Scientific Studies Linking Diet to ADHD are Often Ignored

by Jane Hersey

Editor "Pure Facts", newsletter of the Feingold Association of the United States, September 199S, Volume 19, Number7

In the June 21, 1995 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) an article by Alan J. Zametkin MD, of the Child Psychiatry Branch of the National Institutes of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health (NIH), attacked the Feingold program. Among the "myths" attacked was the statement that "sugar and food additives cause Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)". He states that many controlled studies have failed to find any substantive link between food additives and ADHD. Dr. Zametkin cited a 1980 report of the National Advisory Committee on Hyperkinesis and Food Additives.

To a reader not well acquainted with the subject, this sounds perfectly reasonable. But there are several problems.

Dr. Feingold is acknowledged to be the first traditional physician to connect food additives and childhood hyperactivity. But Dr. Zametkin did not use any of Dr. Feingold's work or cite it in the bibliography. Also Dr. Feingold did not write that food additives cause hyperactivity, but that certain ones are capable of triggering the symptoms in susceptible individuals.

Many references are cited in Dr. Zametkin's bibliography. Neither the double-blind, placebo controlled studies supporting the diet/behavior connection nor the early studies by the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference were included. The latter concluded that the early studies did not disprove Dr. Feingold's work.

What, then, is the source for Dr. Zametkin's conclusion that the connection between food additives and hyperactivity is a myth_ One is the cited report of the National Advisory Committee on Hyperkinesis and Food Additives. What he omits to say is that this group was created by the Nutrition Foundation, which is a lobby representing the major food, chemical and pharmaceutical companies in the United States. Their job is to protect the interests of their member industries, and they have always seen Dr. Feingold's work as a threat to these interests. The report to which Dr. Zametkin refers is the industry reporting to itself that synthetic food additives are not harmful!

What can you as a parent or professional do when you encounter negative comments about the relationship between diet and behavior_ The Feingold Association often receives calls or letters from members who ask how to deal with someone who states that the Feingold Program has never been scientifically proven. Technically, it's correct to say the Feingold Program has never been scientifically proven, but on a clinical level it has been proven for decades. But it can be noted that the Feingold Program has never been disproved, although many have tried. The DDR and the Feingold Program will be collaborating on a conference in Orlando, Florida in June. Watch the spring newsletter for details.