I just saw this new press release from the Feingold Association, an organization I support and highly recommend. With their permission, I am sharing it with you. Please do share this with your friends, family and others who are in the Maryland and surrounding areas. Thanks! Love, Lisa
Seminar: Avoid Additives Linked to ADHD and
Autism
A free seminar about
dietary options for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autistic
spectrum disorders (ASD), and other learning/behavior problems will be held by
the nonprofit
Feingold Association (www.ADHDdiet.org)
on June 25th from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. This event will take
place at the Marriott SpringHill Suites at 899 Elkridge Landing Road in
Linthicum, Maryland (near BWI). Reservations are
not required.
This seminar will introduce
guests to the low-additive Feingold Diet, which eliminates petroleum-based food
dyes, artificial flavors, and certain preservatives that have been shown by
scientific studies to cause hyperactivity, impulsivity, short attention spans,
and other problems.
These studies, which
include two British trials from the University of Southampton and a
Harvard/Columbia University meta-analysis of 23 controlled studies, have
inspired efforts to ban synthetic food dyes at both the Maryland state and
national levels.
In February, the Maryland
Senate debated whether to ban six synthetic food dyes, including Red 40 and
Yellow 5, because of their link with learning and behavior problems. One Senate bill proposed banning the use
of these dyes in all foods sold or served in Maryland, and another bill proposed
that the state’s public schools and child care centers not be allowed to sell or
serve foods containing these additives.
While the bills did not pass this year, the hearings increased public
awareness of this issue.
Last summer, nineteen
prominent psychiatrists, toxicologists, and pediatricians submitted a letter to
the United States Congress urging members to hold hearings and to introduce
legislation to end the use of synthetic food dyes that have negative effects on
children’s behavior.
"The
first hints that food ingredients could impair children's behavior came in the
mid-1970s, when the late Dr. Ben Feingold publicized his clinical findings,”
they wrote. “Many of the studies
done over the years, in the U.S. and abroad, have confirmed that some children
are adversely affected by foods, with food dyes being the ingredients most
intensively studied."
The
Center for Science in the Public Interest, with the support of the Feingold
Association, also
called on the Food and Drug Administration to ban eight synthetic food dyes and
to require warning labels on all foods containing these dyes in the
meantime.
In
addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledged in its journal,
AAP
Grand Rounds,
that "a
trial of a preservative-free, food coloring-free diet is a reasonable
intervention" for hyperactive
children.
This
issue has also gained international momentum. In June 2008, the
European Parliament agreed to require labels on foods containing six synthetic
dyes to warn that they “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in
children.” (Food manufacturers were given eighteen months to comply.)
What's more, the
British Food Standards Agency has asked food companies in the United Kingdom to
stop using these food dyes by the end of 2009 on a voluntary basis.
According
to the Feingold Association, synthetic food additives have also been linked with
dyslexia, speech difficulties, seizures, tics, and nightmares, as well as
allergic reactions such as asthma and hives.
The Feingold
Association (www.ADHDdiet.org) helps
families of children with learning/behavior problems to implement the
low-additive Feingold Diet. The charity
publishes a
handbook
on the Feingold Diet, the Pure Facts
Newsletter, a Fast Food & Restaurant Guide,
a Foodlist & Shopping Guide, and a Mail Order
Guide.
Its advisory board
and board of directors include medical professionals from Johns Hopkins
University, the University of Rochester, Stony Brook University, Baltimore's
Sinai Hospital, and other
institutions.
Individual
dietary needs vary and no one diet will meet everyone's daily
requirements. Before starting any new diet, check with your doctor or
nutritionist.
References
Food
additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in
the community: a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled
trial.
D
McCann et al., Lancet 2007 Nov
3;370(9598):1560-7
The effects of a double blind placebo
controlled artificial food colorings and benzoate preservatives challenge on
hyperactivity in a general population sample of pre-school
children. B.J. Bateman, J.O. Warner, E.
Hutchinson, T. Dean, P. Rowlandson, C. Gant, J. Grundy, C. Fitzgerald and J.
Stevenson, Archives of Disease in Childhood 89: 506-511, June
2004
Do
artificial food colors promote hyperactivity in children with hyperactive
syndromes? A
meta-analysis of double-blind placebo-controlled
trials. DW Schab et al., Journal of
Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 25(6):423-434, Dec 2004
Contact: Susan Guzo, (703) 841-0085, SusanGuzo@GuzoPR.com
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