Nutrients, Vitamins and Diet: Alternative Help for ADHD and Concentration
Why are parents turning to alternative help for ADHD? Could it be because medical experts are convinced that only prescription medications and behavioral therapy work? Why aren’t doctors considering a vitamin deficiency or looking at vitamin deficiency symptoms?
Medical Experts Provide Little Hope
The National Institute of Mental Health reports that if children with ADHD get better with medication, behavioral therapy, or a combination, it doesn’t mean it’s a cure.
ADHD could be genetic or a result of a brain injury. Other ADHD causes include:
• food additives
• the effects of cigarettes and alcohol during pregnancy
• exposure to the toxic element lead
Most likely, these experts say, it’s a combination of more than one cause. But nothing at all is mentioned about vitamin deficiencies.
Pediatricians take a similar viewpoint. On their website, www.healthychildren.org, these children’s health experts label the following treatments as “not effective”:
• megavitamin therapy
• other vitamin and mineral therapies
• elimination diets
of them include piracetam, omega 3, DMAE, lecithin and phosphatidylserine (called PS for short). These supplements haven’t been studied enough to recommend to parents with ADHD kids, they say. However, they also state that cognitive enhancers probably are a good idea to include in the diet of ADHD kids.What’s a parent to do? We can’t ignore medical advice totally and go our own way. Is there any alternative help for ADHD? Any hope that a parent can do something on their own is dashed with statements like these.
It All Goes Back to Nutrition Basics
What we do know is children’s brains develop at a faster rate than adult brains. And during growth, nutrients are needed.
The fact is that numerous studies have been performed on kids and their nutritional status. These studies include children of all ages and from all different segments of society. The studies have one thing in common – kids have clearly identified vitamin deficiency symptoms and at least one vitamin deficiency, no matter what group is studied.
The medical experts and scientists don’t receive an endless supply of funding for studies that search for connections between nutrition and children’s health.
Despite this, recent research has focused on the importance of the role of omega 3 fats in the developing brain. An omega 3 deficiency is linked to dry skin, fatigue, poor memory, depression, heart problems, hair loss and poor immunity. B vitamin deficiency symptoms always cause mood swings, memory loss, anxiety, fatigue, depression, inability to concentrate, and hair/skin/nail disorders.
Yet to many parents, nutrition as an alternative help for ADHD makes sense. The body is composed of protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and hormones. If a vitamin deficiency affects the brain and your child has that deficiency, why not do rf
3something about it? Why do we have to wait for medical professionals to agree before alternative help for ADHD is used? It could be 40 years before enough studies are completed. And that means two generations could have passed by!
The point is that some doctors already believe in alternative help for ADHD. They know that most of the population is suspected to have a vitamin deficiency or vitamin deficiency symptoms. This became clear when vitamin D deficiency hit the mainstream news.
Individual Doctors Recommending Supplements
Even WebMD’s ADHD expert, Richard Sogn, M.D. believes that supplements may help. If you feed the brain foods good for the brain, it’s probably good for ADHD kids, he said.
But this doesn’t mean you abandon prescription medication or doctor’s orders in favor of vitamins.
Here’s a general plan that’s used often for good brain health:
- Don’t forget to include omega 3 fats from fish and nuts.
- Eat fewer foods that contain sugar and white flour or white rice.
- Include high-protein foods such as turkey, chicken, fish, beef, pork, lamb, eggs, and dairy products.
- Eat more high antioxidant fruits and vegetables.
- Take a supplement that contains vitamins, minerals and omega 3.
Can vitamins help? Sure, but they’re never enough. A diet such as this can result in higher mineral absorption from eating protein foods. The high quality fats for the brain would help thinking and reasoning ability. The antioxidants are essential for a healthy immune system. The supplements could help prevent a vitamin deficiency and vitamin deficiency symptoms. This way you’re helping enhance the doctor’s advice because good nutrition and a healthy diet along with supplements will never harm a child. Alternative help for ADHD is never without hope.
The Bri Hive
