Nutrition and Child Behavior (Part 1)

Have you ever wondered why behavior issues in children have become so prevalent? According to the CDC, 9.4% of U.S. children ages 2-17 have ADHD and 7.4% of U.S. children ages 3-17 have a diagnosed behavior disorder (such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Conduct Disorder). These numbers are alarming and ever growing (and they don't include the many undiagnosed cases). Many from the older generations like to blame a lack of discipline and while that may be a factor, I believe diet is a main culprit.

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Research on food additives began fifty years ago with Dr. Benjamin Feingold. After hypothesizing that artificial flavors and food dyes may be the cause for an increase in ADHD symptoms, Dr. Feingold treated hyperactive children with a diet free of food additives and colors and found improvement in 50% of the children. Many studies have been conducted since to confirm his findings.

There are many additives in food, including but not limited to: artificial colors, artificial and natural flavors, preservatives, and sweeteners. These extra (and usually unnecessary) ingredients can contribute to a wide variety of behavior problems in children such as attention issues, hyperactivity, tantrums, defiance, lack of impulse control, and aggression. Let's look at a few of these additives and some of the research behind their connection to child behavior.

Artificial Food Colors

Red #40, Yellow #5, and Yellow #6 account for the vast majority of synthetic dyes used in our food today. While it's obvious that food dyes are used in brightly colored foods like breakfast cereals, ice cream, and frosting, did you know that most pickle brands on the market contain artificial colors? And you'd never guess that white marshmallows actually contain blue food dye. Watch out for dyes in medications as well. Recently, the California Office of Health Hazard Assessment presented a report showing that the majority of studies ever done on food dyes and behavior show a positive association between food dyes and behavior issues. Due to a study in 2007, Europe began requiring a warning label about potential adverse effects on foods containing artificial colors. This led to the removal of many artificially colored foods from the market because manufacturers didn't want warning labels on their products. Unfortunately, despite sufficient evidence to the contrary, the FDA retains its position that there is no clear relationship between food dyes and behavior in children. And if all of this evidence isn't enough, start listening to the countless anecdotes of parents who have seen first hand the improvements in their children by removing food coloring from their diets.

Now this doesn't mean that your child has to have a boring white birthday cake every year from now on. Natural food dyes can be made from dried vegetable powders; beet root for red, spirulina for blue, and turmeric for yellow. With the three primary colors, you can mix them to make just about any other color you could want and cocoa powder works for brown. Color Kitchen makes convenient packets of each color that you can find here and even sprinkles that you can find here. The ingredients aren't perfect but they are a big step up from the alternative for those rare occasions like birthdays.

Artificial and Natural Flavors

Artificial flavors include any substance intended to provide flavor that is not derived from nature. They are typically proprietary, as the FDA doesn't require disclosure of ingredients as long as they are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). In one study, six different artificial flavors were tested and proved toxic to the animals being studied. Even though natural flavors were originally derived from nature, there's really nothing natural about the amount of processing they go through. The biggest issue with flavorings added to food is the free glutamate content. Everybody has heard of MSG (or monosodium glutamate) but did you know that an ingredient only has to be listed as MSG if 99% of the glutamate is free (or unbound) to the protein. The more processed a product is, the more glutamate is freed. Glutamate is a normally occurring excitatory neurotransmitter that requires balance with GABA, a calming neurotransmitter for proper nervous system function. When glutamate is consumed in excess, it disrupts this balance leading to symptoms like anxiety, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

These added flavors are addictive; their entire purpose is to make you want more of that food (or food-like product). I think you'll find, as I did, that once you get away from processed foods, you'll learn to love the taste of foods in their natural form, with nothing added. Other sources of free glutamate include: anything hydrolyzed, anything "protein", soy sauce, carrageenan, bouillon, barley malt, maltodextrin, seasonings, and many more. For more information on glutamate and excitotoxins, check out this book.

Preservatives

Calcium propionate is a common preservative used in bread and has been shown to cause irritiability, restlessness, inattention, and sleep disturbances in children. Glycerol Monolaurate (GML), an antimicrobial emulsifier, was shown to promote systemic low-grade inflammation and disrupt the gut microbiome. Sulfites have been shown to have a negative affect on the gut and mouth microbiome. Another study showed increased hyperactivity in children given a drink with both sodium benzoate and artificial colors. Unfortunately, many studies combine food additives when testing, making it difficult to determine exactly what additive caused the problem. Eating a whole food diet solves the issue of pinpointing the exact problematic additive.

Sweeteners

Aspartame is one of many artificial sweeteners and has been shown to cause behavioral and cognitive problems such as irritability, anxiety, depression, and learning difficulties. Saccharin and aspartame are both excitotoxins and one study showed that six different artificial sweeteners had a negative effect on microbial health in the digestive system. It's common knowledge that sugar causes hyperactivity, as every parent has seen after a birthday party, followed by a crash with irritability. There is also evidence to show that sugar negatively affects the microbiome. We'll talk more about that next and how gut health affects behavior in children.

While I believe that natural sweeteners are safer than artificial, I still like to avoid purchasing products with the sweetener already added. This gives me full control over amount and quality of a healthy sweetener such as maple syrup or honey.

As you can see, these additives can play a major role in a child's ability to behave. Providing our children with a diet free of colors, flavors, preservatives, and sweeteners is just the beginning, check out Nutrition and Child Behavior (Part 2) for more ways to support your child's health, both mentally and physically.

*this content is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment*