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Artificial Food Additives Linked to Aggressive Behavior in Children

By Summer Minor; April 8th 2007
AC - Associated Content

In Australia a school in New South Wales went additive free for two weeks. The school provided breakfast for the children made from foods free of any additives, and sent home booklets for the parents suggesting foods that they could serve at home free from additives. The results were amazing. The children began more co-operative, days became more harmonious, and disturbances became a thing of the past.

Principal Andrew Bennett said that the changes became obvious in three or four days.

The average American eats 2.4kg of additives each year. Processed foods are full of additives, preservatives, and dyes. Even foods that we think of as healthy such as breads and dried fruits can be to blame.

A new Nutrition Australia report notes children in daycare who eat highly processed food are more likely to injure others in the playground, according to the staff who care for them. Nutrition Australia spokeswoman Aloysa Hourigan stated "Staff identified that children with poorer food choices ... were more likely to be the children who were impulsive and display behaviours which could cause injury to other children,"

In 2004 the University of California conducted a study that found that a lack of zinc, iron, vitamin B, and protein in the first three years of a child's life was linked to negative behavior later on. Children who were fed poorly were found to be more likely to fight, take drugs, and bully others.

Pediatrician Heidi Webster said food intolerances might exacerbate the behaviour of some children with attention deficit disorders and autism. "Trialling the efficacy of dietary change can ... improve the quality of life for the children that suffer with ADHD and autism," Ms Webster said.

Many studies have been done that indicate diet may be a factor in childhood behavior. A double blind, placebo-controlled study of children with ADHD who also had signs of allergy was published in Annals of Allergy in May, 1994. The study showed that 73% responded favorably to treatment with a multiple-item elimination diet. A study on the Effect of nutritional supplements on attentional-deficit hyperactivity disorder published in the 1998 January-March volume of the Integr Physiol Behav Sci found that symptoms of ADHD were reduced by a change in diet. In the September 1999 issue of Pharmacological Research a report on Health benefits of docosahexaenoic acid. found that a deficiency in DHA was associated with ADHD and aggressive hostility. DHA is commonly found in fatty fish and in breastmilk.

As more people begin to look at their diets and at the additives in their food new research is being done on the effects that these chemicals could be having on our health.