This is a debate that has been ongoing for a while with parents. As a naturopathic doctor, having treated many kids with ADD and ADHD, I would have to say ABSOLUTELY YES … 1 to 6 % of the children suffer from hyperactivity and or attention deficit disorder, and it can quite often continue to manifest into adult life, making life and life experiences for the parents, siblings and the child very difficult. Once you eliminate food coloring and dyes (red dyes to be more specific) that are found in food products, candy, cake mixes, and all sorts of junk food from the child’s diet, you can see an improvement in the child’s behavior and symptoms within days!

Of course, naturopathic medicine also addresses other deficiencies the child may have – such as essential fatty acids and vitamins, is needed. Counselling for the family is quite often suggested as well, to cope with the attention deficit and hyperactive behavior of the child and come up with strategies that may help the family.

With constant ingestion of food dyes and coloring from food products and candies, generally what I  see at our naturopathic clinic  in children in terms of symptoms ranges from aggressive behavior, rebellious behavior, to excitability, hyperactivity and restlessness. Food additives can also quite often cause or contribute to ADD and ADHD (HYPERACTIVITY) symptoms in children. It is thought that food dyes and coloring excite the neurons, creating them to fire uncontrollably just like sugar does, hereby causing the irrational behavior and impulsive behavior seen as mischief or misbehaving, often landing to the child into trouble!

If you know or are a parent of a child who suffers from ADD (ATTENTION DEFICIT) or ADHD (HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER), you can try to simply eliminate food dyes and colorings or products that contain these completely from the diet  for a period of time and see the difference for yourself.

By: Sushma Shah, Toronto Naturopathic Doctor, at the Nature’s Intentions Naturopathic Clinic.