Diabetes - An extract from the Moringa leaf has been shown to be effective in lowering blood sugar levels within 3 hours of ingestion, though less effectively than the standard hypoglycemic drug, glibenclamide. The effects increased with larger doses.

The most popular way of using Moringa is as a tea or a spice in cooking. But the most potent way to ingest it is through capsules that are readily available on the internet by searching under "Moringa Tree Leaf Capsules."

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Single Herbs Vs Herbal Combinations

In Ayurveda there are a lot of home remedies which utilize only a single herb. In Ayurvedic medicinal formulations only combinations of different herbs are used. 
There is specific reason for using herbs in combination and not in isolation. Herbs have chemicals and formulations, which can bring strong effects on body. There are however can be undesirable effects for a herb on human body. This undesirable effect is neutralized by the formulation of another herb in the combination. The herbs when used in combination helps body better manage the undesirable effects of another herb. 
A requirement of Ayurvedic medicines is that it should not cause other diseases; or there should not be any side effects for any Ayurvedic medicine. 
Every herb in the combination/formulation plays a curative or pacifying role. It is therefore necessary to opt for herbal combinations instead of depending on single herbs.
Herbs in combination are also yield more results than when taken in isolation. The curative power of a herb can be enhanced by presence of another herb. The effectiveness of a single herb is increased by facilitating better assimilation of the herb. 
An example is piper longum (Indian long pepper), which enhances the power of many herbs used in Ayurvedic formulations. The increased benefits of herbs combination can be attributed to the power of a herb to prepare the body for better assimilation of the beneficial components of the main herb in the formulation. 
Another example is Shilajit (mineral pitch, Asphaltum), which enhances the potential of any medicinal combination. 
It is also necessary to follow the instructions of herbal combinations as different combinations and proportions can have different effects. 
The laboratory experimentation on Ayurvedic medicines must also be based on the herbal combinations and not based on any single component of a herb. Use of herbs or chemicals in isolation is unhealthy to the body. The effect of the whole medicinal combination needs to be studied and documented. 
This may be an alien concept for allopathic medicine, where every single chemical is tested for a specific purpose and is passed on as clinically tested. Side effects of such medicines come to notice only after a lot of people around the world has actually used it for a long time. 

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I Cured my Gout with Herbs - 5 Gout Herbal Remedies

I recently was reading one of the hundreds of e-mails I get in my inbox and the subject said, "I cured my gout with herbs". I was immediately interested in this e-mail because most of my customers find that their diet, beverages, vitamins or lifestyle changes can cure their gout. 

However, this customer chose herbs to cure her gout which I thought was interesting. The e-mail went on to thank me for the Gout Remedy Report she recently purchased and also listed the herbs she experimented with. She found that some herbs worked very well for her but others had no results. Here is what worked for her.

By the end of this article, you will learn 5 herbs that may help you cure your gout at home. 

5 Gout Herbal Remedies 

1. Devil's claw has been shown to reduce levels of uric acid in the body. Experts suggest taking 400 mg of the dried devil's claw extract three times per day until symptoms have stopped. You can find this herb at any health food store. 

2. Garlic has often been called the herbal miracle cure because it can help address all the aspects of the bodily functions and health. Eating 3-5 cloves of garlic daily can greatly increase your overall health and possibly help cure gout. 

3. Hawthorn, like NSAIDs, is filled with anthocyanosides which are anti-inflammatory. In addition, hawthorn also contains flavonoids which have been shown effective in treating gout symptoms. 

4. You should also try to supplement hyssop and juniper which have been shown to neutralize uric acid. As you probably know, uric acid is the cause of gout. 

5. Parsley can act as a natural diuretic which can help your body flush out the uric acid. You can eat fresh parsley or make a tea with both fresh and dried leaves. 

How to Cure Gout in 2 Hours 

Herbal therapy is one way to cure gout naturally. However, there are numerous other ways to cure gout with your diet, vitamins, nutrients and even lifestyle changes. If you would like to know how to cure gout in 2 hours or less, please visit us today. 

After a quick trip to the grocery store, you will be able to cure gout in literally hours.

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Dunkin Donuts Philippines Shares Tips On Enjoying Your Dessert

Desserts are life�s rich blessings. Everybody enjoys it. Persons who indulge in it find a reason to do so, from mundane to even health-related. For weightwatchers, it can be a weekly reward for dropping the excess pounds. For those with sweet tooth, no day is complete without it. For kids, it is a delightful thing that mommy prepares or brings home whenever she goes out to work or visit the supermarket. For foodies, it is about the perfect combination of ingredients and enjoying its enticing flavors. For ordinary folks, it makes every meal special. For whatever reason or purpose, desserts are part of Filipinos� love for food and will always be treated as the next best thing to rice meals. 

Dunkin Donuts Philippines, in keeping up with this sweet tradition gives some tips on how to enjoy your desserts without the guilt, keep your budget in check and even maintain a desirable waistline. 

1. Share it. Desserts are delicious alright but calorie-rich too so sharing is a wise thing to do. For some, a bite is enough to satisfy the craving. If you�re sharing it with your kids though, get a piece for each variety as sometimes they are harder to please than adults. The more colorful it is, the more your kids will enjoy the experience. Donuts are always a good choice as it is appreciated by everyone. You can have the classic Bavarian filled while your kid can have the chocolate filled. You can have half of each. This gesture will not only teach your kids the value of sharing but also make them cherish the times you spend together. If you�re watching your sugar level, sharing makes sure that you don�t compromise your health. It also gives you the opportunity to bond with whoever you choose to share it with, be it your bff, family or sweetheart. 

2. Eat only a small portion. You don�t need to eat a whole cake every time you crave for sweets, a single serving is almost always enough. Combine it with your favorite beverage like freshly brewed coffee or refreshing tea and you�ll get satisfied in no time without packing up the extra calories. 

3. Make it a routine. Choose your favorite day/s and mark that as your �sweet day.� If you limit your sweet indulgence to say, three times a week, you may be as specific as possible. For example: Monday is �donut day.� Wednesday could be �muffin day� and so on. You can change choices every week depending on the occasion and your mood. 

There are many more unique and fun ways to celebrate events in your life no matter how small or big it is. A personal favorite is Dunkin Donuts Philippines because of its wide-ranging choices from its classic favorites like chocolate donuts to its newest additions muffins, brownies and funcakes. If you feel like taking home some goodies to your family, you can easily order munchkins which are appreciated both by kids and adults. It is truly a reliable, affordable and delicious pasalubong ng bayan.

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