As mentioned in her book, A Disease Called Childhood, in chapter seven entitled “Let Food be Thy Medicine”, Marilyn Wedge claims that though there are some legitimate diagnoses of ADHD that are in need of attention and possibly medication, the food a child is fed may be a large factor of their behavior. She cites John E. Huxsahl from Mayo Clinic uses his article on processed foods to help her claim that food consumption can have a relation to ADHD. I agree with this argument on multiple occasions that I will refer to throughout this essay including personal experience, experiments, and other countries take on additives in food. When he was younger, my brother, Konnor, was going to be diagnosed with multiple behavioral disorders due to his
…show more content…
However, even if there is not enough evidence, some countries like England and others in the United Kingdom, have removed food dyes from their foods with artificial colors based on the behavioral changes in children and adults. They did not only remove food dyes from a lot of popular products, they also removed them from foods because they had a chance of causing cancer in the consumers according to an article entitled “Artificial Food Colors and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Symptoms: Conclusions to Dye for” written by L. Eugene Arnold, Nicholas Lofthouse, and Elizabeth Hurt. Even foods that are traditionally manufactured with food dyes like M&Ms and Skittles in the United States, are made with natural colors in the United Kingdom. If there was not enough evidence of the danger of food dyes and additives in relation to behavioral disorders, then countries in the United Kingdom would not ban food dyes and other additives from foods in their countries.
Not all children diagnosed with ADHD or another hyperactive disorder have issues with additives in their foods. However, it is a good option to try to remove these items from a child’s diet if they show symptoms or are diagnosed with a behavioral disorder as this could be the cause of it and make it an easy fix. If medicating children for ADHD is not necessary, then, by all means, take them off of these additives in their food, it could change these children for the better and help them for the rest of their
However, even if there is not enough evidence, some countries like England and others in the United Kingdom, have removed food dyes from their foods with artificial colors based on the behavioral changes in children and adults. They did not only remove food dyes from a lot of popular products, they also removed them from foods because they had a chance of causing cancer in the consumers according to an article entitled “Artificial Food Colors and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Symptoms: Conclusions to Dye for” written by L. Eugene Arnold, Nicholas Lofthouse, and Elizabeth Hurt. Even foods that are traditionally manufactured with food dyes like M&Ms and Skittles in the United States, are made with natural colors in the United Kingdom. If there was not enough evidence of the danger of food dyes and additives in relation to behavioral disorders, then countries in the United Kingdom would not ban food dyes and other additives from foods in their countries.
Not all children diagnosed with ADHD or another hyperactive disorder have issues with additives in their foods. However, it is a good option to try to remove these items from a child’s diet if they show symptoms or are diagnosed with a behavioral disorder as this could be the cause of it and make it an easy fix. If medicating children for ADHD is not necessary, then, by all means, take them off of these additives in their food, it could change these children for the better and help them for the rest of their