Are you anxious about the end of a school vacation because you dread getting calls about your child acting up in class? If so, you may be interested in learning what schools around the world have discovered -- that children's behavior and concentration often improve when certain food colorings, preservatives and flavorings are removed from their diet.
When Australia’s Palmers Island School provided additive-free breakfasts to students and sent home booklets with suggestions for parents, the children became less aggressive and more cooperative. We found difficult children created much less of a disturbance, said Principal Andrew Bennett, who noticed the changes in a few days. Families also became more harmonious and there was less fighting among siblings.
When the staff at Barnabas School in England conducted a two-week trial banning 27 food additives, they noticed a marked improvement in students behavior and concentration levels. Surveyed parents reported that 30% of their children were better behaved during the trial and 18% felt their children slept better. As a result, the school decided to ban all additives from school meals.
These schools reflect a growing international awareness that certain artificial food additives and foods can trigger aggression, hyperactivity and learning problems in sensitive children.
In the UK, major supermarket chains have begun to phase out artificial colorings and flavorings from store-brand foods and beverages.
If synthetic additives are so bad for British and Australian children, how can they be good for American kids? In fact, these reports are consistent with the positive changes in students' behavior and learning that we have seen at a number of American schools that have reduced additive-laden junk foods.
After Central Alternative HS in Appleton, Wisconsin started an additive-free school lunch program, principal LuAnn Coenen found that instead of the high rate of dropouts, expulsions, drug use and suicides that her school had previously experienced, she was able to report zero in each category in her annual reports to the state. Mary Bruyette, a teacher at the school commented, "I don't have the disruptions in class or the difficulties with student behavior I experienced before we started the food program."
Kim Anderson, principal of Whitefish Central School in Montana, noticed a "tremendous change" in student behavior after additive-filled candy and soda were removed from the cafeteria and vending machines. He found a direct correlation between the amount of pop and candy the students consumed and disruptive behavior, as well as a 75% decline in behavioral concerns since the new food program began. Teachers reported that students were more attentive after lunch, resulting in 10 to 15% additional teaching time.
The link between synthetic food additives and behavior/learning problems was first discovered by the late Benjamin Feingold, M.D., a pediatrician and chief of allergy at San Francisco's Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, and it has since been supported by numerous studies from around the world.
An Australian study by Rowe and Rowe found that 75% of the children with suspected hyperactivity improved on a diet free of artificial food colorings. The researchers noted that the children reacting to the colorings were irritable and restless, and that the younger children's reactions also included constant crying, tantrums ... and severe sleep disturbance, as well as being disruptive, easily distracted and excited, and out of control.
And a landmark trial by Boris and Mandel of Cornell Medical Center reported that 73 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD responded well to a diet eliminating artificial food colors and certain foods.
How to Protect Your Kids
With approximately 10,000 chemicals being added to food these days, how can you help your family avoid the most troublesome additives? Start by choosing low-additive foods at the supermarket.
Always read ingredient labels on processed foods and steer clear of any that list color/number combinations, like Blue 2 or Yellow 5, because these petroleum-based food dyes have been found to trigger learning and behavior problems in sensitive children. Remember that real foods have names like wheat' or corn, not numbers like 'Red 3' -- which can also be used as a pesticide!
Avoid foods containing aspartame or artificial flavorings such as "vanillin" (fake vanilla), as well as the preservatives BHA, BHT, and TBHQ, which can affect children's conduct and ability to concentrate.
Because food manufacturers do not always list these additives on their ingredient labels, the nonprofit Feingold Association publishes Foodlists , which include thousands of brand-name foods that are free of the unwanted additives, as well as a Fast Food and Restaurant Guide to help parents choose low-additive foods during family outings.
Individual dietary needs vary and no one diet will meet everyone's daily requirements. Before starting any diet, check with your doctor or nutritionist.
For more information, visit Feingold.org.
Jane Hersey is the author of Why Can't My Child Behave?